[Brian Queen]

I'm looking for woodworking joints that can be created on my CNC machine while the worked is mounted horizontally. I've read other threads where the boards are mounted vertically in a vice with holes through the table or the work is mounted off the end of the CNC table but I would like a discussion on any woodworking joints that can be created while the board is mounted horizontally.

The only joint I’ve seen is a modified finger joint. The problem is that all inside corners have the radius of the tool. I dealt with problem by creating a toolpath that moved the bit slightly into the root of the corner at 45 degrees. While this removes the inside radius and allows the fingers to fit tight, it also creates a small hole or gap at each inside corner however in my case this was small enough that it filled with glue. Maybe if this gap was purposely made larger it could be filled with a small wood dowel?

I know I’m not the first person to have thought this through so there must be other joints or am I just dreaming?

[Geof]

Why not make all your end corners on the fingers equal the radius of the tool then everything fits and contacts.

[spalm]

I have never tried it, but how about finger joints done like half blind dovetails? Or full blind dovetails. I guess these would be blind finger joints. This would hide the extra cutouts (or rounded edges) inside the joint.

It seems like it would work,
Steve

[Madclicker]

Best to mount the spindle horizontally. I was going to build a cnc multirouter until this thread was brought to my attention:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13169

Still, sometimes the best tool for the job is NOT the cnc, even if you can figure out a way to do it with the cool toy. I still do at least half my routing with a conventional table or with a handheld tool.

[spalm]

Mr. Clicker, you are right, but that is no fun.

I tried playing with a simulation last night. I think this will work. If the fingers are not long enough to bottom out on the opposing side. It will leave small openings but these are no good for holding glue anyway as they are endgrain, and will not show. It should be a strong and self aligning joint, but does not get to show off anything. Only you will know what is inside the joint.

Two pics, one of each side.

Steve

[Madclicker]

How about "lovetails":

Lovetails

[spalm]

Wow, deja vois. I remember that article in FWW when it came out in 1990. I tried to do it by hand and failed miserably.

You can’t cut that with a CNC without turning either the board vertically or the router sideways. Can you? (Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!).

How about just buying one of these?

[mhasting2004]

FYI They are called miter lock bits
Cheers

Mark

[Madclicker]

Those joints are supposed to be strong enough, but there's no pretty factor to them and we're back to the point that a stationary table is the best way to use them. I just use rabbet joints for all the drawer cases I build. Strong enough and the straight bits are cheap.

I do want to make a horizontal spindle holder for my machine one day. Glad I designed it with enough room. One of the projects I want to design and make is a poker chips box with diamond, spade, heart and club "dovetail" construction. I can imagine each side in a different wood for contrast.

[Regnar]

Why not buy a cheap dovetail jig and build you own templates. This is great for dovetails http://www.internetwoodworking.com/w5/dovetail.html you can enter in the length, width and depth of the dovetail. Now it doesnt save in DXF but if you print to pdf. there are plent of programs that will save pdf. to dxf.

[spalm]

Clicker, your last post reminded me of some Xmas presents I made several years back. These could be cut much easier with a CNC. I had to make several jigs to get them to come out.

People really liked them, especially if they fit tight and were kind of hard to open. What was interesting to me was the more people were mechanically inclined, the more they pondered “how’d he do that” before opening them. My wife never could see what the big deal was.

Good point Regnar. Use the CNC to make the dovetail jig templates.

Steve

[becikeja]

I've always been intrigued by the boxes, but never wanted to spend the time to line them up. Never thought about using the CNC for it? Cool, now I have to try it

[Regnar]

I gave it some thought while I was tiling my bathroom and if you guys are dead set on doing this on a cnc flat you could always make corner pieces. This means a corner would have 3 pieces of wood rather than 2 but should be just as strong. Also all of your designs will have to be rounded. I found a small picture of what I am talking about here http://us.oak-park.com/catalogue.html?list=RTS-LDS- its the box on the right hand side with a large heart pattern.

[Bakerwood]

Using a single tool...square-end bit...Steve's blind finger is the only thing that I can imagine.

Changing multiple tools: hog with a large bit then change to a finishing cutter whose radius you can live with.

or

If you are looking at any volume of cuts and want to be price competitive you could build or have built a CNC horizontal router...

I am seeing a whole world of possible fun there.

Is a visually pleasing joint important to you or do you want a strong Joint?

[Clockwork]

This is a timely discussion since I just found the parts on Ebay to build up a horizontal router. I have built a couple of vertical tables. Thought I would share my ideas with the forum.

In the pictures, the large slide is 12" wide with about 20" of movement. My plan is to position the boards with the edge along the long end of the slide and clamp them securely to the top of the slide. The whole board will travel along this (X) axis.

The small slide will be mounted perpendicular along side the large slide at it's center of movement. This will move in and out functioning as the Z axis.
Should have about 3" of movement on this axis.

A third slide will be mounted on the Z axis slide plate which will move the router up and down producing the Y axis.

The stuff in the pictures weighs about 90 pounds. Cost, including shipping was $175. Ebay Item # 320144628317

The parts won't get here for a week so this is all preliminary.

[greenb_60097]

Hey,

I bid on that, guess not enough.

BG

[arch1]

check out this site:

it uses a special bit but hey it doesn't look to expensive.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...x_Joinery.html