Dovetails , Are They Really This Easy ?

bosephus

Registered
Registered
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
450
and the answer is ... yes and no .

one of the biggest reasons i wanted a shaper was to cut dovetails without having to buy rather expensive cutters .
so today i decided to see just how hard it was . turns out that it is a rather simple thing to do .
all it took was rotating the ram around to 60 degrees , setting up an indicator and grinding a tool .
setting the machine up and doing the actual cutting was simple enough that just about anyone with some patience and an iq of at least 70 could do it .

grinding the tool on the other hand requires a bit more thought and finesse . on my first tool grind i seem to have given no thought to tool clearance . thinking that i wanted a 60 degree dovetail so i should grind a 60 degree tool .
wrong ! ... on the first pass with the tool i quickly learned my error . having a 60 degree tool in a 60 degree dovetail means that the entire edge of the tool is in contact with the work . and to further complicate things once you hit the inside corner you now have both sides of the tool trying to broad nose across the work .
not good !

so back to the grinder i went and ground the tool to roughly 55 degrees and gave it a bit more rake maybe 10-12 degree's and started cutting again .

eureka .. semi success . i haven't decided yet what i need to tweek on my tool because i did get a bit of chatter but im sure i'll figure it out soon enough .

with grinding the tools and setting up the machine this took about 45 minutes to do .
considering that i am using the drill press vice that came on the machine i decided to not worry bout being precise and just cut a basic dovetail to prove to myself it really is that easy .


20161212_163638.jpg
 
I haven't tried any dovetails yet, did you use the tool you ground to remove all the metal, or just the dovetail portion ?
 
i used it to remove all of the metal , but if i was working with steel instead of aluminum or working on an actual project i think i would rough everything in as much as possible and then go with a finish tool .

i went out after dinner and made the other half of a dove tail . i started out with the intentions of trying to mate it with the other piece . but soon after starting it i realized i had goofed my set up and didn't leave enough tool clearance to make it match , so i cut it wide enough to fit the tool in just for the sake of practice .

tomorrows project ... both halves that fit together


20161212_210629.jpg
 
Sometimes just getting started is the hardest part. Kudos for diving in. Mike
 
congrats bosephus on the new bundle of joy!
you'll have hundreds of hours of fun! :grin:
 
Thanks guys .

Hundreds of hours of entertainment may be an understatement .
and not only will it give me untold hours of fun , it will help me finally get my little brown and sharp milling machine going properly . my only road block with it has been needing a way to cut the proper size key way in some cutters .

The first thing on my wish list is a proper vice , quickly followed with a clamping kit .
While I'll probably buy a clamping kit first simply because it's a bit more affordable .
I would be very gratefull for some suggestions on a proper vice for the machine .
would something around 4 inches be an appropriate size ? something I could use on both the mill and shaper sure would be super fantastic .
 
Would it be considered greedy if I asked Santa for a dividing head and tail stock .
 
Does the table on your shaper have t slots, mine doesn't have t slots, but the table on mine tilts both directions r & l. The closest i could figure, mines a Lewis kit. The table ratchet is on the opposite side.
 
Good discussion. I've not tried dovetails on my 7" Ammco either, but would like to. Can you post a nice clear photo of the tool you ground? Thanks
 
Back
Top