Harold Hall advanced grinding rest

You could always make your own dovetail cutter w/a TPG insert.
 
ddickey said:
You could always make your own dovetail cutter w/a TPG insert.
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Scope creep! lol May be as a future project. For now just trying to determine the size and angle to own that would come in handy later too but they're inexpensive enough that it's really no big deal.
 
stioc said:
Thanks for the suggestions!

A stick of 4x1/4" for flat work sounds good. I need 2" square stock in steel for the dovetails but the hobbymetalkits.com site only has up to 1". I'm guessing (book's at home) the dove tails are approx 3" long? and there are two sets of them. If so I need at least 12" of the 2" stock material.

As for the dovetail cutter, is 60deg more common than 45deg? I was thinking a smaller dovetail would be easier for this job? Something like this 1/2" one or may be a 3/4"?
www.ebay.com

1 Pc 1/2" X 60 Degree Premium HSS Dovetail Cutter Milling High Speed Steel | eBay

60° included angle, right hand cutting. Made of precision ground, high grade tool steel. Our Part # ALL-19510.
www.ebay.com
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Check eBay for the square bar. Sometimes it's cheaper than other places. Shop around and compare (make sure you include shipping/tax in your searching for comparison).

If you check the drawings, his design uses a 60 degree cutter. In my experience, 60 degree dovetails are more common than 45. As I suggested earlier, if I had to buy a cutter I would buy the largest that would fit depending on how I planned on cutting the dovetail. This is because this is a fairly small dovetail and any others I might cut down the road most likely would be larger, not smaller, but who knows??? It's a guess.

I do like All Industrial very much and buy from them frequently when they have some of their awesome sales... Keep in mind what I said about USA vs import cutters when you select your cutting speed on your mill. If it were me, I would search for a USA made cutter on eBay and compare prices. If prices were close, I'd definitely go with the USA cutter hands down. Imports using the term "premium" is really meaningless IMO.

Ted
 
Yes, All Industrail is one of my fav. I should really buy from their store locally to save on shipping but I usually order from them on ebay anyway. Size wise I'm just worried if 1" cutter might be too wide for the 2" stock I'll be making dovetails out of. In one of your posts you mentioned the one you used was a bit too big for the female dovetails. Not sure what size your dovetail cutter is but it looks may be 1.25" or so?

I just had a ridiculous thought...I have a small x/y vise I rarely use https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-11694-4-Inch-Cross-Slide/dp/B009E0E9YK , why not build a small table that clamps in it that tilts and I have basically the same thing with minimal effort? :dunno:
 
stioc said:
Size wise I'm just worried if 1" cutter might be too wide for the 2" stock I'll be making dovetails out of. In one of your posts you mentioned the one you used was a bit too big for the female dovetails. Not sure what size your dovetail cutter is but it looks may be 1.25" or so?
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Here's one way to help you visualize what size you want. Draw, to scale in inch units, the finished dovetail. Plan on roughing out the bulk in the middle with an end mill. Then, since you drew it out to scale, you can lay your scale on the paper and see what size cutter you want. You might be able to take it all in one cut :eek:, but I would suggest taking multiple cuts so not to load up the cutter as much. I would also conventional cut, not climb mill unless your mill is really tight.

Also, if both dovetails are the same size, plan on cutting them both out of one longer piece and then sawing in two and facing to required length. This will save you setup and measuring time.

Everyone has different experiences, equipment, and comfort levels... you are the only one who knows yours. Make a plan, but be ready to change it if things don't work out as planned. This is how you gain experience and improve. There's no pill that you can take that will do this for you.

Sit down, relax, and develop a plan. Visualization is a very powerful tool!

Good luck and have fun!
Ted
 
Any shot I could get a copy of the CAD model? I'm still learning how to model things and it might be interesting to compare to the book to give me more ideas.
 
Missed that one, no problem, I can see why you would decide that way. Thanks for the great thread on it. I'm sure it will be useful as I work on it.
 
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