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Fine-tuning the settings on a dovetail jig can be time-consuming. For a few jigs, a handheld router is unnecessary: the template with a workpiece clamped to it is inverted and guided over the router bit on a router table instead. In most cases, you feed the router over the template, which is mounted on top of the jig’s housing. The router’s path is limited by a template to cut a specific pattern of pins or tails and the sockets in between. How Dovetail Jigs Work Once a dovetail jig and router bit (or bits) are properly set up, you can machine dovetails quickly and easily for one drawer or a production run of as many drawers as you need.ĭovetail jigs are really just elaborate examples of template routing. With any jig, plan on making several test cuts before expecting a piston-fitting dovetail.
Cnc dovetail woodworking manual#
You’ll probably also be able to find YouTube videos for just about any dovetail jig you buy that can clarify details in the manual or offer tips and tricks to shorten your learning curve. Thankfully, I’ve seen dovetail jigs become generally more user-friendly over the years, and some fine new jigs have come to market, too. Others can be more enigmatic, suffering from design shortcomings or cryptic instruction manuals. It would be no small order! Some jig designs show the spit and polish of brilliant engineering: they’re a breeze to dial in and systematically troubleshoot so you know clearly what to tweak next.
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I don’t envy the engineers who’ve been tasked to make their company’s dovetail jig simple to set up and operate, more versatile than the competition and still priced affordably for the average home-shop woodworker. Then there’s the matter of a jig’s ease of use. The wider the joint, the more important that every router pass is done with precision. Settings can’t begin to drift, even in the slightest, over the width of the parts or the joint will be progressively thrown out of registration. Joints with repeating geometry like these are also subject to cumulative error. Part of this challenge comes from the nature of dovetails themselves, regardless of how they are cut: pins or tails must fit their sockets within close tolerances. The trouble is, achieving these critical settings isn’t always quick or easy to understand. To cut a properly fitting joint, most jigs will require that you fine-tune a combination of settings on both the jig and the router bit depth. If you hope to unpack a new dovetail jig on a Saturday morning and be milling flawless joints in an hour or two, temper your enthusiasm. First, dovetail jigs aren’t panaceas for simplicity. When I started routing dovetails 20 or so years ago, it didn’t take long to learn a few humbling lessons you may face, too. If this power tool method seems a better fit for you, here’s what to keep in mind.
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They’re also quick to churn out, once your jig and router setup are carefully dialed in. Both are entirely viable options, but router-cut dovetails require less hand-and-eye coordination. Or buy a dovetail jig and whip them out with a router instead. So, it’s only natural that, sooner or later, you’re going to want to learn to make these interlocking, timelessly popular joints.Īt that point you’ll face a choice: learn to saw and chop them by hand - the classic method. And, in spite of the fact that we woodworkers have other joinery options that also form equally rugged connections, they just don’t get the same nod of approval as dovetails. There’s a truism at work here: dovetails are one of the calling cards of high craftsmanship. In the same way, it’s hard not to fawn over a blanket chest adorned with through dovetails on its corners. When examining a piece of furniture, even non-woodworkers will often open drawers and search for that pleasing interplay of pins and tails that mark dovetail joints.