how to make sliding dovetails

[Morris Dovey]

| Hello, | | I am planning to use sliding dovetails in my current project. | my understanding of the "beast" is: cut the dovetailed dadoo with | your router setup to the depth that you want | use the same router setup to cut the sliding in part (staying | vertical and being carefull about the placement).. | | I was planning to use my router in a hand setup for the sliding | part and with a table setup and the fence for the vertical, but is | this the best way? what are the gotchas?

You might consider making an initial cut with a straight bit that's smaller than the thinnest part of the dado you plan to cut.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Cyrille de Brébisson]

Hello,

I am planning to use sliding dovetails in my current project. my understanding of the "beast" is: cut the dovetailed dadoo with your router setup to the depth that you want use the same router setup to cut the sliding in part (staying vertical and being carefull about the placement)..

I was planning to use my router in a hand setup for the sliding part and with a table setup and the fence for the vertical, but is this the best way? what are the gotchas?

thanks, cyrille

[SonomaProducts.com]

I would do bot parts on the table.

Cut the channel first.

1. cut a dado or use a straight bit to hog out most of the channel.

1. Setup a bit to the height you want.

2. I prefer to not have the piece ride against the fence as it cuts because the cutter can chatter a bit when you do that. So use a miter gauge or sled.

If you use a miter guage, setup a guage block on the fence (like when cross cutting on a TS) so you use it to index the location but the part will be free of it once you push forward to start the cut.

If you use a sled, then you can set a stop block on the outside, if the piece is short enough.

1. Cut some extras is scrap of same material so you don't gouge out real ones when trying out pins.

Next cut the pins.

1. Leave the cutter at the same height.

1. Use a tall fence or other help to keep vertical piece vertical.

2. Make sure all pieces of stock are exact same thickness.

1. Have lots o' extra

2. Do a first pass on real pieces and a few extras with a very shallow cut, only cutting about the top half of the cutter. The biggest problem with long pins is getting chipout at the top of the cutter if you cut too deep first, so a thin cut that just scores the top edge is a great help. Cut some extras too, just for kicks.

1. If you want the pins dead center, then you need to make very fine adjustments using test pieces and cutting both sides until you dial it in. If you aren't so worried about that, draw out the pin on the end of on piece, setup to cut one side and cut them all, plus some extras. Then when you make adjustments to get the other side to fit it is 1/2 as sensitive to the fence movements (if that makes sense.

You can see a sample of a product I make that uses sliders. I've made maybe 100 of these babies over the past few years but I'm considering marketing them heavily once I get my Multirouter ;^). Click on the Sushi Geta picture for a close up view.

[pat]