HD bed modifications for dovetails?

[OceansCrashing]

I wonder if anyone has modified any of the HD beds to include a vice, or removed any of the extrusions so that a board could be set standing up. This would open up some joinery possibilities, including dovetails and box/finger joints. It'd be great if you bed split in the middle, or had sections that you could use as vices... Provided it all remained flat and sturdy.

I've been using a hybrid pantorouter with great results for that type of joint, but knowing that I can't do something with the CNC, along with the feeling that it seems possible with a little tinkering, has me curious.

[sharkcutup]

OceansCrashing --- AHHHHH come on now confess --- you must be one of those kids on the block that just likes to take things apart to see what makes them tick (work), huh???

All Kidding aside those are some good suggestions but right now I believe that NWA has their hands full in just keeping what they have already developed working among its many customers that have already purchased a CNC from them. Great suggestions though!!!

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

Be SAFE around those AWESOME machines!!!

[bill z]

OceansCrashing,

One of the great things about the NWA Sharks is that you can modify your machine to do just what you are asking them to do. There are several on this forum that have wood surface tops that could adapt to this idea.

The only real issue would be the screw drive that runs down the middle, just under the table. The vice system would have to be placed on either side of it.

Somewhere on the Internet, I saw where someone had extended the router mount so the router could extend way out over the end of the table and that is where they had a vice set up. Depending on how far out you had it, some reinforcing would need to be made.

Keep us posted on what you do with this.

[Rando]

Not for dovetailing, but yes I put vises...two of them...in my Shark HD2+. Love my Kurt 688 vise. Rock solid and accurate to 0.0002". But, it's also TALL, and so limits the maximum height I can get under the z-axis carrier. That's why I added the second one, on the left. It's called a "stationary jaw vise", because the movable jaw only goes like 1/4" total. I have it setup to hold 2", 6" and 10" aluminum plates. Yeah, I do a lot more aluminum milling than I do wood. The left-hand vise sits on 1" thick aluminum bars; no sagging on MY table

I replaced the router with a 2.2KW (3HP) water-cooled spindle and VFD programmed to allow it to go to 36000 RPM. The VFD can do 60K RPM, but the spindle's only rated to 24K, so I keep it typically no more than 32000 RPM, needed by an 1/8" end mill in Al. The odd-looking blue+orange tubes blow the chips away from the cut, back into that back corner. As you can see, I was doing some cutting this evening. The surrounding barrier is just to keep the chips in, and is just 0.020" acrylic sheeting cut so the gantry doesn't hit on it. It keeps the vast majority of chips on the bed, but yeah some do get out. The cut quality I get is "good", but by no means what you'd get with a $15K+ machine. Here's tonight's bores to hold 25 (gun) shells to custom-engrave the bottoms. What looks like chatter seems to be more from the phone's camera flash, as the insides are very nicely smooth.

[bill z]

Looking on the Internet, I found a CNC add-on vice that will allow dovetailing.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dov ... &FORM=VIRE

I think this is exactly what you are wanting. Some mods to the Shark but will work.

I'm not too crazy about his dust collection, but it does show how the dovetail vice works.

[Rando]

Brilliant! It could be hard to apply that to the Shark, like you said, but that's a cool solution. Bummer the link to his website looks long abandoned .

[bill z]

I went about looking for the cam clamps that were mentioned as folks posted questions about his You Tube. I found cam clamps but nothing like what he had on top of the boards on top of his work surface (the rod that held the boards down).

So many folks have so many great ideas using the most rare or expensive parts.

With the right clamps, it would not be hard to remove a few extruded aluminum pieces form the Shark top, in my case, cut slots in the table holding the shark so the boards would pass down through. The programming the V-Carve is the easy part.

Now, where to find those clamps?

[Rando]

They looked at least partially custom, to me. Maybe remove the rubber feet and attach a bar between two stock toggle clamps? Like this one?

http://www.rockler.com/quick-set-post-handle-clamp

(Sorry, not an endorsement...but their link was right up on the right ).