making joints

[Mulaloday]

can anyone tell me how I can make joints( simple miters, dove tail and box joints ) with shark pro plus. I am putting together some retirement boxes and want to do something other than just butting together.

Thanks
Pete

[Kryptik]

Hey Pete
Unfortunately, the design and geometry of the shark doesn't lend itself to these type of joints, my Shark lives next to my router table (Which I made on the Shark ), and I use that to do my jointing.
The combination of a Triton router and a Gifkins Dovetail Jig makes this a much simpler task than anything I can come up with on the Shark, although there are some box designs for scroll saws that may lend themselves to being CNC routed.
That being said, there are a lot of people here with more experience than I with the shark, who may hopefully contradict me.

[CountryWoodCrafts]

You could use the keyhole toolpath or even just a pocket toolpath

To use the keyhole toolpath. . . you just move your workpiece shifted so that the bit will miss the end of the wood.
This way you can use a dovetail bit. It is tricking the machine. . . but it doesn't mind.

[Buc]

CWC,

Clever! Keyword here is "tricking". I have lied to the software, but I sometimes have a guilt feeling afterwards.

Thanks for the tip.
Buc

[REG]

Dovetail jointing was discussed a while back. By offsetting the table top to allow the reach of the router to extend beyond the current "Y" axis runway. With the board verticle (end up) and the end of the Shark base, the dovetail bit can make the pass. Similar for a rabbited joint, but that can be done with the board just laid down on the table. When the 4th axis is released, this can all be done on the table top.

Bobby

[Bob]

Or, you can always try these:
http://flexiblestream.org/Digital-Wood-Joints-001.php
bob

[Joraft]

Or, you can always try these:
http://flexiblestream.org/Digital-Wood-Joints-001.php

Thank you so much for that link, Bob.

When I read the original post, my first thought was that I have so many tools better suited for joinery work, why bother with trying to work it out on the Shark. But now I see other possibilities.

[Mulaloday]

Thanks guys, all good answers. I like the keyhole idea seems the simplest.
I will post results sowe can see if I learned anything haha

peter

[Mulaloday]

One more question on the web link that bob gave. can they be run on shark ( is it compatible) or is there something I nned to do get them running.

Peter

[Bob]

Peter,
I tried a couple on the Shark.
They ran ok. Something in the translation caused curves to be cut slower. I'm not a programmer, so I don't know why. The good thing about these joints is that they are real easy to re-draw using VCarve. Once you see how some of them work, it's also no big deal to change the designs. You could even design some to have simple drawings incorporated into the joint.
I have changed dimensions to make them easier to fit together.
Bob