You're welcome. These joints have all worked out well for me. As mentioned in one of the posts, make sure to measure and adjust to the thickness of your material, especially on dovetail joints. Keep your step overs small on the dovetail bit, and make sure the pocket is big enough to clear the dovetail bit when it rises.
Sam is giving me a 10% commision on these extensions although I haven't actually received a check yet.
I also have a Mako Shark HD and would like to add an extension for a Bosch Colt that sounds similar to what you have done. I assume that you remove the normal large router (Porter Cable 892?) and the plastic part that attaches to the vacuum and brush, if you have one of these. You then replace these with an extension made by Sam that holds the Colt. Do you use a special clamp to hold the Colt onto this extension? I didn't see a picture of your setup so I am only guessing. How long is your extension?
Also, I really like Sam's workmanship. He made a clamp that holds my Porter Cable 892 and it works perfectly!!
Thank you,
Ed
Ed,
Sam had previously made an aluminum replacement clamp for my Porter Cable. I simply remove the router and dust port plate, leave the router clamp in place, mount my extension where the dust port plate was. Sam makes the extension already bored out to hold the router, with the new clamp as part of the extension. I use the Palm
Colt on my extension to reduce torque back to the gantry. Overall length is 13 inches, with one inch of that for tightening the clamp around the Palm Colt.
I have my bracket coming from Sam. I was reading your instructions again and I have one question. You mention on page 6:
"Set up your pockets with about a .005 inch offset to make the cut out larger. I used a 1/4 inch end mill for this."
I am curious. Do you cut out an extra 0.005" all the way around and thus leave a gap of 0.010" for glue? I am not sure if I completely understand whether this is just when cutting the rough clearance using the 1/4" EM or is this extra clearance also for the dovetail bit?
I am looking forward to trying some dovetails after I get the new bracket. I already have the Bosch Colt. The changeover from the Porter Cable router to the Colt takes a little time but it is not too bad. I got the bracket one inch longer as this will clear the brush attachment better and reach outside of my Shark Tank. It gets supported pretty well with the brush attachment bracket. I may add a couple of additional bolts through existing holes located at the end of the brush attachment plate. You didn't seem to find this necessary so I will probably not need these.
To be clear, the .005" offset was applied to the pockets that leave the pins only. I cut the tails with the dovetail bit with no offset. The parts should snug fit with a few mallet taps. You may have to adjust your offset based on your bit diameters, etc.
To be clear, the .005" offset was applied to the pockets that leave the pins only. I cut the tails with the dovetail bit with no offset. The parts should snug fit with a few mallet taps. You may have to adjust your offset based on your bit diameters, etc.
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Thank you, Bill. I will give that a try when I get the extension bracket. Your dovetails are absolutely perfect, I can only hope to do as well.
Ed, I couldn't have been happier with the dovetails or the box joints. Both required only minimal sanding with an orbital sander after gluing and clamping. The joints are all about precision and that's what the shark gives you.
