How to make cnc dovetail drawers
(The edges can be smoothed on a jointer or with a hand plane, but I usually wait until after the dovetails are cut for the final smoothing.) I rip the boards to width, making sure both edges are ripped square. The first (and often neglected) step is to true up the boards you'll be working with. the first three steps) have nothing to do with pins, tails, or angles.ġ. What's the first step in laying out a dovetail? At this point I'm supposed to launch into a discussion about pins and tails, and angles, and such. The pins are on the legs to keep them from splaying out, which wrorks out nicely because the tails must be on the top to support the wreight. In some cases both direction of strength and direction of pressure must be considered - as with the coffee table in this issue.
![how to make cnc dovetail drawers how to make cnc dovetail drawers](https://www.proboxdrawers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/oak-cutout-1.jpg)
The tails, in this case must be wide enough to support the weight (downward pressure) on the face of the board, and positioned so they take the brunt of the weight. This has to do with the size and placement of the tails. If the box is meant to support weight from the outside (as with the Shaker Step Stool in this issue), the direction of pressure (or weight) is more important. Strength of the joint may not be the primary consideration. If the joint were on a wall-hung cabinet the pins would be cut on the bottom which is the direction of the weight of the contents. If this joint were on a drawer, for example, the pins would be cut on the drawer front where the mechanical strength of the joint holds the drawer together as it's pulled open. Dovetails are normally used to join four boards at right angles to form a box. To illustrate, refer to the drawing at right. The direction of strength is toward the pins. Once it's glued up it's nearly impossible to get apart in any direction.) (Here I mean the mechanical or interlocking strength of the joint. Now the question arises: Which board gets the pins, and which board gets the tails? And does it make any difference? Although a dovetail is commonly considered a very strong joint, it is only strong in one direction. But this confusion will clear up after you've cut one or two dovetail joints. Just to keep you on your toes, when viewed from the ends of the boards the pins look like tails, and the tails look like pins. The tails (the board on the left in the photo) look like a dove's tail (hence the name of the joint).
![how to make cnc dovetail drawers how to make cnc dovetail drawers](http://theownerbuildernetwork.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CornerCabinetDrawer7.jpg)
When viewed from the face sides of the boards, the pins of the dovetail (the board on the right in the photo) look just like the rectangular pins of a box joint. This just takes a little getting used to. The worst part about laying out a dovetail is getting a clear picture in your mind of what these two halves look like and how they fit together. done with hand tools.Ī through dovetail joint consists of two halves: the pins and the tails.
![how to make cnc dovetail drawers how to make cnc dovetail drawers](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xaSl7JlhFq0/maxresdefault.jpg)
The method described here for cutting through dovetails may not be the best. And mitered dovetails won't be covered at all because they have extremely limited application (and they're really kind of a waste of time). Half blind dovetails (which are used mainly in drawer construction) will be covered in the next issue. There are three basic variations on the dovetail joint: through dovetail, half-blind, and mitered (or full-blind).Īlthough much of the process is very similar for all three variations, we're limiting this article to through dovetails.
![how to make cnc dovetail drawers how to make cnc dovetail drawers](https://penningtonmillworks.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/img_0944.jpg)
Once you've collected the tools to do the job, it's time to start laying out the cuts.