larger tool selection for tenon thickness

[Forrest Chapman]

Hey Guys,

I've ask for this before and would like to mention it again. I do 1/4" deep tenons which means at present control nesting uses a 1/4" or smaller tool to cut the tenons down to thickness as well as the length. It will however do a much better job if it were to use a larger tool like say an 3/8" for this task. My other cabinet software uses the 3/8" tool so I know first hand the difference. Has this been considered at all?

Forrest

[Ryan Hochgesang]

Forrest,

It is not the tenon depth that dictates what tool is chosen for an operation. The tool is chosen based on the the dia. of the dado (tenon thickness). For example: if your dado is going to be .375, then a tool dia. that can cut this dia. within two passes is selected (tool setup for rout/dado with dia. .374 and smaller).

[Forrest Chapman]

I'll try and explain this a little better. I'm interested in the length of the tenon being machined with a larger tool. In my case my tenons are .25 long which means a .25 or smaller tool will be used to machine the tenon down to thickness. What happens on plywood is there are little strips of wood left on the outside edge sometimes "and yes my tooling is the correct size". What will eliminate any chance of this is using a larger tool. There are no part clearance issues because you usually have at least a 3/8" or larger outline tool.

Forrest

[Josh Rayburn]

Forrest,
Also the 3/8" tool will run a LOT faster. Love the idea, have mentioned it before as well.
jnr

[Georgi Baltov]

I've seen the edge Forrest is talking about but never considered it an issue. A pass with a rough sand paper takes it away. But again we are a custom shop so production is not an issue.

We've got two design programs that we work with - one of them is eCabinets. Thermwood's g-code is far more superior than the g-code generated by the post processor of the other software. It's simpler and more flexible, allows for easy manipulation by the machine operator and even I can understand it. One bit leaving one ridge on the edge of the dado is something I can live with

[Ryan Hochgesang]

Forrest/Josh,

I see now what your saying.... basically, you would like to see the tool dia. over hang the end of tenon as it is performing the rout operation to eliminate the lip or sliver of material possibly left over on that fine line.

[Josh Rayburn]

Ryan,
I don't mean to hijack the post here, but for me it would be better to cut as much as possible with the 3/8" tool instead of the 1/4" tool for two reasons - the 3/8 runs a lot faster than the 1/4, and second the 3/8 will deflect less than the 1/4. It would be a bonus to get rid of the sliver, I know what you're talking about, though I really don't see it much at all anyway.
jnr

[Forrest Chapman]

Yes Ryan, that is it. Josh, what you point out are my other thoughts as well. Most of the time when I see the sliver left its on flip ops that are not quite aligned however when Thermwood gets my machine functioning with flipops first I won't have to worry much more about that. This feature of using a slightly larger tool will work on many levels. If I were to want for instance a 1/16" deep blind dado it can use a 1/4" tool and so on.

Forrest

[Scott Coats]

Hello, I also find the 1/4" bit deflects too much when cutting the tenons. It causes alignment issues with the outside profile cut (on a fixed shelf for ex.) which can leave black lines on the inside of the cabinet where the .25" tool has dug in too much. I could make my tenons 3/8" long as a workaround but prefer the .25" length to save machine time and tool wear/deflection. Also, if I need to meet 2 tenons on either side of a partition, they need to be less than 3/8" long.

Has this been resolved?
thanks
Scott

[Daniel Vonderheide]

Scott,

This has not changed. At the present time, it still looks at the tennon's width and uses a tool that is 1/2 the width to the full width of the tennon.