Dado Width Off?

[Darrel Wells]

I've set my full dado to a 5/8" material with 0" fit clearance. Why is my Thermwood cutting a dado wider than 5/8"? I've checked my tool settings and they are accurate, using a 1/2" cutter with a .5 diameter setting in the tool settings. I can understand the extra clearance if my material is less than 5/8" thickness, but the dado itself should not be more than 5/8" wide, with a 0" clearance setting. Am I missing something?

[Brad McIntosh]

Darrel,

1) How much bigger/wider is the dado?
2) If you put calipers to your material, what is the actual thickness in decimal format?
3) Are you cutting CLIMB or CONVENTIONAL?
4) Can you describe the 1/2" tool? Geometry: Up-shear, Down-Shear, Compression, Straight? # of flutes? Overall cut length? Length of tool out of the collet?

[Darrel Wells]

5/8 Dado width is .645. My 5/8 material is .597, which I was aware of. The 1/2" bit I used was a Vortex 3189, a 1/4" up-cut compression bit. I don't understand the CLIMB vs CONVENTIONAL question. I did offest for the material thickness, and even tried to do a negative fit clearance to eliminate the overage from the dado cut, but that didn't work. If possible, I'd like the 5/8 dado to be exactly 5/8, then I can manipulate the clearances as I need.

[Scott G Vaal]

Darrel,

Attach the cabinet or job you are using to create the .twd and I will take a look at your issue. I need to eliminate the cabinet first, then we will move to the machine if need be. If that is the case, I will need an export from Control Nesting. This is done by selecting Export from the file menu (assuming you are running the latest Ctrl Nesting version).

[Darrel Wells]

Scott, attached is one of the cabinets in this job. Thanks for your help with this.

Darrel

[Kerry Fullington]

Darrell,

Your negative .02 fit clearance is nesting as a positive .02 so i would return that to 0.
I nested your cabinet using a .597 material with 0 fit clearance and the dadoes nest .597 so this seems that it would be a setting at the machine Control Nesting that is causing the problem. Does your bit measure .5" actual diameter?

[Darrel Wells]

The bit mics out at .482.

[Scott G Vaal]

Darrel,

What value do you have in the tool table for the tool number being used in this operation?

[Darrel Wells]

The bit is actually .480, and that's the diameter value I have in the tool setting. Is there another value you're looking for?

[Scott G Vaal]

Gentlemen,

I called and talked with Darrel earlier today about this issue. What I have discovered is that changing the fit clearance globally will not apply the value to fixed shelves and partitions. So, what he was experiencing was wide dados for these parts only. It has always been this way and I am surprised it was not discovered until now. We will change this, but to get around it for now, you can go to the shelf/partition editor, highlight the shelf or partition and then go to construction settings and it will apply it to the part.