It takes a while to get the terminology in the manual to sink in with respect to the orientation of the boards and CNC machine. I had to read the manual a few times as I went through it, and definitely take advantage of the graphic simulation, that really helped me to see what was going on. Its definitely not as easy as Vcarve, but on the other hand, I didn't think it was worse than the 3 dovetail jigs I've used in the past. The nice thing is that once you figure it out, you can make changes on the fly really fast. Hang in there.

Thanks. That is interesting that you didn't need glue, but I'm not surprised. The fit is so uniform that if you kept the tolerances low and had to tap them together that would be good to go. The reason I opened up the tolerances was I was afraid I would never get them apart after a dry fit. The rotary video is on the list of 16 or so I have planned to do 😀

Thank you 😊

Great question. I've noticed that most of my straight router bits are around 1-3 thousands shy of 0.25 or 0.5 inch, so these kinds of joints will end up tighter than they should be, but even if you put the exact tool diameter in your tool database for every bit (serialized straight bits, yuck) they could end up a little tighter than you'd like for a big complicated edge like this. I added removed a few thousands off the design after i built the first boards because they were too tight and didn't fit. I would recommend taking a small part of the design (maybe just a couple interlocking links) and make a text piece first before committing a whole sheet of 1" MDF, or you can just go take off 5 thou on each board edge ..if there is a little gap, it doesn't really matter.

Hi Bill, Looks like I can't paste a screenshot here. send me an email at jnwdwks@gmail.com and I'll reply with the config menu screenshot.

:-) Yes, the undermount ones are a lot better looking. I haven't gotten around to finding an undermount slide that I like. Most of the ones I've seen are either too flimsy, or they take up a lot of room underneath. Any suggestions on a good slide you like to use?

@@JNWoodworks I use Blum under mounts, they make a heavy duty one so does Grass, get a catalog from WoodworkerExpress.com they still send paper copies, under mounts now days can hold #100.

@@JNWoodworks after a couple years reading I am going to pull the Trigger on an AVID 4x8, quoting now, with their 2.2KW spindle, wanted a bit bigger, (their 8hp is to big, my 3phase can do 7 but even so I think that’s too much) but I think the 3hp will do fine for me, my shop while nice is not a production everyday thing. Any advice on what to order or not, your experience etc.. considered Stinger out a lot more money and not as flexible, I like the vertical table flexibility like you have.. I do not plan on buying the rotating or Lathe type axis at this point. Thanks also I am planning on using an Intel NUC maybe add 8MB RAM and a small SSD to it.. what did you use?

@@cliffneal3118 Ya, that big spindle is REALLY big. I haven't had anything hardly slow down my 3hp one, so I don't know what would need 8hp. I am just a hobbyist so i don't need to blast through big sheets of plywood for production, i think that's what that big guy is for. I wanted to do a little of everything, and i think the smaller one is better for that. If you do a lot of smaller lettering (like Vcarving), the extra weight on the gantry is not your friend. I have run 3" milling bits to plane off large mesquite slabs and there is no shortage of HP. I am planning on doing a "why I'm happy I bought an AVID CNC" video soon. Bottom line is you can add all kinds of things too this, it has a lot of extra connections on the controller (for things like lasers, pneumatic valves, etc.), and AVID is really awesome with their customer service. I wish i had the 4x8 now, but i really don't have the shop space for it. If you do, I would recommend it. I'm running Mach 4 on a used HP Elitebook refurb i bought off of ebay. 8GB of memory and only a 3479U cpu and a small SSD. I also run Vcarve pro on this when i need to make quick edits in the shop. No issues at all, and i have run Gcode files with over 25million lines of code for 13+ hours and no hangs or weirdness. A newer NUC will be even better.

BTW, these air cooled spindles rock. I live in Phoenix, and it barely gets warm running in 110 degree weather....and it is SO quiet compared to any regular router.

That one would be pretty hard to do with a CNC (or router jig of any kind) i think.

yes, I almost always use the air nozzle with the spindle. It keeps the chips from packing in on deep grooves, but in general it helps get the chips up in the air so the dust collector can suck them up better.

Hi Jim, Good question, I should have covered that in the video.. So my backing board behind the piece I'm cutting serves 3 purposes. First, it is there to prevent chip out when the bit exits the cut. Second, it is my X and Z reference (Y is taken care of by the fact that it is clamped to the vertical fence) for each new workpiece that I clamp on. I make sure that when I clamp on each new board to cut that it is exactly flush on top, and also at the left edge of the backing board. I clamp the backing board down well and it never gets moved until all my pieces are cut. The third thing the backing board does is give me a big enough horizontal surface (combined with the first board I cut) to use my electric touchplate on the front left corner of the first workpiece so that I get a good reference for the workpiece position. This can be redone if you switch bits. So I do the setup, cut all the tailboards, and then the pinboards. So I only have to change the backerboard and bit out once for each type. Of course I run a test/prototype first just to make sure I get the tolerances right so they aren't too tight or loose before I cut them all. Its very easy to tweak the tolerance in the SW and loosen it up a little. I'll usually start with around 0.005" tolerance, and then teak a little by bumping up a little and re-try the fit. Hope that helps. jim

All of my spoilboards are attached with button head bolts to T nuts that are in the aluminum extrusion slots.

AVID doesn't sell one, but AVID's machines are meant for adaptability (they started out selling CNC kit parts), so you can skip buying their spindles and just buy one with an ATC. There are several different ones people buy, the ones from CNC depot seem to be popular. There are a lot of folks on the AVID CNC Users Group FB page that have done that and can give you good advice on that.

@@JNWoodworks ah thanks so much for the thoughtful response! Appreciate it plenty. Going to screenshot this for future reference!

Hi Kevin,. I'm traveling for the next week or so, but I'm pretty sure I have the invoices at home. Please send me a note at jnwdwks@gmail.com and I will send them to you when I get back home. I can also send you the vectric files for the spoil boards if you want.

Hi David, this is an AVID Pro 48x48 with the 3hp spindle.

@@JNWoodworks thank you so much! I am in the middle of ordering that machine and I noticed that you have a turing center in the front space? So I assume it fits a 48x48 CNC? Also how did you cut the spoil board to be able to remove and replace it? Is 1” MDF a good foundation? How do you hold repeatable projects? Thanks the information I can’t wait to get mine!!

@@davidtroncoso9313 Yes, they have several sizes of that rotary unit. There are some good diagrams on their web site as to how you can configure it, but basically you can run it down either the Y or X axis, and you can get different lengths. I mounted mine this way because i can get maximum use out of the rest of the 4ft x 4 ft space w/o having to remove it for regular routing. Its a nice piece of hardware and I plan on doing a video on it in the near future. The 1" MDF works great. I don't use it as a spoilboard, but more of a clamping surface. When i cut through stuff, I always put a sacrificial layer in between. I put the dog holes on a 3" grid which works great for the various clamps I use to hold down. I cut the whole thing with the cnc raised up on blocks. I designed the pattern for the two pieces on Vectric and am happy to send you the files if you would like to start with them as a basis for yours. I can generally get repeat setups within a few thousandths if i am careful. You definitely want to get AVID's touchplate as well, you can get that kind of repeatability w/o a good touchplate (or a heck of a lot of setup work each time :-)).

@@JNWoodworks Thank you so much for answering. I thought for a moment that I had asked too many questions. 😆 I would really appreciate the files because it would be my absolute starting point! Thanks again for the info, and like someone else said, keep doing these videos on your machine it is exciting to learn CNC!!!

@@davidtroncoso9313 Hi David, send me an email at jim.neeb@gmail.com and I'll send you the Vectric files.

It depends on two things. How aggressive you set up the cuts, and how good of a job you did with the fixturing. I'm a hobbyist, so I run slower cuts because clean cuts are the most important thing to me - because of that, the one in the video was running very slowly. I'm sure I could have cut 2-3x deeper per pass, and at least twice the feed rate and still gotten good cuts. The fixture is important because switching the pieces around is a big time consumer if it isn't easy to do. I have used a lot of different manual router jigs in the past, and this setup was by far faster (and produced better dovetails) than any of them. If you were doing a bunch of them and cranking through all the pinboards then the tail boards (so you didn't have to switch bits between each part), I would estimate you would be doing a simple drawer like shown in the video every few minutes.

I'm currently using the Leigh jig and my interest is in the speed between the two. But speed is not the deciding factor for me, either. The end result is quality first. The Leigh is certainly not foolproof by any means. Thanks for the video.

Thanks in no small part to your video, I bought the software and am working my way through it. The first joints were too tight but they did go together. I've always liked through dovetails and this makes easily doable. It is amazing software.

@@bongomakers Mine always start out too tight too. I usually start with 5 mil or so of tolerance on the test cuts and they are usually still a bit tight. But once you have it dialed in (and assuming you have a good, repeatable pin and tailboard support and stops in place), you can make the same perfect joint all day long. He also did a really good job in writing toolpaths to do climbing cuts and scoring passes to limit tearout.

I just subscribed... With a question. To the right of the custom box, which I have checked, is a box that already has .2 in it. What is that??

Ya, I know. I was building it to match one that I made over 15 years ago, and wanted to match it 😔