Dovetailing the end of a table top

[mrdovey]

Has anyone dovetailed the end of a table or bench top on their ShopBot like this:


238

I've been working on a fixture to cut this kind of dovetail on my 'Bot for a local cabinetmaker and would like to know if anyone else has already done this - and perhaps learn a bit from their experience.

The jig I'm working on will handle table top widths up to 4' and lengths up to about 23' (limitation in length is due to shop size.)

Morris

[bullseye]

Yes Morris I have. I had two custom router bits made to give the mirror image shapes. After several hours and some beer to calm my nerves I decided the best thing to do was cut the linear parts then run through my shaper. The radiused does fine on the Delta shaper as well. It is faster to change out the shaper cutter and reset the fences than to fuss with the SB.

[mrdovey]

Good show. A couple of months ago I built a SB jig to do sliding dovetails on the 'Bot with standard router bits. The jig can be adjusted to the DT bit angle (anywhere between 5º and 15º) so I should be able to use any off-the-shelf bit.

My shaper hasn't seen any use at all since I got the SB set up.