Shopsmith Forums

So I purchases a very nice piece of maple from the local big box store, but got some local variable width stuff that I could mill down to what I needed, and for a very nice price.

As I am nearly finished with my gift boxes I am making I ran into a problem routing out my dovetail'd slots, too much material for the bit to take out in a single pass, and I can't do shallow passes with the dovetail bit or its no longer a dove tail. lol

My project went from quick and easy to a massive pain as I now need to do multiple shallow passes with a straight bit and then work my way to a specific depth and then use the dovetail for the 14 degree angle. Not too hard I know, but I have 4 matching boxes with 4 matching slots each that must be exactly centered. 16 exact slots that take a min. of 5 different settings per slot and 2 diff. bits.

Should have went pine and it would be 2 passes and done. Darn maple is extremely tough and causes a lot of burning if I try it all at once. I sure hope the mahogany for the matching keys will be slightly softer and no burning.

That is my rant for today.

I completely understand, Beav.

Been there, done that! I encourage you to stay with it. When you are finished, you will hardly remember the details of the construction. The folks receiving these boxes will treasure them and you will witness their happiness.

The learning from this experience will help you in the future. If nothing else, it will help in planning.

I have done this project before, but with oak and Walnut. The maple is just so much tougher. We shall see how it works

Beave2012 wrote:I have done this project before, but with oak and Walnut. The maple is just so much tougher. We shall see how it works

I have a few questions.
First, is the bit carbide or HSS? No it doesn't matter a whole lot but HSS dulls MUCH quicker than carbide or carbide tipped.
Next, how much use has that specific bit had?
Could it be that it needs to be sharpened or even replaced I've finally rid myself of my HHS bits. They would gum up and get dull too quickly.

If it is carbide, is it the same bit used for the previous projects with walnut and oak you wrote about? If so, it might just be dull.

Have you cut any pine dove tails with it? Then it is probably gummed up and could use a cleaning.

I have a local saw sharpening shop that will sharpen my carbide router bits for about $8 and when they get too used he just smiles and tells me to get new ones (though I don't buy from him because he sells at full retail )

If you have a piece of Maple you can use as a test, see what happens at various (lower) speeds but maybe with a faster feed rate.

Anyway, just a couple quick thoughts.

Hope the project goes much easier for you!

Be well,
Ben

benush26 wrote:

Beave2012 wrote:I have done this project before, but with oak and Walnut. The maple is just so much tougher. We shall see how it works

I have a few questions.
First, is the bit carbide or HSS? No it doesn't matter a whole lot but HSS dulls MUCH quicker than carbide or carbide tipped.
Next, how much use has that specific bit had?
Could it be that it needs to be sharpened or even replaced I've finally rid myself of my HHS bits. They would gum up and get dull too quickly.

If it is carbide, is it the same bit used for the previous projects with walnut and oak you wrote about? If so, it might just be dull.

Have you cut any pine dove tails with it? Then it is probably gummed up and could use a cleaning.

I have a local saw sharpening shop that will sharpen my carbide router bits for about $8 and when they get too used he just smiles and tells me to get new ones (though I don't buy from him because he sells at full retail )

If you have a piece of Maple you can use as a test, see what happens at various (lower) speeds but maybe with a faster feed rate.

Anyway, just a couple quick thoughts.

Hope the project goes much easier for you!

Be well,
Ben

I tried the cheapo bits, and then ramped it up to my carbide rocker bits, fairly new still. Rips through pine like butter and treats this maple like granite. Edge cuts are easily cut but starting the full dovetail slot just is too much. Cuts but leaves dark edges. Played with speed already and the faster the better I see, the slower just builds up temp faster it seems., due to slower feed rate. Oh well, at least the box will be dent resistant.

Can you mark and then rough cut on a band saw? Then finish up with a single pass with the dovetail bit.

Depending the size of the straight bit you should be able to rout it in one pass.
My guess the router bits are dull.

I would cut inside the lines with a bandsaw and then clean it all up with a router bit.

You did not say if you are doing this on the Shopsmith or on a router table. I recently made new kitchen cabinets for my kitchen. The drawers have hard maple sides and ash fronts. I used the Shopsmith 9/16 high speed steel router bit on my router table with no problems. I did a full depth sliding dovetail slot on the ash front and a matching dovetail pin in the maple sides. I did not do a pass first with a straight bit. My router is 23,000 rpm and I feed the stock slowly. Also, my HSS router bit is very sharp.

The drawer back is attached to the sides with dovetails using a dovetail jig and carbide tipped dovetail bit.

You need to have sharp bits, a high speed, and a slow feed rate.

I usually touch up my high speed steel router bits on a sharpening stone before using them on hard woods.

ERLover wrote:Can you mark and then rough cut on a band saw? Then finish up with a single pass with the dovetail bit.

I might be more inclined to use the drill press to remove the bulk of the material, like you do for mortising.