Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

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jimandi5000
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Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

Hello Everyone,

First thing. Thank you BillK for the feedback on Version 4.0. It was great guidance.

I hope all of you are health and safe. I have been busy. Here is version 5.0 of the Dovetail Gadget. I have updated the Help Files and posted a new video on YouTube (see link below)

https://youtu.be/KB_HWWHLsGc (3 minutes)

Items Fixed:
1. Supports VCarve Pro Version 9 and 10
2. Fixed the dovetail layout

Please let me know if you have question or errors.

I am off to the next big thing... :)
Attachments
20200515_172642.jpg
Thanks,
Jim

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jimandi5000
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

Here is the Gadget.
Attachments
EasyTools20200515.zip
All Easy Gadgets
(2.45 MiB) Downloaded 406 times
Thanks,
Jim

BillK
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by BillK »

Thanks Jim. Can’t wait to try this out. Video looks good, those joint will plane off nicely.
BillK
https://www.facebook.com/CarvingsByKurtz

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jimandi5000
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

BillK wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 1:53 pm
Thanks Jim. Can’t wait to try this out. Video looks good, those joint will plane off nicely.
Thanks Bill.
Thanks,
Jim

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by SteveNelson46 »

Jim,
Nice job with the gadget and the video. I'll have to make a vertical jig for my machine to try it out.
Steve

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by BillK »

Jim,

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...
Attachments
E34AFDF0-9D2C-48DE-B9E1-AEDF4237E62F.png
BillK
https://www.facebook.com/CarvingsByKurtz

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jimandi5000
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

BillK wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 5:08 pm
Jim,

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...
Hi Bill,

No!!! I do not accept. :)

I will tell you I spent the day in the shop with my middle son. We are building him a bed and we used the Dovetail Gadget for the drawers that go under the bed. After using the gadget, I will be adding some more functions to the tool.

Thinking of adding:
1. Adding both right and left hand toolpaths. For the front board, I just show one end and I had to go and flip the Pins to mill the other end. I think I can do it in the code faster.
2. Backer Board thickness... as you can see in the YouTube video, I was getting a lot of tearout and chipping on the parts. Today, we started off with some failures due to chip out. We had to place backer boards on the front and back of the part to stop chip out. I have to trick the software to add to the thickness but is caused the bit was plowing into the backer board. Not good.
3. Adding Fit adjustment to the Front Board Pins. I have Fit adjustment on the Side Tails but it would be nice to also have it on the Front Pins. Today, I had to play with the Front Pin location in VCarve to loosen up the joint to get a better fit (no sledge hammer needed).

I will post my updates as I fix the code.
Attachments
9.75 inch deep drawers
9.75 inch deep drawers
Dust and chip out management
Dust and chip out management
Material clamping - I need to do something better
Material clamping - I need to do something better
Last edited by jimandi5000 on Sun May 17, 2020 3:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks,
Jim

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jimandi5000
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

SteveNelson46 wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 4:51 pm
Jim,
Nice job with the gadget and the video. I'll have to make a vertical jig for my machine to try it out.
Thanks Steve! I have to say my vertical jig needs some work. Today, I added a quick hold down clamp and it made a big difference on mounting the material to the mill it was like having a 3rd hand. :)

Again, thanks.
Thanks,
Jim

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

Hello All,

I found a small bug in the code. Here is Easy Dovetail Maker Version 5.01


I am working on Version 5.2
Attachments
EasyToots20200517.zip
All current Easy Gadgets
(2.45 MiB) Downloaded 239 times
Thanks,
Jim

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

Hello all,

My hope for you and your family that all are healthy and safe.

Here is Version 5.2

I have made extensive changes and updates to the easy dovetail maker gadget. With the current version at 5.2 you will find a number of enhancements.

Version 5.2 additions:
1. Backer board capability for the prevention of chip out when cutting side material with dovetail cutting it
2. Left and right hand orientation for cutting the front board pins
3. Front pin fit adjustment capabilities
4. Additional code clean up and error trapping
5. Updated documentation (Wiki and pdf)

Suggestions and Feedback is always welcome.
Never hesitate to let me know if you're having issues.
Attachments
Additional user input variables
Additional user input variables
Backer boards for side material milling
Backer boards for side material milling
Left and right orientation
Left and right orientation
General output without backboards
General output without backboards
Front pin fit adjustment
Front pin fit adjustment
Side dovetail fit adjustment
Side dovetail fit adjustment
EasyTools20200518.zip
Most current version of all easy gadgets
(2.5 MiB) Downloaded 255 times
Thanks,
Jim

TJCornish
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by TJCornish »

Hi Jim - I'm excited to try your gadget. I have VCarve Pro 9.5 and when I download both the 20200515 and 20200518 versions I get the error "Failed to extract the vgadget archive".

I tried downloading the file from both Edge and Chome, and extracted the zip file to my desktop. If I double click on your EasyTools.vgadget file or if I go to the Gadgets -> Install new Gadget menu I get the same behavior above. If I rename the .vgadget file to a .zip file, I can open it and see the contents no problem, so I'm pretty confident it isn't a file corruption issue.

Googling seems to suggest that this error relates to the gadget not being compatible with the version of VCarve. Your first post said compatible with 9 and 10. I'm running 9.5.

Thanks for any ideas you may have,
TJ

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

TJCornish wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 9:33 pm
Hi Jim - I'm excited to try your gadget. I have VCarve Pro 9.5 and when I download both the 20200515 and 20200518 versions I get the error "Failed to extract the vgadget archive".

I tried downloading the file from both Edge and Chome, and extracted the zip file to my desktop. If I double click on your EasyTools.vgadget file or if I go to the Gadgets -> Install new Gadget menu I get the same behavior above. If I rename the .vgadget file to a .zip file, I can open it and see the contents no problem, so I'm pretty confident it isn't a file corruption issue.

Googling seems to suggest that this error relates to the gadget not being compatible with the version of VCarve. Your first post said compatible with 9 and 10. I'm running 9.5.

Thanks for any ideas you may have,
TJ
Hi TJCornish,
I am perplexed on this issue. I no longer have version 9.5 due to buying a new PC. Therefore, I have no way to test the Gadget install function.

Does anyone out there have knowledge on why the zip file with .vgadget is not working for Version 9 or 9.5?
Thanks,
Jim

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jimandi5000
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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

jimandi5000 wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 11:16 pm
TJCornish wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 9:33 pm
Hi Jim - I'm excited to try your gadget. I have VCarve Pro 9.5 and when I download both the 20200515 and 20200518 versions I get the error "Failed to extract the vgadget archive".

I tried downloading the file from both Edge and Chome, and extracted the zip file to my desktop. If I double click on your EasyTools.vgadget file or if I go to the Gadgets -> Install new Gadget menu I get the same behavior above. If I rename the .vgadget file to a .zip file, I can open it and see the contents no problem, so I'm pretty confident it isn't a file corruption issue.

Googling seems to suggest that this error relates to the gadget not being compatible with the version of VCarve. Your first post said compatible with 9 and 10. I'm running 9.5.

Thanks for any ideas you may have,
TJ
Hi TJCornish,
I am perplexed on this issue. I no longer have version 9.5 due to buying a new PC. Therefore, I have no way to test the Gadget install function.

Does anyone out there have knowledge on why the zip file with .vgadget is not working for Version 9 or 9.5?
Hi TJCornish,
Would like to test something. Can you install this one? (just a test)
Attachments
EasyDovetailMaker.zip
(2.3 MiB) Downloaded 212 times
Thanks,
Jim

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by AcBCDN »

Hi Jim,

FYI.

I noticed DovetailTool.ini gets overwritten when updating or reinstalling. I added a test tool and when I updated and it was no longer in the tool list.

Andy

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Re: Easy Dovetail Maker 5.0

Post by jimandi5000 »

AcBCDN wrote:
Tue May 26, 2020 12:28 am
Hi Jim,

FYI.

I noticed DovetailTool.ini gets overwritten when updating or reinstalling. I added a test tool and when I updated and it was no longer in the tool list.

Andy
Hi Andy,
I am sorry about the data loss. I do not think I can prevent the ini file from being overwritten when updating or reinstalling. But as I think about it, I could add the version number to the folder name. That would address the version updates but would not address any reinstall. I could move the bit data to the registry, but the number of bit may need to be limited due to the data structure. How many bits do you think you need?
Thanks,
Jim

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