In my second year of my bachelor degree, we had the assignment to continue to work and improve on an existing concept of a dovetail jig. The course is called ‘project 2’ along with 3 other students we worked 4 hours a week for the second semester to complete this jig
The tool is developed to work with a Festool OF1400 machine along with the Lignatool dove tail cutter.
I was in charge of design, so I took it upon me to further improve where I could.
Our improvements compared to the original design:
- Renewed pivoting mechanism (replaces 2 sliders)
- Quick release levers
- Plexi screen to keep the wood chips away from your face
- New ‘fixed’ locking plate which clips on the Festool machine instead of bolting a rotating quick release which can pop out
- Renewed ‘mould’ design with different taper and optimized for the Lignatool cutter
As with any school project, mistakes were made, but they were all sorted out. Unfortunately due to corona we lost a couple of classes during the semester, and we were about to finish the product for about 80%
Interested to see how a similar tool works?
Production techniques used:
- Mazak variaxis CNC milling machine
- wire EDM
- 3d printing
- portal drill
- CNC lathe
- pneumatic tapping machine
- conventional lathe
- TIG welder (to fix one of those mistakes as mentioned)
Would we have done things differently if we were to start over again?
Definitely, As we had to use some large parts that were already machined, we had to go with the original concept. Personally, I would have used aluminium Bosch Rexroth profiles and linear guide rails for the whole mechanism, resulting in a play-free mechanism and a lot less machining to be done (cheaper?)
Any questions? Feel free to ask or contact me
Bart Suykerbuyk 