Rabbits and dados?

[barracuda48]

I'm sure this is a crazy question but remember it's coming from a newbie! I would like to learn to carve some rabbits and dados in a piece of wood and I'm trying to take a short cut by asking the more knowledgeable people on here...Help!

[mtylerfl]

Hello,

Several of my projects have dado/slots, etc...but, generally I do not use the Carve Region feature due to the tapered carving bit creating "sloped" sides at the edges of the slots. (You CAN get away with this if the slots are very shallow...say, less than 1/8" deep).

To make sure the sides of the dados are straight up and down (no taper), I draw a rectangle at the desired size, then assign the 1/8" Cutting Bit to the desired depth, making sure it is set to cut INSIDE the line, then I draw a connected series of lines that go back and forth inside the rectangle, spaced apart at a little less than the radius of the bit so the passes overlap. Then I assign the same 1/8" Cutting Bit and depth to the connected line. This will "hog out" the material and is much faster and more accurate than a carve region function. If you are doing a pocket cut recess, the corners will be slightly rounded because of the bit diameter, but those are easily squared off with a small chisel, if desired.

Hope that gives you something else to experiment with.

[PCW]

Just to add to Michaels tip you can also draw a single line and assign a 3/16, 3/8 or 1/2 straight bit if you have them. I would make sure you select max pass depth and set it say .125 on the lager bits.

[cestout]

I have box projects in the pattern store, all requiring both rabbits and dado's. I have given-up using the carving machine to do that because the cuts are much cleaner using a table saw, and it is much quicker. Also, the results are more reliable on the table saw. As a general rule, I and several other here, feel that the carving machine should be used for what it can uniquely do, and use other tools, table saw, miter saw etc, for what they do well.
Clint