...concerning the capability to run two projects consecutively on the same board with minimal setup for the second pass, I was able to use this technique to cut a half blind dovetail, although it's not as tight a finish as I desire...
Cutting the 1/2" thick Tail Board of course was straightforward, although trial and error was required to determine that the width of the Tails needed to be reduced by 5%. Cutting the Pin Board, though, involved 2 consecutive projects: 1) first hogging out the bulk of the Sockets with the 1/8" straight bit, and 2) then using a 10 deg dovetail bit (but telling the machine that it was the 3/16" straight bit) to finish the Sockets.
I think to tighten the fit will require a small saw and a bit of manual effort to square out the bottom of the Tails. Additionally, the Tail Board might need to have the Pins reduced in thickness a touch (say from 1/2" down to 3/8") on the inside corner, and the depth of Sockets reduced accordingly, in order to hide the rounding of the Sockets caused by the dovetail bit...
Also, this is definitely not quicker than using a dovetail jig(!)...
Cutting the dovetails with a jig would definitely be quicker, but I do it so seldom that I waste a lot of time and wood getting set up. So, if you have an .mpc all ready to go, that might be quicker. Also, mine is a Craftsman non adjustable jig, so I could benefit from the adjustability, or even make them uneven to match antiques that are hand done. I really like your idea.
Funny you should mention matching antique dovetails, because that's why I'm spending the time to figure this out...
Just so you can see what's involved, attached are the 3 MPCs (one for the Tail Board and 2 for the Pin Board) that I created to mill the pair of boards. The Pin Board is such that Part 1 hogs out the main part of the socket in addition to some space beyond the final end of the board, in order to permit the dovetail bit (on Part 2) to drop, before it mills the dovetail profile. If you zoom into the vectors on Part 2, you'll see that the start and end of the vector are in this extra pocket area, so that the dovetail bit drops (and later raises) in this area, before it profiles the pocket. (Of course, on a system fault in the middle of the dovetail profiling, the bit will rise, tearing through the edge of the socket.) On my test, I actually placed the sockets on the end of the board, so during Part 1 it air carved the pocket for the dovetail to drop in. Obviously I'll need to experiment a bit more when not on the end of the board, to ensure I've left sufficient room for the dovetail bit when it drops...
I created the milling vectors via a program that takes as its parameters such things as: Pin & Tail Board Width, Tail Board Thickness, Dovetail Bit Width, Dovetail Bit Angle, Number of Tails, etc. I still need to expand the program a bit more to handle such things as left and right side Pins on the Pin Board, length of the Pin & Tail Boards to be cutout, and reducing the tail widths as I mentioned earlier...
Half Blind Dovetail
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