varying dadoes

[bobmoore]

I have to build some cabinets and am wondering how you guys compensate you dadoes for different thicknesses of plywood? Bob

[dlcw]

One of the best ways is to always Z-zero off the bed of the table and not the surface of the material.

When using SBLink, I always Z-zero at the table bed. This way, WHEN, the material varies in thickness, the tenon is always the same thickness and the mortise depth is always exact. For mortise widths, you have to have your bit mic'd to within .001" to ensure properly fitting M/T joints.

There is no other magic involved.

[bobmoore]

Thanks Don;
I guess my first concern is the dadoes in the plywood for the carcass itself. If I have some carcass pieces for the the same cabinet out of 2 seperate pieces of plywood and they are different thickness how do you compensate for that? Bob

[dlcw]

Thanks Don;
I guess my first concern is the dadoes in the plywood for the carcass itself. If I have some carcass pieces for the the same cabinet out of 2 seperate pieces of plywood and they are different thickness how do you compensate for that? Bob

Bob,

Again it is based on the fact that you Z-zero from the table rather then the material. Even with carcass pieces from different thicknesses of wood, zeroing off the table will handle this.

For example - I use 3/4" prefinished maple for left, right, bottom and tops of base and upper cabinets. I use 1/4" for the back and 1/2" for the toe kicks. I use an unfinished 3/4" for nailers (different thickness then 3/4" prefinished). When designed in eCabs, all the M/T joint sizes are calculated by eCabs taking into account the thickness of your chosen materials.

[ken_rychlik]

Bob,
Within a shipment of material, most of it is within .010 variance. If you do full dado's give yourself .010 extra space over your mic'd material thickness and you will be fine.

Another way around it is to make your dado's 5/8 or whatever you want and have the machine skim the edges of your decks, streachers, ect... to that thickness.

[bobmoore]

Thanks guys.