Bowtie joint

[myxpykalix]

I'm doing a countertop for a woman and she wants bowtie joints between the two pieces where they join up (decorative) and it has been so long since i've done one of these i simply don't remember specifics and tolerances.

So i was going to use a .125 straight endmill for the female hole in the countertop .25 deep and the same .125 endmill for the male part that i insert.

What i don't recall was whether i need to allow (X) amount of an inset of the male part to allow it to fit in the hole to allow for glue and whether i need to cut the male part with a vbit to bevel the sides instead of making them straight?

[steve_g]

Jack…
First of all, I’d use a ½” bit… deflection isn’t something you need here!
My practice is to cut the male parts without any allowances, when you have them all cut and some spares, mount the countertop, table slab or whatever, and cut the female without any allowance. Try a dry fit… likely you’ll need to run it again with 3 – 5 thousandths allowance. Run it several times until you get a nice snug fit.
If I have several bowties to run, I make one tool path with the 0,0 datum in the center. That way you run the same toolpath each time with a new 0,0 location for each bowtie.
Everyone has their favorite method but this works well for me!
Good luck!
SG

PS:
I use the VCP inlay toolpath feature to create toolpaths…

Also see:
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?21169-feedback-wanted/page4

[myxpykalix]

I tried a sample using the .02 allowance and it fit perfectly