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She uses the hand crank to
move the boards so that the right edge is under the mid-point of the router bit — see
the inset.
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Tracy uses a fine lead
pencil to draw a mark against the clear plastic Big Cursor. This aluminum face takes
exact, narrow lines very well. Tracy and I use a crepe rubber block (in background) for
erasing the marks. These blocks are those used to clean sandpaper belts.
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She uses
the crank again to move the block so that the dovetail bit is centered this time over the
left hand side. She marks a fine line for this position.
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The next task
is to figure out how many dovetails you want and where they should be. The inset shows how
the new manual suggests getting equal spacing — and without having to do exacting
math.
There are some other ways, so Tracy and I went over them to see what way we
liked best.
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This orange pantograph was
used with the WoodRat, and it works well here except that it is easier to use it on a
worktable than on the jig.
When using this, you have to decide which side of the orange spokes you will
use. Actually, what we did was to lightly draw on both sides. When we mark up the fixture
in the next step, we can easily "eyeball" the midpoint of each spoke.
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I found this pantograph at
a local Woodcraft Store. It works fine and has exact places to mark.
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The "old masters"
often used a pair of dividers to divide the space evenly. That would be by trial and error
but certainly a method.
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Lastly, you can take a
trick from master cabinetmaker Frank Klausz who marks the board by eye by dividing in
half, then half again, and again until he has the number of dovetails and the look he
wants. Of course, he uses this method for his hand cut dovetails. We could use it with the
WoodRat since the system doesn't care where you want to have a tail...or how many. This
"open latitude" will come extremely handy when we make specialty corners for
both small chests and blanket chests where variable spacing and sizes will come are
necessary.
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With her board marked for
the centerlines of each dovetail, Tracy can now transfer the marks to the aluminum face.
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She has positioned the
large cursor at each dot she made and draws a fine line on the face. These should be very
thin, but dark enough so that they can be seen when cutting the pins and tails.
By the way, Tracy and I both found that the accuracy of the dovetails was
greatly effected by the ability to see the fine marks. I have re-positioned the work lamp
so that this area is well lighted.
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