Dovetail socket

A dovetail socket is a tapered housing in a long face that takes a dovetail tail on the end of the other part.

Depth 12 mm

Depth 20 mm

Depth 30 mm

Dovetail socket. Drawn by the editor's own geometry code; right: the carved part in 3D.

When to use it

Use a dovetail socket where a crossing part hooks into a long face and must not pull out. The socket floor and the far end stay closed. Give its tail the same numbers: the Dovetail joint for a member’s end in Fitting places the two as a pair.

Fields

Veld	Eenheid	Bereik of opties	Standaard	Wat het verandert
Position X	mm	-100000 to 100000	1500	Middle of the socket mouth along the part.
Position Y	mm		60	Middle of the socket mouth across the face.
Face		Top, Bottom, Front, Back	Front	The side of the part the processing is on.
Angle	°	-180 to 180	0	Direction of the socket in the face, from the part axis.
Length	mm	0.1 to 50000	80	Length of the socket from the mouth. It must be longer than the end radius.
Width	mm	0.1 to 1000	30	Distance between the flanks at the far end, not the diameter of the round end.
Depth	mm	0.1 to 1000	20	How deep the socket goes. It must be less than the part thickness.
Cone angle	°	0 to 30	0
Flank angle	°	5 to 35	15	Undercut angle of the flanks, 5 to 35°.
Mouth limitation		Closed, Open to timber edge	Closed
Closed end		Square, End radius	End radius	Square end or a round end tangent to both flanks.
End radius	mm	0.1 to 1000	15	Radius of the round end. Radius and width are linked.
Width allowance	mm	-10 to 10	No allowance	Machining allowance on the width, for Hundegger machines. BVX writes it; BVN and BTLx have no field for it and say so. Empty is none.
Splinter-free		Machine default, Off, Tool path	Machine default	Machining that keeps the edges from splintering. Machine default writes what each file normally has for that operation. BVX and BVN carry an explicit choice where the operation has the setting, and the export says so where it does not. BTLx has no such setting.

Default: what Add fills in on a 3000 mm part of 120 x 120 mm.

Add a dovetail socket

1. Select the part in the Parts list.
2. Under Extra processings, click Add.
3. Type dovetail socket in the search field and pick Dovetail socket.
4. Set Face, Position X, Position Y and Angle. The position is the middle of the socket mouth.
5. Set Length, Width, Depth and Flank angle, then pick the Closed end.
6. Check that the part shows a green check. If not, open the Issues tab.

A socket can be mirrored or moved to another face. Check its fit after moving it: the new face may have less room.

Beside other machining

A socket is cut on its part beside other machining: another socket on the opposite face at the same place, a bore or a bolt hole through it or beside it, and a half bevel or a V at the far end clear of it. Two things still keep it from being cut: a lap, mortise, slot or birdsmouth that takes some of the socket’s own timber, and an end cut that leaves the part not convex, such as a half bevel, when the socket reaches into it. The part then shows an error that says which.

Housing

Enable Housing for a wider shoulder block and its matching recess. Set its length, width, depth and corner shape; 10 and 15 mm are quick depth picks. The tongue starts after the housing, and a mortise or socket runs on from its floor. Its depth is additional to the housing depth. Keep the tongue inside the housing and the complete cut inside the timber. Drag the housing depth handle in the drawing or in 3D.

BTLx carries the two cuts together as House or HouseMortise. BVX and BVN housing mappings are experimental: the export includes them with a warning and a preview, and Leave out removes the complete housed joint. BTL carries linked 052/053 housings with a specification caveat. BVN preserves imported 0506 and 17xx forms whose placement has not been confirmed. The existing Housed tenon joint keeps its full-width housing; Narrow housed tenon, Vertical housed dovetail and Horizontal housed dovetail bind the housing dimensions on both halves.

Machine export

Format	Status	Details
BTLx	Partly supported	DovetailMortise: a bounded socket on a long face with an explicit flank angle. Housing uses HouseMortise with a nested DovetailMortise; both lean fields are functional.
BVN (Hundegger)	Partly supported	Experimental, included with a warning unless you leave it out. Operation 1702 is experimental and included with a warning: its width and cone follow a worked example from cadwork, but at which depth the width is measured is still open. An open housed socket across its face uses a complete recess plus experimental 1723. Leaned, lengthwise, closed or rounded housings are refused by name.
BVX2 (Hundegger)	Partly supported	Experimental, included with a warning unless you leave it out. DovetailMortise, open at its mouth, is experimental and included with a warning: its width and cone follow a worked example from cadwork, but at which depth the width is measured is still open. Housing uses an experimental complete recess and deeper DovetailMortise. Leaned sockets use the same placement conventions as mortises.
BTL 10.6	Partly supported	055 straight or leaned sockets; linked 053 housing. The receiver chooses the undercut cutter; allowances are omitted.
Machine	Specialised machine	A socket leaning along or across its face needs a five-axis head, such as on a Hundegger ROBOT-Drive or K2. A square socket keeps the usual dovetail-cutter form. Which machine can cut it.

BTL status describes what the specification can represent. CAMBIUM imported our earlier BTL test files; confirmation applies to the tested forms and build. See BTL coverage for representation and receiver caveats.

Gerelateerde pagina's

• Dovetail tail: A dovetail tail on the end of a joist that drops into a dovetail socket, square or at an angle. Fields, card, handles, Fitting and machine export.
• Dovetail: The classic log building corner joint: a tapered tail that drops into the crossing beam. Fields, drawing accuracy and machine export.
• Mortise: A rectangular housing cut into a face to take a tenon, square, turned or leaning. Fields, defaults, how to add one and how each machine format exports it.
• Free contour: Your own outline of lines, arcs and curves, milled out of a face to a depth or right through. Fields, shapes, sharp corners and export.
• Oriented housing: A housing with a floor that can tilt both ways and four walls that can lean on their own: the 3D pocket, its handles, fields and machine export.
• Design your own joint: Design a joint for crossing members or a member's end: housings, tenons, knife plates, pegs and more, sized from the timber, with a live 3D preview.

Controls and handles

The card shows a drawing, Place, Size / shape, Lean / turn, and All values, with Housing on a housed socket. Blue choices and quick picks show the value in use. Angles are measured off square: 0° is square, while All values retains the format’s own angles.

Drag the blue handles to place or size the cut. Their hints say what each handle changes; holding Alt leaves the usual angle snaps free. Socket lean works along and across its length, and BVN names and leaves out a leaned socket whose placement it cannot carry. BTLx and supported BVX placements retain the lean.