have you ever done a cnc project without being sure of what type of joint to use today we are going to look at five simple joints and how to design them to ensure the best quality outcome in this video you will learn what purpose each type of joint serves the best what are the things to consider before choosing a specific joint type and most importantly how to design the joints hi i'm davis if you've been watching my channel you already know that i make a lot of projects that all have one thing in common they can all be assembled with only cnc cup joints if you are new here and you would like to see unique cnc projects make sure you click that subscribe button everybody knows that there are some projects that require a different approach when it comes to joining two components together and sometimes it may be unclear what joinery would work the best when it comes to designing it's essential to understand different types of joints so you can choose the best suitable option one of the most often used cnc joint type is mortise and tenon it's really simple to design and cut on your cnc router and it serves good for shelving units tables boxes drawers chairs and basically any other piece of furniture but there are some things to consider before choosing this joint in order for this joint to be rigid without gluing the components everything should be cut with great precision therefore you have to take in account the actual material thickness of the sheet you will be using and make the mortise component according to your measurement also make sure your router bit is calibrated properly and the tool compensation function in your cam software is up to date it's also important to know what type of loads the joint will have to endure for this joint it's important to avoid too much shear pressure it might pop the joint right open if you are using this type of joint and you don't want the murtis to go all the way through the material i would suggest leaving a one millimeter gap between the tenon and the mortise floor in traditional carpentry the gap is useful for two purposes first it serves as a space for the excess glue to go to when the item is being glued second it helps the joint shoulders to fit perfectly okay let's quickly sketch this joint the more this part is the easiest to make since all you have to do is to draw correctly placed square in the correct location just make sure that this parameter matches your material thickness the tenon component is not much harder to make you just basically draw a square and attach another one on the side make sure all the dimensions match otherwise there might be a slight joint displacement the next frequently used joint is the half lap joint this joint allows joining two crossing components therefore it's really useful for chairs tables shelves and many other items before sketching this joint there are some things that we have to consider one of the things that we have to consider is that this joint makes each individual component slightly weaker it might not matter for a small project but it's something to keep in mind when modelling something bigger like shopping units before using this joint we have to know how tight we want it to be if the cut is exactly the same size as the material thickness it might be hard to assemble if it's slightly smaller it might be almost impossible to do it therefore i suggest making the cut slightly wider than the material thickness also for this joint we have to keep in mind what forces will be applied to the components but in general this joint is the strongest when used for vertical or horizontal structures not as much for the ones placed at an angle with that being said it's time to get started on modeling the components this perhaps could be the easiest joint to sketch all we have to do is sketch the outline for the components and then we can easily add the cut where we need it in this case i will add it in the middle as i said earlier it's important to decide on the size of the cut personally if the joint is up to 20 centimeters long i make the cuts the same size as the material thickness if it's wider or longer than that i usually add an extra millimeter to the width of the cut so the components fit without a ton of hammering next we can look at the wedge joint this joint is perfect for items that you are planning to assemble and take apart multiple times there is no glue required in order for this joint to serve in the long term therefore it's a perfect solution for bigger projects that might be taken apart to move from one place to another the wedge joint might be the perfect solution for many projects however there are some things that you have to consider the wedge can make tear outs when taking apart your item it's not a big problem and it can be easily fixed with a drop of glue or you can prevent it from happening by chiseling these edges there is a minimum size requirement for the components in order for the joint to be strong and effective depending on the material thickness you might need the parts to be at least 60 to 100 millimeters wide the reason for that is we should leave enough material here on the mortise component so it can support the bait it will have to carry when the item is done on the tenon component we have to watch how wide the material is left here if it's too thin you could break it while hammering the wedge in place also i want to point out that this joint will work the best when made out of plywood or hardwood with correctly positioned grains mdf ports might not be the best option for this joint sketching for this joint is a little bit harder than the previous one usually i like to start with the tenon component we will quickly sketch one half of the outline okay let's quickly go through everything you have to pay attention to first remember you have to leave a place for the mortise component so this dimension should be the material thickness you are using it's important to leave a place for the wedge as well for most of my projects i set this distance to 13 millimeters one more important thing this is a hole for the wedge and in order for it to pull the components together it's essential to leave a little gap here so the wedge has a place to stay when it's hammered in place when everything seems okay let's just mirror the outline okay now let's make the mortise component it's basically the same as for the first joint we sketched today make sure that this distance is the same size as for the tenon's component when it's done we have to sketch the wedge itself it's really fast to do i usually make the middle of the wedge be as wide as the hole it will be placed in so after assembling it will fit nicely in the middle of the joint now we could look at the hooked slotting joint it's a great option for projects that will be reassembled many times it's also perfect for the projects where you need to adjust the position of the components like for the table i made a while ago the coffee table can be adjusted to a working desk height i think the only thing that you have to consider when choosing this joint is basically the load that it will have to endure in my experience it won't last long if there is constant shear pressure applied for this joint it's usually the easiest to start with the hook component first let me quickly sketch the outlines and then we will go through the important dimensions so the first thing to remember is that this space should be the same thickness as the material you can make it slightly bigger in order for the components to fit easier when sketching the hook it's important to define this distance so you know where the mortise joint should be located also it's important to make this part big enough so the joint can support the weight you want it to hold the hook can be bigger or smaller depending on the appearance and the potential shear pressure i usually make it 30 to 50 millimeters long and 17 to 25 millimeters wide when that is done we can add a small detail that will help when assembling the joint let's add a little radius here so it's easier to assemble the components when that is done we have to sketch the mortise part here we are going to use the same dimension as we did with the hook component we should also add a couple of millimeters to the height of the mortise for easier resembling last but not least we have the clip tenon joint this might be one of the coolest looking cnc joints out there however there are some things that you have to consider before choosing it first it's more for the aesthetic appearance than the functionality and you might have to test cut the joint a couple of times before adding this joint to your design material like mdf is softer therefore it might wear out faster ok let's get started with the sketching whenever i decide to make this joint i start with the clip component first since the component is symmetrical we only need to sketch one side of it in fusion 360 it's easy to adjust the dimensions after the outlines are drawn let's add the dimensions to the tenon depending on the width of your components the width of the tenon can differ in this case tenon's main task is to fixate the joints in place for the clip part there are also some things that you have to consider first the width of the material here it should be thin enough so it would bend when the joint is assembled these cuts here should be deep enough so the wood would bend without breaking [Music] this distance should allow the clip to bend to the point it fits in the mortise component [Music] ok let's get to the mortise component it's fairly simple to make all you have to do is sketch three holes the middle one is for tenon and the other ones for the clip to go in let's double check if everything fits if everything seems to be okay i still suggest making some test cuts before adding this joint to your project and that's our list of five simple joints that you can make on your cnc router if you learned something new please leave a like and also subscribe for more cnc related content stay creative and i see you next time you
