

In order to remain competitive, the Grand Rapids plant was shuttered and manufacturing was directed offshore. In 1999, a group of investors purchased Oliver. The company had forged a reputation for reliability and ruggedness, particularly in terms of its heavy cast-iron tool bases. It was estimated at the time that about 75,000 of them were still in operation on a daily basis. Still, even through some turbulent years Oliver’s production continued, and by 1994 the company had manufactured some 150,000 machines here in the United States. For a variety of reasons, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1986.

New woodworking machines sourced from Asia were less expensive for woodworkers to buy. There were labor issues and even a few lawsuits,” Clark recalls. Oliver fell into harder times as the costs of production rose. “By the late 1970s into the mid 80s, more woodworking machinery companies were closing their American manufacturing plants and sending production overseas. The plant churned out bread slicers during the Depression, metal-cutting saws during World War II and even packaging and printing machinery during the 1950s and 60s. From its factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Oliver also produced a variety of woodworking machines as wells as other tools as the market presented new opportunities. It’s a design other companies would emulate in the years to come. There was also his Straitoplane, introduced in 1923 as a combination jointer/planer, which could surface a warped board straight and flat in one pass. In 1908, Oliver introduced a cylindrical cutterhead that would eventually replace the square - and more dangerous - cutterheads used commonly in certain machines of the time. But it was just the first of many innovative woodworking products that would come from the Oliver Machinery Company. Oliver’s wood trimmer won him a gold medal for merit at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. Oliver thought he could make a better tool, and he did.” He was a machinist by trade who developed his own version of a wood (miter) trimmer machine after selling another company’s wood trimmer for a number of years. “Our company was founded by Joseph Oliver around 1890. So recently, Lisa Clark, Oliver’s marketing manager, was happy to bring me up to speed. I was impressed by the variety of offerings because, honestly, it’s a product line I didn’t know very well.
#Cnc dovetail legacy plus
It includes both the standby offerings you’d expect - table saws, band saws, jointers and planers, shapers, drum sanders, dust collection and more - plus a few things you wouldn’t necessarily anticipate, like a membrane press for laminating sheet goods as well as CNC machines. The booth was substantially sized and crowded with the company’s current machinery line. But, while there are various reasons why some big brands have pulled out, Oliver was there, and in force. What I mean by that is, a number of popular machinery manufacturers no longer include national trade shows like IWF in their marketing agendas for the year, and those absences are conspicuous. Oliver’s presence at IWF impressed me for a couple of reasons. Here’s a video from that visit which highlights the tool. Last month, while attending the International Woodworking Fair (IWF) in Atlanta, I stopped by Oliver Machinery’s booth to check out one of their new 1013 intelliCarve CNC machines. But the next time you’re in the market for a new machine, consider Oliver it’s an iconic brand that’s been a staple in the wood shops of schools, military bases and industry for more than 100 years. Or possibly, the first brands that come to mind are those you own or whose ads come to mind from your favorite woodworking publications, blogs and websites. Is Oliver Machinery on your list? If it isn’t, maybe that testifies to how broad the machine tool industry has become. The joint will be tighter if you use beech wood, for example.Here’s a quiz: name five of today’s major woodworking machinery manufacturers. I only used fir wood, which is quite soft.

Some are even a bit too lose, that depends of the type of wood you are using. I didn't use any offset to make the joints fit, but they fit really well. The tool goes straight into the material 12mm deep, so that's why a first roughing with a straight bit is needed. The one I used is about 14mm long and 14mm wide. The second toolpath is designed for a 73° dovetail router bit. The first toolpath is made for taking off material with a 1/4 bit (I chose to use a down-cut bit for a cleaner result). Here is my drawing, which includes two toolpaths. This file is made for pieces of wood which are 20mm thick, 110mm long and 67mm wide.
#Cnc dovetail legacy pro
I started by drawing a wood joint with five dovetails on VCarve Pro (ShopBot's software).
