This children’s bookcase for my grandchild was designed with Skechup and milled with Lowrider 4 in 22mm thick hardwood plywood. I’m still learning a lot. I had the pocket holes for the bookshelves cut to 22.5mm wide for 22mm plywood, but after milling, it turned out to be only 19mm. Does anyone know what I can do about this? Best regards.
You might need to surface your work surface. If you are going to have a critical Z dimension you either need to surfacing the material, or the bed…or both depending on how critical.
Maybe check your tool path in Estlecam. It’s possible that you were cutting inside the line instead of on the line. If you were using a 3mm bit that might account for the 3mm difference? Just throwing ideas out as I am far from an expert. Great project!
Ahhhh, you are right it says “Wide”. I think Dan has it, on the line instead of inside the line, of just wrong tool diameter.
Thanks everyone for your replies. I’ve checked the drawing again, and the dimensions are indeed 22.5 mm. When milling a pocket hole, there’s no option to mill it on the outside or inside of the line; it’s always inside the line. Unlike profile milling, than there’s a choice between inside or outside the line. Is calibration still necessary, and can I adjust this with software? I’ve considered having a square drawn (with a fine-point ballpoint pen) measuring 300x300 mm to see if the dimensions are correct. Best regards.
EUREKA, I found it!!! I’m really embarrassed. The bit label says SP-D6-d8-D. The diameter of the bit that fits in the holder is 8 mm, and the diameter of the cutter is 6 mm. In the program, I set the cutter diameter to 8 mm instead of 6 mm. I still have so much to learn, sorry for this mistake. I should try harder. Greetings everyone.
I have done exactly that more than I will admit
also had mills that didn’t measure what was stated on the package or description
No need to apologize. You aren’t the first to do something like this and you won’t be the last.
WHAT IS THIS ALIEN!
Nice Peppa bookshelf! Cutting out large pieces like this is always a bit nerve wracking for me; potentially a lot of money lost depending on the mistake.
Don’t beat yourself up! There’s sooo many things for one person to keep track of between design, CAD, CAM, the work material, etc. The important thing is that you figured it out, and even more importantly, your piece still came out great ![]()
I remember reading somewhere that woodworking is just problem solving, hence the tinker/maker/inventor types like us get into it, because we love solving mysteries and fixing problems. So now I see things like your pockets being too small as another challenge to fix, instead of “another failure”. Just wanted to give some perspective either for you or for someone reading this ![]()
unrelated, I absolutely love your kitchen and garage door aesthetic! The black with dark wood accents are really classy, thanks for the inspiration!





