There is a plethora of talk in our community discussing inlays and glue gaps. This is not about that.
I have a question about imbedding one piece of material into another utilizing a pocket.
The design is rather simple; a Ford logo, recessed (not fully) into another piece of material using a pocket. The purpose is strictly for alignment and to not rely solely on glue to join them, but also to add extra depth visually to the final result. I’m only looking to recess about a 1/4" into the backer board.
Provided I use geometry to cut out the logo to avoid ‘slotting’, will the logo fit into the pocket if the logo and the pocket are cut the exact same size?
Or do I need some sort of tolerance and need the pocket slightly larger?
The big concern is that the perimeter(s) must not have any sharp points and that all rounding is equal to or greater then the radius or the endmill used for cutting.
To Will’s point, to help guarantee the corners aren’t too sharp, consider using the “fillet all” tool (or equivalent corner radius tool in graphic design software) and setting the radius to whatever bit you plan on using. i.e. if using a .25" diameter bit, add a .125" radius to all corners. If the result is still acceptable looking you should be good to go. For ovals or circles this step isn’t necessary.
As far as tolerances go, I think it’ll depend on your machine model, your tramming, etc. Do some test fits in MDF or scrap wood. I’ve done this before and the pocket was definitely slightly bigger. It was good enough for me, especially with the roundovers I had on everything, but the gap was more obvious from the back. I added more glue to account for the gap.
That is a really cool design. How big is it. From the picture it looks to be 2-3 inches. I recently posted about making some pendants. Your design would make a really nice pendant. I bought an off center jig for my lathe but was thinking about how to make the pendants on my Shapeoko. Maybe a hybrid with some on the lathe and some on the Shapeoko. This is about my 4th pendant and is not ready for prime time but I am just learning. It was made on the Joyner Off Center Jig on my lathe.
Why recess it in? Is this trying to be aligned to some other object?
If it is just to have two materials to provide contrast. laminate the two materials (i.e. glue them face to face) and just cut through the top material to reveal the bottom layer material. Makes toolpathing a bit easier, and eases up on trying to make something fit in something else.
Thank you! The picture might be misleading, it’s actually about 7" across with 1" dots. I could see it working well as a pendant as long as you can machine everything that small. With thinner wood and a small diameter bit (1/8" or 1/16"), why not? The hardest part might be work holding. An onion skin would probably help there.
I appreciate the compliments. I was so pleased with it and thought it would sell, so I made a few, but I was never able to move them. So I’ve got one hanging in my office now
That pendant is really nice. Now I want to go make some…
Had a bit of a delay in replying, I went in for reconstructive acl and meniscus surgery and now I am retired to the couch for some time.
Anyway, the pocket was solely for alignment and to allow me to paint the logo first and then press it into place. It was a 20"×14" piece and I charged $100. It was a gift from the buyer to his father for his birthday.
After machining, the pocket ended up smaller than the logo I was inserting. I cut the logo first and inched up the pocket slowly to get a nice smooth (but not too tight) friction fit. It turned out pretty good I think, and was a quick turnaround (10 days from first contact until pick up). Design, carving and paint I had about 3 hours working time.
