Flat Depth Inlay translation

OK so there is a video on YouTube where this guy is experimenting with different settings doing inlays. He is using Vectric? His controls are the start depth and flat depth. I’m not really sure what those mean but his best results are using a start depth of .19 and a flat depth of .01 on his male piece. I’d like to replicate the results he got with this. I’ve had success doing inlays before using a start depth of 0 and max depth of 2 on my female and a start depth of .1 and max depth of 2 on my male. But im looking to get a better fit with no space. I’d like the bottom surfaces to touch. Ive cut my female piece using advanced v-carve with 30 degree bit, start depth 0 max depth .25. Any ideas of what my setting should be for the male piece to replicate this guys results?

Here is the link to the video

But if that doesnt work, the video is called “Vcarve inlay numbers” and the name is
Chet Weatherl

I did not watch the video but when you carve the male plug you start below the top of the material because it makes the male part smaller than the female pocket. This is important because if they are the same size by starting the male plug at the top of the material the male plug does go very far into the female pocket.

The likely meaning of the flat depth is the space at the bottom of the female pocket and the male inlay having a space at the bottom for a place that excess glue can go. If you have the male inlay fully hit the bottom of the female pocket there is no place for excess glue to go and you wind up the glue hydroponically raises the male inlay and keeps the male inlay from fully seating. This results in gaps around the top edge between the female pocket and the male inlay.

Ideally you want some space at the bottom for excess glue to go without causing it to pool excessively and raise the inlay or keep it from seating all the way in.

So you have to balance the need for the male inlay to seat deep enough and the small space at the bottom for glue to go.

If you want you can experiment with start depth of the male inlay, overall pocket depth and penetration of the male plug by changing the parameters inlaying and then cutting the inlay in half to see what you get.

The Vetric application has a special tool path for inlay. On Carbide Create you have to set that differential from the pocket and inlay. So experiment and cut your project apart and see what ou are getting. The only thing holding the inlay in are the side of the female pocket and the male inlay. So the deeper the pocket the more surface you have available for the male inlay glue surface to stick to the female pocket.

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It looks like he is using a 0.1 glue gap, and a 2mm cut depth.
It also looks like Vectric accounts for the offset of the male from the female, where as Guy mentions you have to do that yourself in CC.

So to get the same carve as in the video, you would set CC to:
Female - Start Depth 0, Max depth 2.0
Male - Start Depth 1.9, Max depth 2.0

If you want the gap smaller (You don’t really want it 0), say 0.05mm, then use the Male depths Start: 1.95, and Max depth 2.0.

Once you start making the gap as small as it will go, you need to account for the intricacy of the design, and the hardness of the wood. For each job cut a test piece using the initial numbers (Male start depth 1.9) and cut the test like the image in the video so you can see the cross section of the cuts when assembled. Clamp the pieces together & measure the gap. Under pressure it should be something smaller than the 0.1 gap you designed. Then if you like, adjust your gap from there.

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You probably don’t. Ideally, you’ll clamp them so they get really close. If you bottom out, you won’t get the tight fit you want.

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Tod if the start depth is 1.9MM and the max depth is 2.0MM the male plug would only be .1MM thick. Something is wrong or I dont understand.

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In CC with Advanced V-Carve, the start depth is the depth at which the tool rides tangent to the vector.
So, if I want to cut a female & male from the same vector, a 0.5" circle at 0.2 deep with a 0.01 gap.
They would look like this, with the red circles indicating where the vector height is set.

If I copy the male & line it up with the female so the red circles align, you get the gap when the start depth of the male is 0.19, and the max depth is only 0.01 below that, at 0.2"

The top of the male is still at 0, so the total depth is 0.2 for both male & female

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I also dont understand this. Flat depth cant mean the same as max depth.

Hypothetical, if a bit has a depth per pass of 1mm, and i set the start depth 2 mm below zero, does that mean the 1st pass will actually be 3mm deep?

Yes. It projects the vector to a plane on the start depth, and also assumes you’ve machined to that depth already. You could cut it with Start: 0.09 Max: 0.1, and then Start: 0.19 Max: 0.2 if you want 2 cuts.

It refers to the same surface. Vectric just appears to measure it from the start depth, where CC measures it from the top surface.

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Ok so would i get the same result if i set the start depth at 2mm but set zero 2mm above the surface and then set the max depth to 5mm? Would i get the same result without the extra strain on the bit?

No. You need these points on the female & male to line up when you flip the male over.
And that is controlled by the start depth.

If you feel you need more than one cut, you should do a separate roughing cut on the male.
Either program it separately, or set your Z zero 1mm above the part & run your path, then set the Z on top of the part for the 2nd pass.
What material are you using that 2mm is too deep?

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I appreciate your help. Just beech and ebiara so i dont think the cut depth will be an issue right now. I was just wondering if that would have worked out the same way. About to cut the male part now. Gonna start at 1.9.

Noooo! I set start at .19 and max at .2 and the whole piece ended up smaller that the pocket it needs to fit.

Looks right to me…

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Isn’t that the goal? It won’t fit if it is bigger or the same size.

What angle is your V-bit?

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