OK, so I’ve read as many of the posts as I can find here about creating inlays with CC Pro and what depths to use, but no matter what I do, the Male plug always comes out the same. Here are the settings I used that should fit my
Female part at Starting Depth = 0.00" and Max Depth at 0.125"
First Male Part Starting Depth = 0.03" and Max Depth at 0.125"
2nd Male Part Starting Depth = 0.09" and Max Depth at 0.125"
The second Male Part is more sloppy fit than the first one. I measured the height of the Male Part and they are both the same.
Post the part file / CC file. Are you using Advanced V-Carve for both? Male is mirrored & the opposite part cut out? i.e. you added a border around the outside in addition to the detail in the middle.
The first male part cut at start depth 0.030 should barely fit into the female part. (0.030 deep).
The 2nd male part should go 0.090 into the female, leaving 0.035 gap
The magic of making a successful inlay is the male plug must be slightly smaller than the female socket. To accomplish that the make plug starting depth must be .1" deep.
In the picture the left one has a starting depth of .1 and max depth of .21. The center picture has a start depth of 0 and max depth of .21. Then the right picture has start depth of 0 and max depth of .4" You can see that the one that had a start depth of .1 fits deeper into the female socket. The female socket was the same on all 3 samples.
So the male plug must be slightly smaller for it to go far enough to the female pocket so you have some glue surface on the side walls.
So what vee bit are you using to cut your angles. I have used a 60 degree with good success in the past. The same bit must be used for both halves of the inlay.
So I suggest you make a test similar to what I showed you above. See how far the male penetrates and measure that so you get an idea on how changing the starting depth of the male plug effects your inlay. Do not forget that many suggest a small gap at the bottom of the male plug to give excess glue a place to go. To achieve that your female socket may need to be slightly deeper. So try a deeper female socket, different starting depths for the male plug and see what works best for your project. There is no magic formula it is trial and error or experiments to prove what works best.
When clamping your male plug in use as many clamps as possible to get the plug to seat all the way to have a gap free finished result. This picture has a round plywood call on top of the inlay to get even pressure all the way around. The caul was just a left over piece from an earlier project. You can use a board of you have one that is bigger than the inlay.
Thanks Guy, I just finished remakiing my female and male parts using a 0.02" glue gap with the following depth settings:
Female: Starting Depth = 0.00" Max Depth: 0.125" (I wanted it thicker for a cutting board)
Male: Starting Depth - 0.105" Max Depth: 0.125"
They match perfectly showing a small gap between the 2 parts. It’s all glued up and clamped and after the glue dries, I’ll surface it and see if I have any gaps where they matched up. My test parts were made from MDF for the female and Select Pine for the male.
I’m looking forward to my first Inlay on an edge grain cutting board if the test Inlay looks good.
