Refer to Apollo’s post if you don’t understand why this is necessary: Inlay Work (Woodworking)
Return to Inkscape, open the file and break things apart until one has discrete paths and set the view to outline mode:
Make a duplicate of the path in place so as to have something to refer to.
Next we need to puzzle out about how much to shrink the path before off-setting it so as to preserve roughly the original size / proportion and appearance — 96% should be about right (you can do math to determine this, estimate it by trial and error, or inset a copy by half the bit diameter, measure it, and then do the math to determine how it relates to the original):
There are a number of ways to arrive at the desired geometry, depending on the drawing program. The most expedient in Inkscape seems to be to assign a stroke which is the same thickness as the endmill which will be used, in this case 0.125" or 3.175mm — the stroke should also have rounded joins, and if applicable ends:
One then does Path | Stroke to Path to arrive at:
The outermost path should be one which can be cut inside and outside by the cylindrical endmill which we wish to use — to verify this:
- delete the other copy
- break apart the paths — Path | Break Apart
- delete the inner path
- duplicate the maple leaf path
- set the duplicate to a 0.125" stroke
- do Path | stroke to path to arrive at an inner and outer path
- break apart the paths
Unfortunately, Inkscape gets a bit confused at some points, but we can at least use this for a preview:
Fortunately, the paths are not needed for actual cutting, but merely for a preview. We assign a contrasting stroke to each of the 0.125" thickness which matches the endmill which we will be using and check for gaps in-between:
As we can see, there are several points at which the paths will need to be adjusted so as to allow the inlay to fit properly. The paths could be re-drawn, or we can try again with a narrower endmill — 0.0625"
Re-working the paths results in:
which previews just fine:
One then saves the SVG, imports it into Carbide Create and assigns suitable paths to the central path:
- Toolpath | Contour | Pocket to cut out the pocket for the inlay
- Toolpath | Contour | Outside Right to cut out the inlay piece
The SVG and a C2D file ready for importing or toolpaths are attached.
canada_flag.c2d (227.4 KB)