Remember I am self taught so I experimented with the speeds and feeds for this small end mill to find what worked quickly without stressing machine or end mills in walnut, maple, and cherry; I run about 10"/min with a 0.014" depth of cut. But I cut very little with the small end mill, roughing out the design with 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 to quickly remove pocket areas. The small 0.015" end mill is critical to make the narrow angle corners work so the inlay fits easily. I work within a public library so I must attend the machine at all times and I make frequent end mill changes. It allows me to create the base in about 20 minutes and the inlay in 20 to 40 minutes depending on the design. It took me awhile to figure out how to use the different size end mills to create natural tabs and minimize material removal in the mirror image inlays and allow alignment of the inlay with the cutout base. The infinite heart piece (picture previously posted) is a good example of how the larger mills cut deeper in the inlay to make alignment easy. When the inlay is large (and circular) it can be challenging to align the tight fitting pieces so the wood is not damaged as they are pressed together.
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