Hello, I’ve read through inlay tutorials and watched vids, but there’s nothing like experience as a teacher. At this point, I have none.
If someone here who does have experience could take a look at this file and make suggestions for improvement, before I run it, I’d really appreciate it.
Btw: I’m using a 15degree bit for the first time (my goal is to go deep - 8mm with 7mm of contact), so I’m somewhat confident that I will be able to make manual adjustments once it gets going. A more realistic starting point than what I have here would be appreciated. Maybe a percentage increase suggestion as a baseline?
Feeds and speeds are a riddle to me and the pocket piece of an inlay is a mystery. That leaves the enigma of the plug piece for another day… maybe Winston Churchill was thinking of Shapeoko instead of Russia?
The areas with lots of blue, those are areas where the 1/8th bit can’t fit so it is using your 45611 V bit to remove that material. That is your trouble area.
Minor fix: Don’t use the “default” 1/8 bit, that has really slow feed rate (10ipm). Selecting the (same) #102 will return a better feed rate (45ipm in hardwood). This won’t help much, but it will a little (747min vs 645min).
The real issue boils down to the desire to make a .315 in deep pocket, using a 15 degree mill to do most of the work. Some of the areas are so thin/small that even with a 15 degree bit only one pass can be made…
Which means that area probably isn’t going to actually be .315 deep. That is some pretty fine detail, not sure your hardwood can hold.
If you cut your pocket depth to an 1/8 of an inch (0.125) and plan on the plug to maybe insert in 1/10th of an inch (0.100) you might have more luck. Not only do your machining times go down, the small/fine details on your plug might hold up better.
But even with those tweaks, 294 minutes. This is where I would start hand editing the vector points with the goal of reducing those dark blue areas (as those are the areas where only the v bit are being used). By giving the bit(s) more room to fit.
That makes perfect sense. I know it’s obvious, but I hadn’t yet made the connection in my mind of blue area = v-bit. Just that point alone will save me countless hours in the future. Thank you so much for your help!
I’ll go back in and see what I can do… maybe I’ll tackle something a little less ambitious as a first inlay. .
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