Alright, so I have driven myself mad here. I have watched every inlay video on youtube and scoured the forums. Everyone says to do the same thing that I am doing.
I have a test piece and the female is too large, or the male is too small. Not sure which. I am using a 1/8 endmill and a .25 60 degree vbit.
.25 max depth with a .23 plug depth would leave a .02 glue gap at bottom no? That’s my thought process, but clearly it is flawed. Help a newbie out please.
The max depths do not need to match. If you want a larger top gap that’s ok.
Plugs tend to fit into pockets a bit further than planned, so plan ahead.
Do a test a and try a 0.050 plug depth & 0.280 top gap.
Now insert it measure the top gap, and then adjust accordingly to get the numbers you want.
It helps if you set it up so you can fit the female to the male without removing the male from the machine, so you can adjust your numbers & cut again.
It also helps if the design runs off the front of your board so you can see the cross section of the fit.
I was referring to my preference to keep these numbers the same and simply wished to point out the difference — the usage of the difference for glue gap is valid, I just don’t like voids in my work.
@WillAdams based on the original file I provided, should I be doing some sort of offset?
Looking at the post you provided and the link, it looks like my cut settings follow that logic; female depth of .25 inch, male is .23 plug depth and a healthy top gap (not for any reason, just have been playing with that number up and down to see if it made a diff). So, I genuinely can not see what I am dong wrong. Even when i make the .25 depth and .25 plug depth I just bottom out with huge gaps around the edges, just like in the picture. Doesn’t change much.
I see your logic @Tod1d , however I miss why putting .05 as a depth would be your first suggestion. Wouldn’t that leave .2" of a gap at the bottom of the pocket? Also, what would adjusting the top gap do besides adjust the top gap amount that is left? I have seen your side slice drawing a million times in other posts and if plug depth is actual plug depth wouldn’t .23 leave me with .02 at the bottom of a .25 pocket?
I used this logic and got the results initially posted. I even had to get out a jewelers loupe magnifier to verify that the vbit was indeed a 60 degree and not a 45 that I had put in the wrong slot. Everything matches up except unfortunately, the results
If you program plug depth 0.230" in a 0.250" pocket, yes in theory the gap should be 0.020".
But as mentioned, theory goes out the window when the tool runs out, deflection, any slop in the machine, etc… lots of possible variables. So I recommended starting with 0.050" and measuring the resulting gap to determine your “fudge factor”. Then using that to get the results you want.
Jason, it just happened that a cutting board that already was cracked broke apart yesterday. I already used it just for myself because it was by far not good enough:
It is all about proper depth settings. That is the trick. Recommend to perform several test cuttings, glue them and cut them open with a table saw. Takes some time, but is certainly very, very worth it. GL!
