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Anthony Scira
06-06-2011, 11:56 AM
Thought I would share. Still needs to be installed on the neck and given a final sanding. But it is coming out pretty well. I must say the laser does not like ebony ! The inlay pieces were cut but the ebony had to be hand cut to accept the inlay.

The ebony just chars but I think for an intricate inlay you could make a jig and dust off (scrape) the char and replace in the jig and hit it again. I am thinking the black carbon deposit is keeping the laser from going deeper. Will try it and let you guys know how it turns out.
197036

Dane Fuller
06-06-2011, 1:04 PM
Looks good. Can't wait to see the final.

Neil Pabia
06-06-2011, 1:57 PM
That looks good, just be aware that if you over heat the ebony, it will crack if not instantly, it will be in the near future.

Gary Hair
06-06-2011, 4:04 PM
Anthony,
I have a customer that builds custom steel guitars and I inlay his logo and the customer name in ebony. I tried to use my laser and, like you, had poor results. I ended up using my cnc router with a 1/64" bit and it works really well. The inlay material is .125 and the pockets are .10, he glues, sands flush and fills any gaps and the result is very nice.

Gary

Anthony Scira
06-06-2011, 4:30 PM
Neil - Thanks for the warning on the ebony. What I did do was vector the outline of the inlay using full power (45) and like 20% speed. It made a deep enough cut to where when my bit got close to the edge it flaked out nicely. Hopefully I will not have any problems since I installed the inlays with a epoxy. That should keep it from cracking.......I hope. ;)

Gary - Yeah a CNC router would DEFINITELY be the way to go ! And if I had to do over again I would have bought the CNC first. Oh well will have to keep using my StewMac precision router base with the dremel...........Which actually works good as long as I did not have too much coffee.