8 Attachment(s)
Inlay with difficult pieces
My logo is a bit difficult to inlay just because of how thin it is. My smallest mill just barely fits to cut the cavity (1/32")...and that doesn't really fit for much of it. Beyond that, it's difficult just to hold the pieces in place to mark them, so this is my process on difficult inlays like this.
First, here is the victim...
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/1.jpg
and here are the individual pieces that I cut out....this happens to be mother of pearl.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/2.jpg
The first thing I do is put some double sided tape where the logo goes. I need to cut out around the tuner holes. This is facilitated by shining a flashlight from the back so I can actually see the hole.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/3.jpg
Next I just lay the tuner nut and washer on the headstock so I can see where everything fits. You'll see why in a second...the logo just barely fits so I want to be sure to get it aligned properly and that it's aesthetically pleasing.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/4.jpg
Here it is all aligned and happy.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/5.jpg
Now I go over it with a sharp x-acto blade and carefully cut away the double sided tape. I think I used three blades for this. I like working with sharp blades as a slightly dull blade will tug on the tape and make a mess.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/6.jpg
Now I mask it off so I don't make a mess.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/7.jpg
Then I spray it with some rustoleom white primer. Anything would work, I guess, but this is what I happen to use.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/8.jpg
So now this is what I have when I remove the tape...
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...%20Inlay/9.jpg
Now I get some more fresh blades and scribe around the inlay again. There is a lot of over spray and general messiness when you first spray the primer, so scribing makes it that much more precise. I often use the x-acto blade upside down...I find it leaves a better line like that sometimes. Then I carefully....VERY carefully grab the inlay pieces with tweezers, and gently wiggle them back and forth. It will eventually come free. When I'm done with all that, it looks something like this:
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...20Inlay/10.jpg
The rest is pretty straightforward, but for the uninitiated that happen to be reading this thread, now I grab my trusty dremel with the StewMac base...
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...20Inlay/11.jpg
...and have at it. As you're fitting it, be sure to remember to scrape the primer off the individual inlay pieces! The back and front don't matter, but the sides certainly do. When I'm done, it looks a little like this:
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...20Inlay/12.jpg
Normally, you strive to not make all the little bobbles that you see here, but again I'm a little limited by my cutter. If it where really important to be perfect, I would do this particular inlay by hand. In this case, a slight bit of sloppiness is okay, and you'll see why in a second.
Then I glue it in with black epoxy. The fiberboard veneer it's inlayed into will be pitch black once I shoot it with lacquer.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...20Inlay/13.jpg
When it's all sanded flush, you'll never see the tiny mistakes.
http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/a...20Inlay/14.jpg
For larger inlays, I usually just hold it down and scribe so it's a far simpler process. I could probably hold these down too, their alignment to each other is critical so it's far easier for me to get the alignment done on the double sided tape where I can see everything all at one.
One thing I'll be experimenting with in the coming months is using one of those turbine carvers that use dental burrs and spin at 400,000RPM. That should be a significant upgrade and should bring a whole new level of precision to the inlay process.