CNC - calibration issues for inlay work

[Jim Becker]

We have sold our soul to the devil which is the deceptive cheap option. And the cost of the returns monetarily and to the planet is a double pennance on our souls.

Fortunately, they pay for the returns, not me. I got back every penny including sales tax about two hours after I received it and then dropped it off at the UPS store to be scanned. I wasn't expecting something extraordinary, but this was bad enough.

In your picture, it might be an optical illusion but it appears as if the starting end is damaged. looks like one corner is rounded and the other has a sharp 90 deg bend but is dented.

I looked at that, too, but made sure that the lines for the start point were, well...lined up...not just that the ends were flush.

[Gary Hair]

How about using a v-bit and cut your inlay upside down? I did that for a guitar builder that needed zero gap and we were able to achieve it quite easily. For small or narrow parts I used a pretty steep bit but for larger parts I used a 45 or 60 degree bit.

[Jim Becker]

Gary, v-bit style inlay is a very common technique, especially for smaller projects where the backside of the inlay (male) can be sliced off on the bandsaw and then brought flush with a hand plane or by sanding. One can get a really close fit that way and maintain sharp corners. It does require very careful calculation for depth of cut so that the fit is right while still leaving a tiny bit of room for glue.

[David Falkner]

Yes sir, I could have switched to V-bit style of inlay but for me this was more about understanding why it wasn't working on the CNC when the CAD work showed it should work, why pockets were coming out small whether I planned to do inlay, put a dowel in a hole for a pivot, boring a hole for a bolt and finding it wouldn't fit even though I specified the hole to be 0.005" over the bolt size, etc. It just should have been right. Now that I have it figured out I can do either style of inlay, depending on the project, and know that I won't have to work with it by making multiple passes of 0.001" and hoping it will fit soon.

Now on to the next challenge! LOL!

David

[David Buchhauser]

How about using a v-bit and cut your inlay upside down? I did that for a guitar builder that needed zero gap and we were able to achieve it quite easily. For small or narrow parts I used a pretty steep bit but for larger parts I used a 45 or 60 degree bit.

That's a great idea!!
David