Paul and Damien's Vinlay

[scottp55]

First try of Paul Z's VInlay technique, lost parts of 2 pinion feathers on right side because of wood movement. VERY nice technique. Pocket .1" 1.1" width
Button "scrap" :)

[POPS 64]

Nice job Scott looks great , I've got some inlay work to do on a toy box It turns out like yours I'll be happy. Jeff:D

[Steve Wonser]

That looks great Scott. Was the wood movement due to the double-sided tape?

[scottp55]

Thanks guys, No Steve, there are 3 cracks on the board(1 is 16") and I was told to use scrap the first few times. I'd CA'd the board the day before and clamped overnight. Was also told to do everything in the same day, didn't notice anything when surfacing, but over the course of the day it got 30degrees hotter and 20% more humid and it cupped and cracked the CA in the big gap. That meant the harder I clamped it-the shorter the distance between the wingtips. Anyways, second vulture is ready to be unclamped and surfaced. Bloodwood button scrap this time. Wish I had aligned the grain better.

[shilala]

It does work great, doesn't it?
I've done a ton of inlay with that method. I have 4 cribbage boards on the bot right now that are glued up and waiting for me to get back to them.
It's very time-consuming, and I tend to lose patience, but if I calm down and take the time, it always turns out great.
The eagle looks fabulous!!!
I can see that it'd be a lot easier on me if I started using more solid objects than the script that I like to use. It's so fine and shallow that it's very hard to get it all just so.

[scottp55]

Pretty slick method. Dad and I got maybe 2 ambitious this morning, going out to clean up and glue the Zebra now. Good example of Hard Maple "Fuzzies" after first pass:) I was looking at it after first pass and thought "What are you Scott--NUTS?". Zebra 3.5" wide in same board as the "Vultures".
3 passes now and looks doable after I touch it up a little.

[scottp55]

Scott, Make sure you post pics of crib boards, still remember that beautiful one that had Sassafras and the magnets. Never thought I could do stuff like that, but now it makes sense. :)

[MogulTx]

Scott,

I really like the looks of this. I would like to play around with some of these. Is there a thread on the forum or was this through vectric? ( Of course, I will go search it next...)

I want to run some company logo stuff like this. Did it come out that flush? Surely you did a post-glue-up sanding, right?
Really sweet looking.

Monty

[scottp55]

Monty, Zebra is just coming out and Dad had to leave Just as legs are showing.
He wanted pics, sooo. Got to run.
http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20529

http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=564

[scottp55]

For anybody still following this. Posted 8 more pics I took for Dad so he could see what he missed.
http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20529

[shilala]

Scott, Make sure you post pics of crib boards, still remember that beautiful one that had Sassafras and the magnets. Never thought I could do stuff like that, but now it makes sense. :)
I will if I ever get done, brother.
I'll send you the files if you like. They'd be a nightmare to figure out, but if you made your own toolpaths it'd be pretty easy. Or not. :)

Edit:
I just looked at the zebra.
Ya know how the bit chucked a few of the real soft, short pieces, Scott? I can usually get them to stay by sneaking up on them. Rather than getting down to the flat depth in one or two passes, I'll go down in two mildly aggressive passes, then do the last pass real thin, like a tenth or less.
You'll have to play with that process to see what works best for the size of your model and the softness of your wood. You can actually test on just part of the zebra, the really short bits. That way you can run a number of tests in a real short period of time.
Remember what I mentioned about the patience part? Yeah, it's a real challenge. :D
You're still going to lose some short bits because of grain voids. In those cases, wood filler is your friend. I xacto out the glue and lay it in. Then I stain the inlay with something light so it hides the putty. That way I'm the only one who can see it. :)

[scottp55]

Thanks Scott, No thanks on the files--I seem to be into making my own mistakes at the moment :)
On Zebra 1, That was the one I totally mucked up the cut file, by leaving flat depth for inlay the same as the inlay pocket. Duh! I'm surprised it even survived.
Zebra 2 is cutting now, and inlay path is correct. Fingers crossed.
Yeah, thought of you mentioning patience while cutting down:) treating it super gently, but the wood wasn't there to begin with. CA/epoxy and sawdust coming up.

[shilala]

I've been messing around with shortening the flat depth for the pocket, Scotty.
The male pieces I'm still making .2", but the pockets I've shrunk to .225.
Reason being, on the cribbage boards, I cut out the backside for storage and I need all the depth I can get. That .1" void is just for catching glue, and I don't even get close to filling it.
So when I cut out the backside, I can get to the void. And when I drill the peg holes, more void problems.
I'd like to continue to mess around till I get that depth just right so there's no void at all. Just a tiny bit for glue, maybe.
I'd also like to get a press to crank these inlays in. I've made jigs and all sorts of stuff for clamping, but the male pieces still like to rock sometimes.

Mind ya, I'm doing much bigger areas, but I thought it'd be nice to get your head in it with me. :)
I'd like to inlay desk tops and I've thought of a number of ways to make the frame for cutting out the male inlay, but my table being only 50" long, I don't even want to begin trying to index an inlay. I'd screw that up something awful.
But the frame idea would work within the confines of my bot table, so I can use it on all kinds of other furniture.
I'd just like to get all the kinks worked out, that's why all the cribbage boards and stuff. Gotta walk before you can run. :)

[scottp55]

Scott, Way I'm doing the cuts now, There shouldn't BE a gap. Working on settings some people from Vectric gave me and the way the Vectric tutorial shows. Using Rockler CA Medium right now, strictly to be able to try different cuts and bits fairly fast. Still will try TBI and II, and might experiment with heat thinned epoxy that was recommended to try. This board turned into a project instead of a throw away test piece. Did try to fly instead of crawling by giving a maple zebra inlay piece a red ochre alcohol wash and touching with a 1"brush oxidizing flame to eliminate fuzzies and give it a "Toasted" color. OF Course it didn't FIT! To many variables to pin it down,but was probably the MC change with the flame(could have been 30F/30% humidity change in the 48hours since carved-alcohol-OR flame) Recommend doing everything the same day like Paul recommended.
Will do some samples in scrap probably tomorrow with 3 different glues and settings to experiment with faster trimming of waste and then cross sectioning so I can SEE whats going on.
Monty, Yes, rastering with grain with FEM LH until about .02" above surface and then a 320G Abralon on ROsander with a soft pad(medium or hard might be better). Good idea to have wood surface for female surface by machine and sanded beforehand to appropriate grit, as if you sand later things like pinion feathers and other very fine stuff will disappear on you. Abralon doesn't seam clog up as easy. Thinned lacquer does seem to make a difference on tear out when doing things like the zebra and seems to make the CA darkening of the wood almost go away.

[shilala]

Scott, let me know how the "no gap" thing works out.
I've thought about getting that close, but as thick as my glue is, I need some room underneath.
I did try a real close one before and when I made it up I could see a glue line the whole way around the inlay. That's not what I'm after at all, I'm sure you can imagine.
That's what got me thinking about getting a press. They're only about $159 at Harbor Freight. I just don't have anywhere to put it, and I don't think Miss Lisa will let me put it in the kitchen.

[paul_z]

Scott,

I'm going to be your dad for a minute ...

"Quit playing with those inlays and do some real work":D:D

Paul Z

[scottp55]

Cute Paul:D BUT I HAVE to surface off that "twig" I used to "butterfly" that stupid piece of walnut First! First one I've glued with TBI. Will have been clamped for 24hrs at 2PM. THEN I can do REAL WORK. It happens to be inlaying maple "Gingerich Wood" into Flat/stable Black Walnut in 3" Vivaldi :):)

[MogulTx]

Pictures please Scott.... I am waiting with bated breath.

[paul_z]

It would be an inside joke to use a butterfly inlay as a butterfly joint.

I also wait with earthworm on tongue ("baited breath").

[scottp55]

Monty, Best pics showing process and explaining is still the Vectric forum thread. Here's a few more not posted. Went overboard with CA(Rockler Medium- Think Thick might be better, but not sure, as I don't have any yet-Paul?) as I wanted to see if I could get the "gleam" that was in the original Zebras eyeball in the .EPS. Went much faster skimming this time as I took .05" passes with a .25"LH FEM Down. Made a mistake by trying a Vector pocket (starting in center)so I could stay with a conventional cut and all went well until pocket reached Zebra 2's nose and right side of pocket ripped the last 1/4" of waste and took the tip of his nose with it. Did NOT reach into the inlay material though. I was told on Vectric forum, you can skim down to .002-.004" on flat material and then 2 grits and you're done! But this board is Alive and you can see I'm nowhere near flat. Think CA would have behaved better, but used my Record V175 vise and gravity took it's toll.
Paul!, Heinlein said that the quality of a pun can be told by the Magnitude of the GROAN! You probably felt it in NH and thought it was a 3.1 :)
I was following YOUR advice and trying to make sure I could reach every bolt for my Z-Upgrade with the wrenches I bought today/ designing 4 new Celtic buttons(Dad wants 20 new designs by 10/1)/and finish sanding the Font demo board so I can ship it! Thanks:)
Funny your pun was about fishing, as Dads bookeeper's husband (Mo) has been helping us out with graphics. He's a retired M. Eng. who rebuilt a Vacuum furnace for Dads company a few years back so they could CNC Lithium. Pic shows his first and second attempt to draw a "Grey Ghost" for the top of our fishing fly boxes. I carved simply so he could understand VCarving and he would FAINT if he saw I posted them:) We bought him some calligraphy felt tips and he's gotten MUCH better. Mo is coming Weds AM to carve a few of his new vector graphics and MAY try to carve and inlay the "Grey Ghost" which will certainly put the Zebra to shame.
"Twig" is still clamped as I never got to it. Thought about Butterfly "Butterfly" but almost out of thin acclimatized stock, and these Birdseye Maple rips are only .12" wide so had to go with a beefy thin shape.
scott

[scottp55]

Oh! And the "Twig" pic.
Patience.... Paul was the one to say TBI "Wait at LEAST 24 hours before unclamping...........":)

[paul_z]

(Rockler Medium- Think Thick might be better, but not sure, as I don't have any yet-Paul?)

I have no idea. If there is a hobby shop near you, you might be able to get small bottles of each and experiment. I think I've seen thin, thick and gel at dollar stores. Call around.

The 24 hour wait is for Tightbond. If I remember correctly, CA uses water vapor as a catalyst (somewhat like urethane glue). Misting the inlay parts should speed up the setting of the CA glue and cause the wood to swell a bit, reducing any gaps.

It might be worth trying the following to eliminate any fuzzies.
1. Cut the male and female parts of the inlay once.
2. Brush thin CA on both parts and let it cure. (Maybe use some fast set?)
3. Cut a final pass on both parts.

Paul Z

[MogulTx]

WOW! You have a whole new direction now! Nice efforts here! Keep it up! You are making me want to seek out some files and see what I can do.

Great stuff!

Monty

[scottp55]

Thanks Paul, Will experiment with different CA's--Medium worked great on the zebra because it "flowed" into tiny portions. Did Notice a difference in "fuzzies" when I had used a small batch of 50/50 thinned Lacquer for the .1" deep zebras/vultures and when I forgot to do it--little cleaner cuts.
Just unclamped TB I twig. I picked up some TB PU that says it has 30 minute open time with 100% cure in 4 hours(want to see glue line color as may try it for fingerboxes also)--Thought I might give that a try too on the fonts that I'm going to cross section.
Wonder if Thinned Lacquer will work instead of CA before the finish pass--Think I'll try both, But as soon as thin stock arrives it's back to buttons :(
Tips are MUCH appreciated.
twig should be cut out by 11--will post pics(hope figure shows up like I thought it would).

[scottp55]

Just a couple of pics. Thinking of Scott S and Monty I surfaced whole board on the TBI'd twig and then just 150,220,320G, so "twig" was ZERO glue gap, TBI,clamped 36hours. Shop should be aired out from naptha now, got to do font now.:)

[shilala]

Lookin good, Scotty!!!
Back up a little for me, will ya? I'm not sure I understand what you did a couple posts above.
Did you say you lacquered the male parts before you made your last v-carve pass?
If you didn't, it's damn near genius anyways.
It'd be super easy to shellac the inlay before the last pass, and I bet it'd go a long, long way towards holding back chips, especially on open grained stuff like oak.

Other question...
You're using CA to glue up the inlays? What the heck is CA? It's not that water-cured gorilla glue, is it? Hook me up with a link, will you please?

[scottp55]

Scott, lacquered both woods before carving anything. Right hand zebra you can see on the backbone and between the legs where I forgot to lacquer and the naptha couldn't get in and neither will my oil finish.
CA is CyanoAcrylate also known as Superglue. Mine is CA TiteBond Medium viscosity that I bought at Rockler.

[scottp55]

OK, Good example of why NOT to design on the fly :)
Used Vivaldi bold for a font, Usually have to node edit and it won't carve until you convert to curves and play with it. I have an .eps that I made that has "Wood" in it, and I should have imported it, BUT tried it first and it carved!
Very good example of why I should have ZOOMED in 2D and checked the "solid".
Vcarved fine, but when mirrored and VInlay'd a portion of the "W" was funky and should have deleted some nodes. On the "d" it overlapped and totally skipped that section and I had to do a little palm chiseling, I should have separated that vector in node editing. At first I thought the board had shifted as the wood in top left had started lifting during clearance cut I ran after VCarving(good reason to use LH FEM).
I think I rescued it, but this may be my cross-section example:(
"Other than that Mrs Lincoln"
Fingers crossed in the morning.

[scottp55]

More pics..

[scottp55]

Forgot the "biggie".

[shilala]

Good lesson, brother. I've developed a font-paranoia that serves me really well.
I just used a nice, blocky font last week and caught a criss-cross goof just like your W. I had to get my glasses and look over the whole thing and I found another itty bitty one that probably wouldn't have caused a problem.
I use a lot of my words over and over in different projects and dig them back out of old files. It took me half an hour yesterday to find a signature, just so I didn't have to do it all over again.

[scottp55]

First font done, messed up cut on my part due to overlapping vectors in Vivaldi prevented it from seating correctly, thus the glue lines. Emergency surgery last night wasn't totally successful----But the patient lived.
Have to concentrate the vise pressure directly on font area only I think, instead of uniform pressure. Have to work on my 7 second clamping a bit.:)

[scottp55]

Also have to move the "ood" left a heavy smidge.

[pappybaynes]

Scott, the inlays are really nice! Haven't done one for a year or so...think I will work on some more.

[scottp55]

Thanks Dick, Sort of been the reason I've been a PITA posting all the pics. A lot of people(newbies like me) were unaware/forgot this technique and have been asking about it. I always thought this stuff was beyond me, and Dad is over the moon that it doesn't need veneers and can come to sharp points. Glad I walked him through almost the whole process with the zebras so he knows its not for everyone. May provide an extra job up North(only 2 so far).
Scott S.,I remember that sassafras crib board you did. Was this the method you used? If so can you post a couple of your pics with the multiple wood inlays? Haven't done any(forget what Paul called it) two tone/two layer? that Paul thought I might find interesting, by just doing the same process twice.
If anybody has any pics of stuff they've done that they're proud of, Please post some pics to stimulate my gray cells:)
A REALLY fun/frustrating technique that teaches you a lot and deserves resurrection! Be neat to see pics of stuff done before I even knew what a Shopbot was:)
Time to dig some of my squirrelly wood out and put my ripping blade back on the Delta(and find my darn resaw jig and riving knife)

[shilala]

Here ya go, Scott.
I have an array of 4 of them on the Bot now, and they're driving me nuts. But they do that. The first one I made just about put me in a rubber room.
The back of these is fancy, too. There's a magnetic cover and a dug-out area for pins and stuff. I don't have any pics of that.

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad96/scottshilala/Shopbot/31BE814B-E9A7-462E-8008-095C0D7F3A3C_zpsu8yv6gjv.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad96/scottshilala/Shopbot/38A5F51B-0D95-43B5-8133-2E6715C4BF48_zps6lm9wgle.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad96/scottshilala/Shopbot/BC9C24D6-FA44-4B96-9982-4B1A4CA35883_zpshq93yqsv.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad96/scottshilala/Shopbot/C1694186-A779-44AD-B7B2-817268FB6527_zpsxv3gqtyh.jpg

[shilala]

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad96/scottshilala/Shopbot/D35CA1C8-CE0C-4BC7-8E26-517534318409_zpsgkvuqwfz.jpg

[scottp55]

Thanks Scott---So you did use this method? Nice work! I can see where doing it 3 times on the same piece could drive you crazy:)
How far down did you go in between VInlay's? Did you sand it all the way, or leave like .005" on each layer and then sand the whole thing at once? Just curious as zebra 1 is losing his tail from sanding zebra 2.

[shilala]

Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot you asked.
I found that handout a long time ago and printed it out. It hangs on the wall next to my shop desk on the same screw as "router bit basics". :)

I don't do any sanding between layers. I make a "surfacing file" that just covers the areas where I placed my inlays and I grind them down to about .05 above the surface. That's where I leave them, and I do the next series of inlays. They won't interfere cause they aren't high enough to get in the way. I do this because I only want to surface all the inlays and sand once, or stuff starts disappearing.

On the cribbage boards, I just barely surface the cherry. I tool it nice and close and clean, and do no sanding at all. I want the whole board to be exactly perfect and level depth with the table. So I don't remove it from the table or mess with it at all. Surface, done. Nice, sharp endmill, very small stepover, like 7%. Then I do the v-carving for all the rest of the male parts.

Then for the other levels I do like I said till I get them all done, and then I surface the whole piece until it's just taking up the glue and not touching the project. It takes some messing around. :)
When it's all done, I hit it with (maybe)80, 220, and then polish the heck out of it with 400. I have a couple Festool sanders and Festool HEPA vac, so I can get some serious sanding done in no time.
Before I sand I'll sit and pull glue out of grain with an xacto knife if there's any left at all.

If you look at the curlies on the bottom of that board, you'll see that the very fine, thin stuff is missing in a few spots.
That's the nicks from the male spots compounded by too much sanding. If I hadn't been totally sick of that project, I'd have dug out the missing spots with an xacto and used some wood filler. Then I'd have used a natural stain to make up any difference in color.

Last, but not least, I did the whole thing exactly as the tutorial said. I used .1, .2, and .3, just like in the tutorial. No deviation whatsoever.

The one thing that I've thought I'm going to try is what I picked up when I misunderstood you. I'm gonna shellac between v-carve layers on my male pieces, just to see if it helps hold the tiny stuff on the board. I think the increased surface tension will really help.
It'll add time, but it's very hard to get something like my curlies of your zebras to come out right.
If we had any smarts at all, we'd edit the files so there weren't those tiny, shallow pieces. Just make them thicker and work within the tolerance of the wood and tooling. But we ain't very bright, so I imagine we'll just keep struggling. lol :)

[scottp55]

Thanks Scott, I did take a bunch of "Junk" out of that "Twig" and thickened it to match my 1.2" Birdseye stock because I wanted full strength for the "butterfly" to keep that big 16" crack from splitting the "Vultures" as I had the grain running the wrong way with them.
Thinking something like an old veneer/book/cider press might work well for clamping. Jeff K also mentioned the Vice-Grip style welding clamps for wide boards, have a pair of the 6" ones and may give them a try, didn't know they also came in 12 and 16", may be worth a shot on some?
So far I've used and ONsrud .25" 60 degree engraving bit with a .002"flat, and the VOrtex 60degree VBit with good luck(still messing with feeds and speeds for male part because of the start depth ignores my pass depth). What bit did you have luck with?
Just picked up some unwaxed shellac sanding sealer,and going to replace the thinned lacquer with that on todays for both before Any carving and before second pass on male. Lacquer before first pass seemed to make a difference on the .1" depth ones, and I think would make a definite difference on super shallow ones like some guys on Vectric forum are trying.
Off to the mines :)

[scottp55]

First pass pics. THIS should be interesting :)

[scottp55]

Male on last pass.

[scottp55]

Time to eat breakfast! They say it's the most important meal of the day! :)

[scottp55]

"Made in" is messed up and will probably recarve, the rest is livable.

[scottp55]

Looking at it after a little sleep; The "Made in" was 11.5X3.5" which is too big to do in one shot. I should have scroll sawed again between the "Made" and the "in".
Also I used the cast left side table extension from my Unisaw as a platen? (been gathering dust since '95 when I went with sliding table) Pretty much the limit I can lift from the floor with the wheelchair. I tried to put it on the inlay as flat as possible, but I was straight arming it out past my knees, and think I tapped that left piece and then because that piece was lifted up, it prevented uniform pressure on the rest.
Left side where the chipout was, the maple was only .023" thick! Not even close to .1".
Live and learn!
Probably stick to using a surfaced piece of 5/4 from now on. Maybe even individual pieces of surfaced scrap for the individual inlay pieces?
Will in future either scroll saw major waste from male OR cut out waste on a vector boundary when machining male?
Also won't use TB Original again, as after leaving clamped for 36 hours it was still seeping out and gummy and at one point gummed up a .5" Centurion FEM LH.
Going to post more on Vectric site as a few people have been helping me a lot.
Not sure if this is getting old on here.

[bob_dodd]

Scott

I've been following this thread , keep up the good work , and posting results

Thanks Bob

[Burkhardt]

....Also won't use TB Original again, as after leaving clamped for 36 hours it was still seeping out and gummy and at one point gummed up a .5" Centurion FEM LH.....

Try the Titebond "translucent" (so far I found it only in the small bottles, though). I used it for some of the finger joints lately and it dries up pretty hard.

[scottp55]

Thanks G. , It's already on my shopping list along with Lee Valley 2002GF. :)

[David Iannone]

Great job Scott, I am following this thread also. Great documentation with pictures of your inlay work. I have never tried inlays.

[POPS 64]

Scott looks like your doing well , just those occasional headaches that seem to be part of inlays , you have the patience of a saint . :) Those inlays I just finished I couldn't wait for them to be over especially that rose . I really like that state piece. Jeff

[scottp55]

Thanks All, Should be an interesting day. Going to cut the "Made in Maine" out in stages to see if there's a high point that hung me up(like the first "wood" in Vivaldi).
I thought it was because I had "tapped" that 4X11.5" Made in Maine section and then that high spot wouldn't let the rest seat firmly because of the Cast Iron being perfectly flat.
BUT, I'm looking at some of the pics now and thinking the "a" and the "d"(gave me problems in"Wood" before) are hanging up. Have to put both male and female on the same layer I think and then examine under 2D "Solid" preview to compare the material removed.
Going to recut with a 45 degree and .02 deeper and see if that gives me a clean female. Think I may have to take each individual letter and resize by a few percent, but really want to rescue this so I know if it's doable.
Jeff, Yeah thought for sure that the "state" on would be my problem child, but instead came out perfect. Even the .19" font- Dad was blown away by the tiny piece of maple in the top of the a in Maine.
I'll take pics as this is supposed to be a zero glue gap and the "Maine" seems to be "Almost" fully seated in sections.

[scottp55]

Found out everything had moved on me! Reregistered on the dot's in the "i" in "in" first, then fine tuned on the "i" in Maine, and then further rezero'd X,Y on 2 letters. Humidity on the cheap MDF (unsealed) spoilboard is the most likely culprit(buttons had remained clamped since Weds(raining) but had to move X .05" positive to align the 1/16" with the buttonholes again).
Where no glue gap showed in the inlay I'm now down to .09" and still showing Maple. Female had a flat depth of .1". 50% of the "Maine" as you can see on the .5" depth pic was less than that .05" pressed in. Comparing glue gaps, I would say the state outline had .09" of wood or better fully pressed into the .1"female.
Increased size of the dots in the "i"'s by 2% to make up for the error when registering them, probably do the same with each individual letter and use a 45 degree(instead of 60) and go down to .12" flat depth.
Hope that made sense.

[scottp55]

.05" pass depth.

[scottp55]

Posted about a dozen new pics on Vectric forum of the Replacement of the Maple with Padauk and have to go into shop/ unclamp last piece and surface so won't duplicate pictures here. Wonder if I can mess it up totally at the last second:) Betcha I double check my decimal points:)
Had a few good remarks on glue from others and some good tips, so if you're interested go to like the bottom of page 5.
http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20529&start=75

[scottp55]

Surfaced to .015" above surface. I did sand to almost flush, but the top of the "i" in "in" had a chip out than needs repair, Probably because it was a chip repair that was substandard. In pic, whitish are was where I had to hand sand an already glued section that was slightly too high to allow the the "de" to seat fully. The white is thinned lacquer dust. Lacquer was to prevent CA from discoloring wood outside the joint and seems to reduce ANY fibre tearout in Walnut.

[Burkhardt]

Now I am trying my luck on that, let's see if it looks reasonable after machining off the inlay backing tomorrow. I have a bad feeling that I used way too much glue :rolleyes:

For removing the fuzz and swarf in the carved recesses I found the glass fiber eraser sticks very effective. I just used them by hand, not even in the Proxxon pen sander.

This is actually the project where I needed the edge bevel as discussed in another thread today. Material is Myrtlewood and Cherry.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sTvYAzrH7m0/VDoLmrNOUsI/AAAAAAAAFV8/yE-a7P2bD84/w1242-h853-no/DSC02781.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mRRyuFXnrxM/VDoLon9YElI/AAAAAAAAFWE/eAeU-8AQQTc/w1419-h853-no/DSC02785.JPG

[scottp55]

Female looks really good Gert. On the male piece you probably discovered it carves Way deep and blows right by your pass depth settings because of your start depth and it acts like there's no wood there. On male I lowered my Z plunge Way down to .3IPS and X,Y to .7 and just adjusted RPM to get chips, but way smaller chips than normal(.25"Onsrud engraving bit .002flat was warm but not hot). I also set pass depth for the bit so its second pass was only a clean up pass basically(.008") and on Padauk got away with only one run, although Paul and others recommend 2 passes to eliminate deflection. Maple I always run twice on both,but second is a full depth/speed pass.
I see tearout on the cherry male at about the surface height which may cause you heartache, BUT because cherry is so much softer, if your clamping pressure was strong enough it may deform the Cherry into the Marblewood.
What bit and glue did you use? I've wanted to do a "Tree of Life"-Hope it comes out great!
A downcut or straight bit for eliminating waste, going across the grain in a raster with small stepover leaving like .02" seems to work well, but you're probably using your thickness sander carefully set.
What were your flat depth settings? Leaving it clamped(WAY clamped) for 24 hours is the hardest part:) It's really neat to see it come to life as the waste disappears. How did it seat? When you dry fit, some pencil marks makes it much easier not to smear glue everywhere as it doesn't Go until it's perfectly aligned.
I think you'll Really get into it.
Can't wait to see your second! I've always wanted to see an inlaid matchbox!!:):)

[Burkhardt]

.........I see tearout on the cherry male at about the surface height which may cause you heartache, BUT because cherry is so much softer, if your clamping pressure was strong enough it may deform the Cherry into the Marblewood.
What bit and glue did you use? I've wanted to do a "Tree of Life"-Hope it comes out great!
A downcut or straight bit for eliminating waste, going across the grain in a raster with small stepover leaving like .02" seems to work well, but you're probably using your thickness sander carefully set.
What were your flat depth settings? Leaving it clamped(WAY clamped) for 24 hours is the hardest part:) It's really neat to see it come to life as the waste disappears. How did it seat? ..........

yes, tearout is pretty bad and next time I will try slower speed (believe I used 2 ips ?) and a downcut bit for the flats. But this piece of Cherry was really brittle. I cut it from a garage sale board and it may have been very old.
Otherwise 60 deg. Kyocera bit and 1/8" for flats.
The female side is only 0.08 deep flat and the male side 0.06 down and 0.06 deep flat. Next time I will make the female side 20/1000 deeper than necessary to allow for some sanding loss. Glue is Titebond Translucent and I cut most of the excess away with a 3/4" flat router bit, then drum sander then ROS.

At the end it does have a bunch of tiny flaws but overall I like the result. I did not expect the worm holes on the bottom to be so visible after finishing.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CB861fRw8Bg/VDsHWICvEWI/AAAAAAAAFWU/4MzfI7G0BRc/w818-h853-no/DSC02786.JPG

[scottp55]

Came out beautiful for a first shot Gert!!
Yeah, the sanding gets tricky on the really fine details that are shallow, but it really is a nice method.
My translucent from Amazon and 4 other glues should be in this week as well as some deep reach Shopfox C-clamps.

[Burkhardt]

The translucent Titebond works quite well and does not show. However, I found that larger blobs still tend to smear when sanded and getting hot, especially with the ROS. This seems to be general problem with PVA glue and maybe it would have helped to thin the glue a bit to avoid the large accumulations.

Next time I will try table top epoxy as glue. Maybe a bit messy to apply but at least it will set reliably overnight, sand cleanly and fill any gaps.

[elcar903]

very cool,

what kind of wood did you use if you don't mind me asking

[scottp55]

Just in case, seeing as Gert called out his wood Adam.
have only Vinlayed into Black Walnut. "Made in Maine" is Padauk, state outline is Curly Maple, first attempt that was carved out was same Curly as state outline.

[scottp55]

Didn't have room to put a lion behind them, and they had to be running for a reason---so maybe shade? Only flat spot left on the stupid board!! :)
Loving the $4.50 Kyoceras.
Another relaxing day off:)

[scottp55]

couple more

[shilala]

Scott, just between me and you, it's safer to sammich your male and female pieces between a couple bigger slabs of wood, and then smoosh them.
That keeps equal pressure on the whole project.
I've been seriously considering one of those Harbor Freight Presses for my inlays. Then I was gonna make a couple two inch slabs framed in angle iron to squash my inlays.

I know you're having good luck, but you'll find as your inlay field gets bigger and bigger, the wood really wants to bend and the male parts don't want to be forced down in. I've just made a mess recently, that's why I mention it. It might help you out.
Never be cheap with the clamps or backing material. :)

[Burkhardt]

Scott, that looks fabulous. I just started with the inlay experiments but find it is actually fun and not so difficult.

As for Scott Shilala's comment, I made my inlay blanks only 1/4" thick (yes, I am cheap). They become very flexible that way and need a vacuum pod for holding flat and a press block later. But it is less wood to remove later.

[shilala]

I make my stuff thick, well, 3/4", anyways.
I'm still super careful, but only because I wrecked 4 cribbage boards, among other things, by cheaping on clamps and backers.
You guys are working so small that the male pieces may play along with you a lot better. I was probably out of order. I just don't think we can be too careful. It really, really sucks when all that work goes down the tubes.

It is definitely fun, GB. :)

[scottp55]

Thanks Guys, Scott, the time I used the cast iron extension table on top with umpteen clamps holding it to my sanding bench was a disaster because of one high spot that threw everything else off, and I had to spend a day recarving and second time just used 5/4 and a single clamp and it came out almost perfect. Going to keep my sections smaller than 7".
Yeah Gert, first time using thick stock, but only because I'm hoping the heart/sap line lends visual.

[shilala]

I bet my bench vises would work good to cranck that little stuff down. They're front vises, actually. You know what I mean. They're deep ones, too. I'm gonna try them.

[Burkhardt]

I am wondering if I should just vacuum bag the inlay with pressure plates on top and bottom. I should get easily 700 pounds pressure with moderately oversized plates on my 7x5" part.

Has somebody tried that? Does it work?

[scottp55]

Scott, Used my little Record for the first ones and worked great, but then needed a deeper throat and easier for me(and less glue drip) to do horizontal. Keeping my eye open for an old book/cider press :) Thanks for link by the way, but casting is a whole different world and busy enough with wood for Dad.
Not sure G., You know more about that stuff, wondering if pressure on the waste edges would try to push up center? Yeah, still new enough at inlays so I like to watch it so I can figure out how to make it faster without tearout. Interesting scraps Definitely come into play:)

[scottp55]

Oh, Have you guys seen Russell Crawfords work? he does it totally different and talked me through it on "Vinlay help needed".
Here's another of his multi wood inlay threads(Nice round Maloof joints on the CNC too).
http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=20689

[scottp55]

Happy:) Whew!!

[scottp55]

sanded 320G

[t_vandemark]

that looks great Scott. It looks like Russell only lives about an hour away from me. I have never seen any of his work before, its fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

[Cloudserver]

Looks awesome Scott!

[shilala]

Scott, You've got me sold on this tree of life thing.
I have a file that I can work into 3 colors. I'm just going to do it for the sake of doing it.
I just cleaned up the shop so I can finish another project that's been languishing, but then I'm gonna get at it, nice and easy. :)

[POPS 64]

Things are looking good Scott , keep up the good work. What bit are you using.
Jeff

[bob_dodd]

Looks great , Well done

[scottp55]

Thanks everybody!
Tyler I'd take a drive:)
Jeff, Just checked and he's sold out of the exact bit in 5 packs, but the 30, and 60's cut everybit as good as the 45's I used. So far all I've bought are the Kyoceras from him and think I'll stick with them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151308695237?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2F i.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D1513086 95237%26_rdc%3D1
Watch me muck it up at the last minute:) Got up to play with fluting toolpaths to cut it out and see what they looked like and torching it crossed my mind---Darn!
Need to get an E-stop for my brain or learn to leave well enough alone:)

[khalid]

astounding mindblowing work.. really very neat and professional work i have seen quite few on this forum

[pappybaynes]

Scott,
My next trip to visit will have to be for a lesson!
Dick

[POPS 64]

Scott , I wouldn't worry about it , crazy idea's and experimenting is where a lot of the best work comes from . What's the worst thing that can happen ? A little more kindling for the fireplace . LOL As long as it's a learning experience and you enjoy, that's all that matter's. Well think I'll go make some kindling . Jeff :D