This is great Rick, thanks again! 1 to 2% stepover on the v bit was kind of what I was expecting. I’ve also gone back and forth on doing the V bit before the clearance bit. I haven’t been able to prove one way is better than the other. The clearance first is definitely easier on the v-bit; especially for deep inlays.
My first attempt, messed up the alignment between cuts a bit. Next time I will use dowels in the bottom to get it perfect.
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Your inlays came out amazing. I have yet to try an inlay but I will trying one in the coming weeks.
I’m curious how you determined your parameters. For your tbn but I see you went with a relatively slow 12,000 rpm and your plunge rate is actually faster than your feed rate. I’ve never seen any do that before.
But what I’m even more interested in is the how you came about your start depth and flat depth for your male plug. I’ve watched plenty of videos on deep inlays with a tapered ball nose and from what I remember, their start depth is always greater than their flat depth. Can you tell me a bit about your process and how you landed on those numbers?
Srdrgz12,
Sorry for the long delay. Got busy with a shop up reorg project. Pretty much all of my settings were taken directly from the master at “BroInWood.com”. I used them because he uses that specific 6.2deg ball nose bit a lot. Having said this, those exact settings may not work on every bit but should be a great starting point. I have used the same settings with different bits (30 deg and 60 deg) and sometimes not had as tight of a fits as I would have liked. One of the best things to try is to do a test piece (like a single letter) and use that as a test inlay. Once it is clamped and dry, sand it flush to see if there are any gaps at the top layer. Then I cut it in half on the bandsaw to check the glue gap at the bottom. It should be tight but just have a small gap at the bottom for the glue. It really can be a trial and error process especially if you use different bits. I am definitely no master at this and there have been a lot of recent YouTube videos on this process that are pretty good.
As for the specific start and flat depth, my female carves are always 6mm. The start and flat depth always add up to 7.5mm. My starting point is 3.5mm start depth and 4.5mm flat depth. I try that on a practice letter (I usually pick the letter “I” for some reason) and see how the fit is. If there is too big of a gap or it doesn’t seat the best, I adjust the settings a little like maybe to start depth 3.1mm and flat to 4.4mm, again always equalling 7.5mm total. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right but once it is dialed in for that specific bit, it should work pretty much the same from then on. Hope this helps and again sorry for the delay…Rick