Hello All,
I’ve been attempting a vcarve inlay and have encountered some gaps between the male and female parts when shaving off the inlay. A few months back I read somewhere that bit angles can sometimes be off and that you should check them before starting your project.
I’m wondering if anyone here has run into a problem with bit angles being off and if so, how/what did you use to measure it with?
Thank you
I had the same experience when I started doing Vcarve inlays . To resolve the issue of gaps I measured the Vcarve bit with my angle gauge and documented this in the setup. The touch plate was used to find x and y locations using a straight sided bit. Then z position using the vbit. I think aspire , for example , used the bit perimeters to line up the cut with the selected vector. Rather then just memorizing a set of numbers to fill in the blanks I learned the concept from watching a YouTube video by Shawn Gano and now can make inlays of varying depths depending on the application and have tight interfaces around the inlay.
Good luck
Also, don’t forget to make the male inlay a couple thousands shorter than the depth of the female. Leaving room for the glue in the bottom, and the sides will touch better also.
Steve
Thank you for the quick responses. My question specifically is pointed more towards the bit angles and being able to measure those. I’ve read that they can be off as much as 1/2 degree which, along with the solutions you’ve mentioned, could have an impact on the final fit of the inlay. One mentioned he uses a microscope with a program that measures the Vbit angle but this seems a bit extreme however, if it gets the result and it’s a reasonable investment, it may be worthwhile.
Thanks again,
Does a gap mean that the bit angle is larger than what the program expects? If the bit angle is slightly too small, does that make for a tighter fit at the surface, or would that make the fit inconsistent?
Seems like you could make a few small programs with different bit angles and see which one fits best.
Sorry for all the questions. I haven’t done any inlays, in part because I don’t use VCarve and from what I’ve seen it’s not straightforward in Fusion.
I’m not sure Stephen. I haven’t tested that but I thought about it before - trick the software into thinking that it’s cutting wider than it actually is but there may be unintended consequences by doing that. It may work for a circle or even a square but what about multiple angles? It’s possible that it undercuts in one area and overcuts in another. I winging it here as I haven’t thought it through. Hopefully, someone can chime in and answer this one as well.
Thanks,