Vcarve inlays on non-flat surfaces

Curved v-carve inlays (projected onto my model). I’m getting pretty good results with the Avid! Walnut with maple.


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Looks great. Did you do the female 3D toolpath in V-carve w “project onto 3D” and then insert thin male inlay piece?

Yup! The male inlay I also projected onto the model – the model for that was just the negative of the regular model – I think I did subtract for the combine mode in VCarve.

I’ve got a video of me making them on my older CNC: CNC Woodworking - Wood Spoon with Curved Wood Inlay - (Files Available) Making a CNC Project - YouTube

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That’s awesome. Have you ever messed around with G Code Ripper?

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That looks fantastic. I like that you can see the grain of the lighter wood in there. At first take I thought, epoxy, but when I zoomed in closer and saw the grain, the light bulbs went on. :slight_smile: Nice job @corbin

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I haven’t heard of it, but I just googled it. Looks super interesting to play around with, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!

My first couple of test ones were epoxy…but my end-goal was wood on wood. It took me countless tries to get it just right!

I like how this looks and I can’t wait until you share how it’s done :smiley:

Thanks David!

I’ve got two videos using my Tormach PCNC making them:

Spatula - Wood Spatula on a CNC & curved wood inlay - FILE AVAILABLE - Projected VCarving w Vectric VCarve - YouTube

Spoon - CNC Woodworking - Wood Spoon with Curved Wood Inlay - (Files Available) Making a CNC Project - YouTube

I spent a lot of time designing the shape, so I ended up selling the files for a minimal cost, but I’m happy to help people figure out how to do it on their own.

Vectric VCarve has an option for the vcarve toolpaths called “Project onto model/surface” (or something like that), which does a 3d projection of the 2d vector onto the curved surface. I used that feature for the female inlay.

For the male, I did a negative union to create a concave version of the spatula handle, and also projected the same shape onto it. I then did a typical vcarve plug, removing the material from outside of the design. It took a lot of practice to get the settings dialed in, but now I know the tricks for figuring out what to adjust to get it just right (I should do a video on that).

Moving the design to the Avid took me two practice carvings to get it lined up. I usually just do a standard 2d engrave of the rose shape as a test, so I don’t waste doing the whole design and failing on the engrave.

Hey Corbin, thanks man! I’ve started a short project with a 2D inlay. I had ideas for a 3D inlay project but didn’t pursue yet - having an example road map (yours) helps plan the necessary steps for when I circle back to those other projects.

Enjoyed the theatrics you salted it with too, pretty clever stuff :grin:

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