Can someone check my math?

Ok, so I’m creating some name puzzles and I’ve been mildly unhappy with the results.

I created the name, lets say OWEN as a for instance, with a font I like in Inkscape, export as SVG and import into Easel.

When I choose to cut outside path on the letters, I get some red areas in Easel indicating it won’t cut with the 1/8" bit, and if I let it cut anyway it doesn’t look great.

If I choose to cut ON path, there’s no red, and the letters look really good.

Now, the problem is that because I chose to cut ON path, if I do another cut of the letters, choosing FILL, I wind up with a nice pocket, but the letter is just a tad too small for the pocket. Presumably, roughly half of the diameter of my bit, so in this case 1/16".

I want to tighten up the fit, so my thought process, rather than trying to change to a 1/16" bit and do the pocket with that smaller bit, I could basically continue to use the 1/8" bit, or even increase to a 1/4" bit, but then I would need to tell Easel that the bit is actually 1/16" larger than it really is, so it backs away from the cut.

Is my math correct here? I divide my bit size I used to cut the letter in half, and add that to the size of the new bit so the pocket cuts that much smaller… because Easel would move AWAY from the edges of my pocket by the thickness I added …

right? maybe? :smile:

I did, it mangled my letters a bit, they turned out less than desirable… I suspect that’s because it tried to resize them slightly which resulted in some of them not looking right.

erm if you are using “follow center of the line” to do inlay its never gonna fit, even if you change to a bigger bit on the second piece, its just as you imply simple maths. the two bits will have different paths, specially on the inside of corners.

You should try to do both the female and the male jobs with a smaller end mill or better still try using a vbit, There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to learn VBit inlay cutting

Making an Inlaid on a CNC Router

I suppose this will work in Easel, i am not sure as i dont use it.