trying to do my first inlay for a sign for a friend…i think i jumped in to quick so to speak. several broken bits later i think i finally figured it out. cutting the letters out of purpleheart was probably not the best wood choice for thin lettering. gotta use a smaller bit. 1/32 just broke. 1/16 holds up better. i have a problem with the bit stuttering as it gets to the bottom of the cut. i sped up the spindle some and that seems to have helped. gotta try to recut a few letters
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One thing I’ve experienced (repeatedly 
) from doing v-carve inlays - avoid trying to over-optimize the layout and cutting to avoid “wasting” your good/expensive hardwood. When I do this, I usually end up ruining the entire work piece, wasting far more material and time in the long run.
I have started using Fusion 360 CAM exclusively for cutting inlays - the toolpath generation is much more advanced that Easel and Aspire - you can program all of your cuts to occur from optimal approaches to eliminate chatter. This is not automatic though, it takes some practice. There is a tradeoff on time though due to the extra travel time.
one of these days ill sell enough to be able to afford vcarve. ill shorten up my depth per pass for the remaining 2 letters and 2 symbols. i think i need to add a couple more tabs on some of the letters as well
i had downloaded that at one point, but im very computer stupid and cant figure out how to install it
Robert,
First disclaimer is that I have never used or even downloaded F-Engrave… However, after going through the download page and the instructions, I can see how it may be confusing. It doesn’t look like they have a fully packaged installer like you are used to for other software packages. That said, assuming you are running windows, it looks like if you install one software package, and then click an .exe file it should work.
First, download the “Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)” at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29
Once it is downloaded run the executable and just accept the defaults for the install.
Then make sure you downloaded the Windows Executable file from the F-Engrave page: F-Engrave
Not knowing any better, I would download the latest version.
This will download a compressed zip file. open that file (if running chrome, just double click the file at the bottom), and you will see a single folder such as F-Engrave-1.62_win. Drag and drop this onto your desktop. (yeah to all the other tech support people, by rights it should go into program_files… but this is easier for a new person).
Now when you want to run the program, double click the f-engrave folder on your desktop, and then double click the f-engrave-162 application inside that folder. If you know how to create a shortcut to an application, you can do that and place it where ever you would like (Desktop, start menu, task bar, etc.),
Hopefully this helps out!
–Rick
