I simply can not get the plug to match the pocket. I see so many people using an Xcarve to make V carve style inlays. I am struggling so bad. The people of Wisconsin is so much wider on the plug than the pocket. I see extremely detailed and tight work done with 60° vbits. I have no idea why this is kicking my butt so badly right now. I included the tool database in case that helps. I’m also losing detail due to the bit tearing the wood. The final project is going to be on end grain and I have had luck with clean routing on end grain better than long grain.
Thank you in advanced.
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Be sure the female cutout has a flat depth of .2 inch (with zero start depth) and the male insert has a flat depth of .1 inch and a start depth of .1 inch.
Of course I am sure you already know that the male insert graphic must be mirrored on the Y axis.
The 60 deg vbit should work fine.
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I’ve tried doing it that way. The flat depth doesn’t stay. It restets after I run the test. I watched a video where a guy didn’t use flat depth and it worked fine. I’ll try to run another test tomorrow. Otherwise I’ll just fill with epoxy. Which is fine but it’s a layered project. The bits cut through epoxy just fine but I wanted a walnut wood for the state portion.
The flat depth setting is important, I do not know what you mean when you say it resets.
This is a good video to show you exactly how to make a Vbit inlay in Vcarve
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Are you using Vpro or Desktop
I’m curious what the significance of this would be.
It’s my understanding that there is no difference between Desktop and Pro except for the size of the carve area limitations in Desktop. Am I missing something here?
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Because I use Vpro and have never used desktop, so I have no clue if there is any difference.
VPro. Only difference is work area size and a couple hundred dollars.
you forgot rotary wrapping
im sure i mentioned it on the vcarve site before the vcarve tutorial on vcarve inlays is rubbish. Its wrong on any toolpath to force your bit through wood it doesnt know is there and then saying the .2 inch gap between the male and female part is a glue gap is hilarious, in any wood working you would NEVER have a .2 inch glue gap.
If you watch mtmwood on youtube his v-inlays on vcarve pro are the best you will ever see and i asked him if uses settings based on the vcarve tutorial and he makes his own.
I dont follow the tutorial, ive made my own way.
Who said anything about a .2 inch glue gap? The video (and I) use a .2 total depth of cut for the inlay. The male portion fits exactly into that depth. The video is accurate and does a very good job of show how to use Vcarve to do an inlay. Maybe you are referring to another video from somewhere else.
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FWIW, this is the pdf I found a long time ago that was at that time the only decent explanation of the process.
VCarve_Inlay_Description_and_Procedure.pdf (1.1 MB)
There’s still some things here and there that don’t add up 100% (for me anyways) but overall I think it is worth a read.
All credit to original writers whose names are in the pdf.
I don’t get why a program called V-carve doesn’t have a more intuitive way of doing V-carves though. Automatically generating both male and female toolpaths is something I would consider a must but apparently they disagree. Or has this maybe improved in newer versions than mine?
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if you look at the pdf that xfredericox posted, this is what the vcarve tutorial is based on, and to my knowledge has not changed.
In one section is says you will have a .1inch (2.5mm) glue gap between the bottom of the male pocket and the female, further down it says a .2 inch. Either way .1 inch or .2inch glue gap is not acceptable.
If youre happy with this inlay technique thats great but i dont think its right and i do it my own way
I saw there are errors in the PDF document. That document was not created by Vectric. If you use the video tutorial I posted from Vectric you can do Vcarve Inlays with no problem at all.
The pdf dates from before vectric even had an official video tutorial.
As I said there’s some numbers in there I’m also sceptical about but the general process is explained well.
If you use other settings and they work for you: great!
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The .2 depth comes from .
0.05 glue gap
0.05 inlay above pocket
0.1 inlay in pocket
But like others have said, find your own method. Videos are guides.
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