I built my MPCNC a year and a half ago and have been having quite a bit of fun. I been wanting to try my hand at inlay and continued to do research way too long (analysis paralysis???), so when a buddy called and asked me to do a cross inlay on a memorial box lid for his wife’s father, I couldn’t say no. Finally, something to move me forward. I kept it very simple as I only had a week… I drew the cross in Inkscape and use ESTLCAM to generate the toolpaths and gcode. I started with the cross I wanted as the female cut in the lid (can we still say that?) and played with different % of sizes for the male part of the inlay. I found that, for simple pieces, I’d rather cut the female and male at the same size and work the two together with hand sanding. If I would have had elegant curves and/or inside circles, etc. I would have needed to resize the male at 98% in Inkscape and cut it.
I only used a bit of sawdust on the right side of the top of the cross to fill in a 1" section where the fit wasn’t perfect… other than that. I’m ready to do more inlay!
Assessing one of many test cuts in spruce
Cutting the lid… always an anxious thing when you get to the real wood
Parting out the cross in 1/4 holly
Glue up
Finished product
Since this work, I’ve rebuilt my MPCNC to include dual end stops, spindle relay, burly gantry, Octoprint TouchUI with screen and keyboard. Can’t wait to dial that machine in and see what other inlays I can do.