Inlay for Kids Stool

Used f-engrave. Sharks are cherry and walnut inlays. Other animals are tinted epoxy.

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Very nice, tell us more about doing the inlays, they turned out great. Were the stools your design? I have kids that need some sort of stool or high chair to join me at my workbench. This seems like a fun project.

the bottom of the stool is from ikea and I added on the top part.

I cut the sharks with a 60degree v-bit and used a steeper 30degree bit for the epoxy animals. around a 5mm depth. f-engrave made it relatively easy

FWIW, I made one a few years ago that fits on a 24"x36" MPCNC:

No fancy inlays though, Those are excellent.

very nice. like how yours looks adjustable. my oldest is about to outgrow his. might have to build yours

We still use ours. The adjustability isn’t as useful as it seems at first, but we have put it at all three heights at one point or another. If I was to make it again, I would consider building tabs into the pieces to align it. I just did a stressful glue up with some pocket screws for joinery.

The inlays look fantastic (well they both do!) but what’s the process? Is there a page somewhere that explains it for a noob?

I think I saw on another thread someone is working on a howto doc

Software at http://scorchworks.com/Fengrave/fengrave.html (it is a python script with gui)

There are some good YouTube videos about both v-inlay techniques and this software.

There is a config.ngc file for the software that sets defaults. My pre/post gcode are in there.

(fengrave_set gpre G17 |G64 P0.001 |M3 S3000 |G0 X1.0 Y1.0 |G0 X0 Y0 ; engage steppers|G0 Z40.0 |M0 Attach M0 Attach ZProbe |G28 Z |G92 Z20.0 |G0 Z30 |F300 M400 |M0 Detach ZProbe Turn on Spindle )
(fengrave_set gpost M5|M2|G0 Z30 )

Mine uses my z-probe to set the height (my probe is 20mm puck. Will order one of Ryan’s new ones when they are back in stock)

The code generates a v-cut, v-cleanup and flat cleanup file which I cat together (z-height change pre-process allows me to also change the bit)

I like to set the v-max-depth slightly lower (0.1mm) than the depth for the flat cleanup. This avoids fuzzy joints.

I also set 0.1 or 0.2 mm larger max cut depth (I use around 4mm for my bit) for the cut out versus the inlay. Some call this a glue gap, but I think it hides any errors under the inlay more than around the edges. When I have sawed into the inlays there has been no noticeable gap.

I also save some of the dust from the CNC to mix with glue and use as a putty to fill in minor imperfections.

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It is coming. It is in PR waiting for review from @vicious1

current working copy: Vcarve Inlay Technique with Fusion 360 - #61 by jeffeb3

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The kitchen stool I built for my kids years ago is now under my desk for resting my feet on while I work. It’s not nearly as fancy as those. It was my first attempt at doing a through mortise.

Those look really really nice. I need to get out to the shop and try doing some inlay type work on my MPCNC.

FYI, the doc has been approved by our benevolent overlord and can be found here:

https://docs.v1engineering.com/software/Fengrave-vcarve-inlay/

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I hate to seem like a complete rube, but I am not computer internet savvy as others. F-engrave, MODfef and Octoprint are open source, meaning free and are safe to download?

f-engrave and octoprint are free. Safe as far as I know. Not sure that the third one is.

Hi @bryanw53
It’s been a while since you posted this but hoping you could still help.
I just did my first inlay and when I went from pine with an mdf inlay test pieces to ash with a walnut inlay final I wasn’t super pleased with the result. Some small gaps around the inlay and a bad glue bond on a small section. I used sawdust to fill the gaps but still…
Question…
How do you set the v-max depth lower than the flat cleanup depth? Do you set the Cut Depth Limit, calculate cleanup, Save Cleanup Gcode, then change the Cut Depth Limit and Save V Cleanup Gcode?
I don’t see separate entries for cleanup depths, just for the overall cut depth.
Hopefully the question makes sense and thanks for any help!

Yes. I generate the two different gcodes with different settings a fraction of a mm (0.2 or so) off. No tool setting for this

thanks @bryanw53
I’ll give it a shot. Makes sense.