[Cartierusm]

I'm cutting inlay for guitars and I cut some out of mother of pearl about 3 months ago and now just cut the fingerboard and the pieces don't fit. They basically are too perfect. I've cut this same program before and they fit perfect, but then again when I installed then I was using epoxy so maybe that helped lube up the pockets and they slipped in. Now I'm dry fitting them and then using super thin cyano to glue them in, but some pieces are too tight. All the abalone and gold mother of pearl fits but the regular white mother of pearl doesn't. I don't think my machine got more accurate but you never know.

Anyway after that long diatribe I was wondering if there was a way to tell artcam when I'm using the inlay function to cut the male parts to take off a little extra material, probably something like .002". Any suggestions, I could always just trick it by saying I'm using a .0136" bit instead of the .0156" bit, but I'm not sure if this will mess up other things as I know it makes the paths with the inlay function based on the counterpart using the same size bits.

[Fixittt]

i dont use artcam pro, I use jewelsmith but there should be a way to offset the toolpath so that it never machines to the vector. Offset by say .002 Look in the toolpath features.

[jalessi]

Hi,

Your idea about telling it the cutter is smaller works fine, most pool cue builders use that trick for there inlay work.


Jeff...

[jalessi]

Have you tried to adjust the "Allowance"


See attached jpg

Jeff...

[Cartierusm]

No I haven't tried that, Artcam's description and use in the help file are very vague. What I gather from that is the allowence does what I want it to -- but should I put in a positive or negative value. Probably a negative value because I want it to take off more.

[jalessi]

Cartier,

That would depend on if it was the male or female part.

If you set a positive "allowance" number for the female part the pocket is larger.

Glad to be of some help.

Please let us know how it works out for you.

Jeff...

[Cartierusm]

I will. Still seems weird the parts from the same G-code would work 4 months ago and now they are too big... Oh well.

[jalessi]

Cartier,

If you cut the pockets and don't insert the inlays immediately "within a few hours" the wood will expand due to the exposure to air and humidity.

Jeff...

[Fixittt]

well hell I can solve this problem, stick the insert into the freezer for a while, bet it drops right in.

[Cartierusm]

Fixitt, do you think so? It's Mother of pearl.

[todd71]

Just stick your guitar in the oven:wee:
Mic your cutter. Could be undersize or dull.

[TDA]

Just stick your guitar in the oven:wee:
Mic your cutter. Could be undersize or dull.

NEVER mic a carbide micro tool. Why?




That's a .0280" 5 flute tool that someone tried to mic. I don't know about you but I wouldn't want that to happen to my tools.

I'll see what I can dig up. The bits are from Precision Bits -- Think and Tinker and I trust them.

Our spec on all 3 flute tools is ±.0005" (link). But since I saw this post I pulled 10 random tools from the same batch as your last order.

They measured:
.01530"
.01570"
.01570"
.01570"
.01545"
.01550"
.01570"
.01540"
.01530"
.01540"

That works out to be 0.0156" +0.0001", -0.0003", well within specs and VERY unlikely to cause any problems with your inlay.

If you're still having problems you might want to take a look at these tutorials written by some cue makers on zero glue line inlay. (link)



John Torrez
Think & Tinker / PreciseBits

[Cartierusm]

Is that a yeti dancing? I would probably damage the bit it's .0156" if I Michaeled(mic) it.

[todd71]

Is that a yeti dancing? I would probably damage the bit it's .0156" if I Michaeled(mic) it.

I was going to beat Fixittt over the head (chair) But that didn't seem vary nice. HEHE. If you cant mic it how do you know your cutter is .0156? Could be .0136. If all was fine when you ran it before. Would seem the program is right. And unless the machines been crashed that should be there as well. What ever you end up doing your going to want it to be repeatable. Otherwise the next time you maybe cutting oversize. Which could be a bigger headache. Got any pictures you'd be willing to share of your guitars? Good luck.

[Cartierusm]

I'll see what I can dig up. The bits are from Precision Bits -- Think and Tinker and I trust them. Mind you the inlay we are talking about is probably off .001-.002 at the most and that's just guessing. They always fit tight anyway. THe accuracy is so incredible it's hard to beat but it makes it hard to insert the inlay where there are lots of curves and such. I think I would rather have it a little shy to make glue up easier.

[todd71]

I haven't done that many inlays. And certainly not with a cutter that small on mother of pearl.
I found it easier to use a tapered cutter and cut the inlay as a mirror image. That way the narrow side goes down in the pocket.

[Cartierusm]

Jeez John a little defensive...LOL I definately didn't think it was the bit. For a bit that small if it was the slightest bit (no pun intended) dull it would break in a second. I just chalk it up to the fact that Artcam I don't think makes any compensation for the the male and female parts. It makes them exactly the same. So with complex pieces with lots of curves, therefore lots of surfaces, it makes it almost impossbile to drop them in the pocket perfectly parallel to the fingerboard. I must have just got lucky on the first 2 or 3. Anyway, I went ahead and used the "allowence" function to make the inlay a hair under, I think I went with .0015" under.

Just some information for any of you who care. So I was trying to figure out how tell what a positive or negative number in the "allowence" box did. I was using so small measurements I wasn't sure how I was going to know if it did the right thing...then I said DUHHHHH just zoom in real close and watch the path that it's changing to see which direction it move, toward the part or away. Then after that I said duhhhh again. I can do a test...hell just put in allowence of 4" and see which way it moves, then change it to actual dimention. It's amazing how obvious things are once you think of them.

John thanks again for the collets. I'll be calling you next week.