This is the result of my first attempt at a vcarve inlay. There are issues but not bad for a first try.

I have created more inlays. I am using the scorchworks F-Engrave software to create the vcarve inlay gcode. Simply import your picture in the desired format. Run the vcarve calculations and it will create the necessary gcode. – I created a python application that takes the output from F-Engrave and reworks it for the MPCNC. It allows you to upload the vcarve gcode, the v-clean gcode and the clean vcode. It will concatenate these files, create a tool change pause and change all the comments so they will be valid comments for the MPCNC. It’s very simple and extremely fast. Once processed the file can be uploaded to the MPCNC. It is important that when creating the original vcarve files you distinguish between the “female” and the “male” gcode.

This was an interesting one to complete. The footballs are not inlaid as they were just too shallow but the rest of the logo is. The depth of the male part is critical, if it is not exact the smaller parts will not fit correctly. I am of the opinion that skimming the surface before machining the male part would be best.

 

This is the female part before the inlay is glued in. You can see that the depth is fairly shallow and the surface area of the vcarve edges are quite small.

The male part was quite complex and took much longer to machine that the female part.

The male part needed some tweaking before it would successfully fit into the female part but you can see that the final inlay fit quite well.

I am still trying to work out what makes a good candidate for an inlay. I have created several female parts that don’t appear to be ideal.

This Watford inlay didn’t quite fit properly. If you look at the lettering it was just a bit off. I think the letters must have moved during the gluing process.