Thanks for visiting my channel, and watching my videos! My name is Thomas. I retired from the United States Navy in 2010, and have worked in the Information Technology field for a little over 30 years.
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First of all, great breakdown, but having dove into this myself heavily have many questions/comments... 😃 I replied to your other video on it earlier before I figured things out, but this one is more relevant. "Time is money" is spot on, but in these cuts that 1/8" clearance bit and TBN should both easily go full depth instead of 4?! passes with the 1/8" bit and 2 or looked like 3 on the plug with the TBN. The TBN bit should cut the worst right at the tip just due to the challenges of putting an edge on such a tiny piece of metal, so using only the tip to cut is just not making use of it as it's only removing a tiny bit of material anyway. Even if I run my TBN (same bit) pass before the clearance passes so it's cutting a lot more material, it cuts perfectly at 1/4" depth. I'm running my 1/8" bit at 60 in/min at 1/4" depth (convert to funny numbers as needed...😉), though with an ATC I also have 1/4" and 1/2" clearance bits in the toolpath so the 1/8" does very little work. Would love to see you run that again with full depth or at least only 2 on the clearance bit and full depth on the TBN and watch the machining times plunge! Your VCarve Inlay path plug looked surprisingly clean at the bottom, if you zeroed it on the material there should be a ridge left by the "missing" tip of the bit that the program doesn't know is missing. That's what I was experiencing along with loose fitting plugs like so many others, but I did a lot of experimenting and found settings that made it work cleanly. I put a video on my own channel if you want to compare experiences with it. The only "downside" is the inlay is cut a tiny bit wider, I calculated .010 each side with this bit. If you had measured each pocket with a caliper at the same points the VCarve Inlay one should have measured slightly larger all around, but to me it's not going to be noticeable and certainly not enough to keep my from using the new toolpath when I upgraded to V12 just because of that.. 😁 One side benefit to it being a tiny bit large is it gives you more margin to surface off for glue that has seeped into the wood around the inlay. Thanks for the work you put into your videos to share info with others! Dan
I've tried to use a tapered ballnose bit but everytime I try it with my Aspire V12 software the plug is too small so its really loose in the pocket. Any suggestions?
Correct. You can do a vcarve tool path for the plug side and the pocket side as separate tool paths. Vcarve 12 Pro just offers a new toolpath that does the calculations for the pocket and plug as a single wizzard type menu. Thanks for watching!
Yes, but with one caveat: The start depth on the pocket is the top of the inlay. In this video, it was 6mm, but also had to account for the depth below the top of the work piece. Normally, the top of the work piece is the start of the inlay. Thanks for watching!
Thank you I'm going through all your videos to see if I can find your start to finish process in one of these boards, thanks for inspiration and experience
TK, I have followed your guide and have my vfd running. I have thw same h100 vfd and wired it exactly like you have here. Im having and issue that I cannot get my DIY 2 wire probe to work now. I know the vfd and spindle are grounded and I should only required teh signal wire to came a close loop but for some reason its not working. DO you mind sharing if/how you have yours set up and wired? Appreciate your videos, this is the most thorough and informative video i have found on this vfd and spindle, Thank you.
Hey. Just wanted to let you know, I’m a moderator for the Facebook cutting board group and I’ve been digging through all the scammers and spam posts and I came across June 16 post by a person with a name that starts with T.K. And it was a walnut board with kanji inlaid. Google image search led me here and I think it’s yours. I think the filter just thought you were fake so it didn’t publish. I just published it now. I also see you haven’t posted anything other than that. But if you can come onto the post and say something so I know it’s you and you’re real it will help me clear your name from the system and you can post like a real person… Also… there is 1 other moderator now, we both were given the task 3 days ago to combat the garbage so the group should get a lot better now. Thanks.
Awesome tutorial, thank your for sharing. Ive done several test but having issues with the plug cuts, clearing seems good but when I run the TBN file, it seems to be cutting the inside of the vectors, the plug is significantly smaller than the clearing cut and way too loose when inlayed. I'm using Skinny Jenny 1/16, 5 degree angle TBN. I'm setting the angle to 10 degrees. What do you think I'm doing wrong?
@@tk.designsThanks. I changed the tool to an engraving bit in the database but it doesn’t populate into vcarve inlay. Not sure if it’s an issue with version 12? I’m running it as a pocket toolpath instead but it looks like you were able to have it come up as an engraving bit in the inlay tab? Or did you run it as a pocket toolpath? Thanks in advance.
@@SeamlessFab In version 12, it needs to be changed to a v-bit. This video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5wAd4p_fNkU.html shows how the change was made for version 12.
can i know why i couldn't change setting in my vfd. i saw u click on set then "end" show in the screen of vfd. but it didn't apear when i do that.plrase help me to change my parameters as u
Hello and thank you for the video. I am new to CNC and inlays. I would love to try a deep inlay of .2500 and another one at .1250. I have an Amanda 46280 6.2 degree that I would like to try it with. Can you guide me on the settings please? Could I use a flat of .197 using the same start numbers or would that mess things up? .2500 = (.039/.079 .118/.079 .197/.079 What would you do for .1250 ? .1250 = Please in lighting me…
I make similar boards not quite as big, (20”x14”x2.5”) by request only. I don’t do production runs. Only one offs. I charge minimum $250 to $300 depending on the amount of designing, detail, and number of different species of hardwood.
I'm struggling with my first inlay attempts and missing something here... I'm using a 12.4 degree tapered ball nose with a .030 tip, I had just created that under V-bits and early attempts have the plug coming out too skinny (thinner than it looks on VCarve preview also). When I draw the bit in cad there is .143 cutting length "missing" with the .030 tip width compared to if it came to a true V and the program doesn't know that. The way you did it started out with a flat tip diameter as a tapered ball nose but lost it when it was changed to a v-bit category. I'm failing to see how this is any different than just creating a new v-bit with that angle, and leads to the same issue with the program assuming it comes to a true V point? I just created another tool version using the method shown here and the preview looks identical to the one I had created from scratch as a v-bit, will try running it on the machine but I don't see how it will be different?
Sorry for the delay in response. Is your tool measurements in inches? How deep of inlay are you trying to do? I ask, because if you are using inches, your flat tip is approximately 3 times the size of mine, which comes in at 0.2mm, and 10.52 degrees. My inlays are 6mm deep, so the loss of cutting depth is insignificant with the bit I use. I did not account for a flat tip that is 3/4 of a MM (0.030 inches), so for that I apologize if my formula doesn't work for you. Unfortunately, VCarve has never supported using TBNs as v-bits, so we have always had to find a work around. Can you tell me what bit you use specifically? Thanks for watching and providing valuable feedback!
Agree with you. The 'missing tip' of a TBN means that when you set your Z height on the touch plate, your Z0 is set too low is going to cut too deep resulting in a bigger pocket and a smaller plug. With the small angles of a TBN, this Z height error is significant. For a 0.2mm tip it is a 1mm height error and for a 0.4mm, it is a 2mm error . For this reason, the v12 VCarve functionality is useless with a TBN. If this does not make sense, draw your bit profile in CAD and measure the distance between the theoretical V-Bit tip and where the actual ballnose tip is. The smaller the TBN radius, the less the error but it is still significant. The error will be effectively the tip radius on both sides of both pocket and plug. A 0.2mm tip radius will result in 0.8mm play in the inlay. Thats more than glue can fill. There is also the risk that the plug will bottom out as the geometry is now all off which also contributes to incorrect fit.
@@tk.designs I'm now using a 10.52 degree total angle bit with a .020 tip and found settings that make it work by experimenting with the surface and glue gaps. 👍 Not sure what you mean by them not supporting TBN bits, though, both in V11.5 that I still have installed and in V12 the VCarve/Engraving toolpath allows you to select a TBN and define a tip radius. It's only the new V12 VCarve Inlay toolpath that creates the plug at the same time that doesn't allow it. 🤷♂
@@davemillardsa I experimented with gaps and found settings that make the new toolpath work for me. The inlay comes out .010 wider each side but I'll never see that in reality, and the fit and glue gap are spot on. 👍
@@davemillardsa Funny you said draw it in cad....in the time since I posted that first comment and now I've done that and a lot more experimenting and have the new toolpath working perfectly along with uploading my own video on my findings. Since the 12.4 degree bit I had rolled off the machine and broke the tip on the floor (of course it landed tip down 🙄) I'm now using the same 10.5 degree bit TK Designs had linked and with .200 surface and .120 glue gap setting I'm getting pretty much perfect fit and glue gap (yes I've slice several samples to check glue gap...). 👍
No, the clamps I bought as a set from Carbide3D. They are from the Crush-It Essential Clamp kit. They do offer 3D models for most of their clamps though, but you would have to purchase the T-nuts. The clamp kit is only $58.00 USD, so a decent investment. Thanks for watching!
I didn't really save the project, because of all the other issues I had (wood splits, uneven lineup on the glue-up, etc), but I figured, I have the this wood, and I am going to reutilize it anyway, might as well repair the bad inlay. Thanks for always supporting the channel!
Great video. Thank you. I just upgraded my V12 Desktop to the V12 Pro. I’ve been a woodworker for 50 plus years but only a CNC owner for 6 months. Now for my question. Using the Vcarve inlay for the first time I followed the instruction video exactly from Vectric tutorial on the inlay. Used the same cut depth, glue gap and surface gap. Used the same 60° v bit and 1/8th inch clearance tool. Everything ran great and looked good in both plug and pocket. However when I dry fitted the plug it was super loose. Any ideas what could have went wrong? The plug I used walnut and the pocket material was beechwood. Thanks again always enjoy your videos.
I have noticed with the vcarve inlay toolpath, it does feel a bit loose, but when I have glued them up, they have all been solid. Did you glue up the inlay, and check it after completion? Thank you for watching and supporting the channel!
@tk.designs: I appreciate the video and your responsiveness to other posts! @ghulsbrink72, while this isn't theoretically the best approach, I found that I could tweak loose inlays (male plugs loose in pockets) by raising the V-bit Z-zero location for the female inlay (pockets). Shallower/narrow parts needed less raising of the bit, especially to ensure that shallowest parts (0.060 in wide x 0.070 deep) could still fully seat in the pocket. This adjustment for good fit between inlay pocket and plug was piece dependent and material dependent: my reference piece is a 3-layer inlay of Bucky Badger (Univ of WI mascot) with hard maple background, walnut body, goncalo sweater and hard maple sweater stripes. I raised the Z-zero 0.060 inch for a 3.0 in wide, 0.350 in deep pocket (Bucky's body, plug start=0 flat=0.350) but only raised Z-zero 0.025 inch for a 3.0 in wide, 0.200 in deep pocket (Bucky's face inlayed on body, plug start=0.150 flat=0.080); raised the Z-zero 0.015 in for 0.10 in wide 0.2-0.22 in deep (custom lettering, plug start=0.150 flat=0.125); and barely raised the Z-zero 0.005 in for 0.050 in wide 0.1 in deep pockets (sweater stripes, plug start=0.070 flat=0.080). I am still tweaking the process as this was only my 4th inlay ever (and 3rd with VCarvePro) and could be improved upon (my stripes didn't seat deep enough - the small the part the smaller the glue gap needs to be). Note if the plugs don't fit (since the actual inlay pockets become shallower than their calculated design once you've raised the Z-zero), just sand down the tops of the plugs a bit. Since you really just care about their width at the female's highest point/board surface. I found trying to improve the fit by changing the inlay pocket depths and plug start and flat depths had the potential to mess up the clarity of the design (like how far Bucky's hand was from his body). I would like to learn how others handle loose plugs - seems to be a common issue. Maybe simply sanding more off the top of plugs would let them seat better but I encountered lots of plugs bottoming out onto their flat before the fit was good. Thanks.
Forgot to mention I was using a Amana RC-1045 INSERT V-GROOVE 45° 1/2 SHANK . I thought moving to smaller angle from 90o or 60o V-bit would solve looseness but it didn't. Looking forward to trialing a tapered ballnose bit like TK_Designs uses: see his tip to @RonMartinelli-nt9qg below about setting up these TBNs in VCarvePro.
@@cristinamullally4698 I use the tapered ballnose bits due to the depth and detail of several of my inlays. I have inlay portions that are about 1mm wide, and 6mm deep (See my N.O Saints Cutting Board Vid). I think I would definitely have to change my approach if I were using a 45 or 60 degree v-bit. Let me know if you encounter any issues with using the TBN. And thank you for your insight and sharing your experience with the V-Carve Inlays. Thanks for watching!
You're not reaching the limits of your crosscut sled - you're reaching the limits of your table saw. I get nervous when I see the table saw wobble as you use it. The lack of stability is helping the blade to bind. Realistically, your skill level and needs have passed the tool you are using. It's about more than quality; it's about safety. I love myself a good crosscut sled, and you can use a sled to get more stability out of a cut on a jobsite saw. But your sled is already on the large size for your saw, and you're doing really deep cuts on long wood. I've been there before. I've added stands to the side and played other games, but it was always a safety risk. The table saw is a dangerous tool, and most of that danger is not from being cut. If you want to keep doing this with a table saw, you should be looking at getting a cabinet saw. The support of the large table on the If that's not in the cards for financial or space reasons, consider making these crosscuts with a track saw. Ideally you would make square cuts with a Track saw on an MFT/3 or similar, there's a lot of advice out there for creating a smaller track saw crosscut setup. For the time being, you might replace the rails the crosscut sled. There's a lot of motion on the right (screen left) rail. Actually, I would rebuild that crosscut sled entirely. I think the design is great, but the materials need to be better. You should to use higher quality wood and plywood on the crosscut sled to keep the accuracy. The front and back fence and the rails should be hardwood (unless you purchase metal or plastic rails). The rails especially should be as solid or more solid than oak, and very carefully fit. The surface should be a better plywood than what's in the picture. It doesn't have to be Baltic Birch, but something with a really clean surface and clean looking plies. The work you are doing on the Inlay is so high quality you want to avoid messing up the other steps. Just whatever you do, be safe.
Thank you for the positive feedback and criticism. It is truly helpful. Agree fully with you on the saw. I think I have outgrown it, and I am looking to upgrade to a larger saw. Space and money is a consideration, but there are options available. What I was referring to was the fact that my work piece was 17.7 inches in width, and the sled had about 17.75 inches of distance between front and back side. I also was using the wrong blade I think. I was using a general purpose blade while I have both crosscut and ripping blades available. I am looking to rebuild the crosscut sled, but that won't happen until I buy a new saw. I may even go with an option to purchase a pre-made crosscut sled. I built that sled a couple of years ago, and up until this project, it served me well. I think I did make a mistake in the size of it though, as it overhangs the right side (left in the video) of the saw table surface by several inches. I would say that was probably an error in building it that way. Thanks again for your observations, and thanks for watching!
@@tk.designs Here's what I'll say from experience with a jobsite saw and a sled- it's not terrible to overhang the sled a few inches if you keep the weight down and the saw base is stable. This will allow you to cut longer and heavier boards more safely than without it or with a gauge. But if you do, make sure those miter slot runners are tight and clean and don't push it to far.
I prefer to call these times. ‘Learning moments”. Frustrating, infuriating and disappointing all at the same time. I find a big part of woodworking is the ability to cover or use the goofs. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for watching, as always! The good news is that I can re-use the wood from this project for other purposes (It is hard maple and sapele). If I hadn't messed up the alignment on the borders (rookie mistake), I could have recovered this project. I am actually looking at doing a video showing how to correct the bad inlay, since I have the materials available.
I love how you recorded your failures are well man, it ducks but I don’t feel so bad when I destroy a piece of wood trying to get my first inlay done lol. That void is ugly!😢 What stepover do you use for your TBN?
I use a 20% stepover on my vcarves with the TBN. The source of failure this time is that I didn't get that corner in all the way, and compressed with pressure like I do most of my inlays. I decided to do the failure video because I put a lot of work into making the piece, and into recording the content, so I figured, why not put it up there to show that failures happen too? Thanks for watching and always supporting the channel! I really appreciate ya!
Help! The spindle won't reach the speed that is preset on the router bit database. If a separate command is sent the spindle goes to that speed. However, when a file in vcarve is done the faster that goes is 12,000 rpms. Any ideas what can cause that?
I'm loving it myself! The full video for this will be released probably in about 4 more days, and will be kind of long. But hopefully worth the wait! Thanks for watching!
Hi Thomas, Following your advice I set up a H100 VFD on my 3030 Prover Max using it's 0 - 5V PWM laser connection for full grbl control. Changing F070 from 0 to 1. However, for some reason I found the spindle speed seemed to fluctuate by a about 200 RPM whilst running, and unlike when in manual control, the fan on the VFD ran continuously. Also, as the spindle was slow to pick up to speed I had to edit my files and insert an M0 (pause) after M3Sxxxxx prior to running the file. I'm sure, these issues could be corrected with further adjustments to the VFD settings, so thought I would report back to see if you had any advise. For the time being, having retained the RPM display, but have since changed the other settings back to manual control.
The variance of around 200RPM I think I pointed out in one of the videos, or at least it was visible. I would attribute that more to maybe a poor or inconsistent PWM signal from the CNC control box. As for the slow start speed, it can be controlled with a setting, but I do not recommend it due to that possibility that it will burn the motor out if set too high. I made a video on how to adjust the delay in the spindle startup using the vectric post processor. It will prevent you from having to edit all of your files to insert the pause by including it in the post processor which automatically places it in all of your files when you save the G-Code. Video is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AF03CqK-0tI.html Thanks for watching!
would you consider helping someone start doing inlays with a similar machine as yours. prover xl with a 1010 kit and a 2,2kw spindle round one not rectangle like yours?
I actually do not use the ProverXL anymore, as I have upgraded to a Shapeoko 5 pro. What type of assistance is needed? For the most part, the Inlays I do can be accomplished on any machine, with some adjustments to speeds/feeds as necessary. With a 2.2KW spindle, I would imagine little or no adjustments would be necessary, so long as the 1010 is rigid enough (it should be). Thanks for watching!
I was just wondering as I like how you do the inlays. Thought you were still in a prover that’s where I got the settings for mine I have the same vfd you had in the video. I have different tbn than you mine are Jenny bits and IDC woodcraft just now getting in the groove with this new router as I am still new to CNC machine.
@@johnnyking3894 If your TBN has a similar angle (Mine is approximately 10.52 for the full angle, 5.26 for the side angle), my settings should work for you.
Hello, and thanks!! So, in your comment to LutzCnC you wrote: "This is all assuming of course that you are using the new vcarve inlay toolpath. If you are using traditional, I can provide parameters as well." I am using inches and traditional- I'd love to see the parameters you would suggest I use... Thanks again!
Unfortunately, I do not work in inches, so I am not sure how to translate my measurements. I know you can convert MM to inches, but it doesn't necessarily it will work as a straight conversion when doing inlays. The settings I would recommend trying: Pocket: 0" start, 0.236 flat. Plug: Start: 0.217", Flat: 0.02". For the plug, remember that the start depth will assume that the material has been above. You should probably make multiple toolpaths with the start depth starting at something like .05" and flat depth *ALWAYS* being 0.02". I do the same thing with traditional inlays with MM measurements. Hope this helps. Try a small simple inlay with those settings, and see where you get. Thanks for watching!
In a traditional TP, I go 0 start 6 mm flat depth on the pocket side, and do three toolpaths for the plug side. First toolpath is 1.0 start, 1.5 flat. Second toolpath is 3.5 and 1.5, and third toolpath is 5.5 and 1.5. All measurements in MM. I use multiple toolpaths on the plug side to avoid having the bit plunge all the way to the final flat depth (7mm, 5.5+1.5) a single cut. Remember, anything above the start depth, Vcarve assumes is material that has already been removed.
I have exactly the same H100 VFD set up for manual use on my 3030-prover-max. As I'm happy to use the speed control dial, and the frequency speed display, is it possible to change the VFD settings to just have the spindle switch on and off via grbl? The PWM signal from the laser connection is 0 - 5 volts.
@@tk.designs Thanks for your reply. Now you've said it, it makes sence. I'll try again, this time including full grbl control, as in your video. Thanks again 👍
When using the hog to remove material over the entire surface and cutting at a 45 degree (using raster) I did notice that it tore out small chunks at the edge of the material in multiple spots (I needed to flayer some material before using the material in a project). I have not ran into this using a downcut or upcut bit for the same purpose. Other than that it did the job
That's very interesting. I will have to try that when I get my replacement (I broke it by the work piece coming up off the table while I was doing more testing). Thanks for letting me know!
I wanted to thank @danteray08 and @evrlaw for pointing out that $30 setting in GRBL must also be set to 24000 ($30=24000) to ensure that GRBL recognizes the maximum speed of the VFD. Please adjust this if you haven't already.
First of all THANK YOU I finally was able to setup the same VFD one thing I cannot make it work is the speed in candle the max voltage I can get is 3.12 volts when i set the spindle speed at 1000 rpm after that there is no change on voltage, my settings are exactly as yours and I doble check them, also for some reason now I cannot see the speed on the display even if I have identical settings like yours. i remember i was able to see them but, I performed a reset of the unit before I use all your settings, finally where can I set the $30=24000. (sorry I’m super new on this, thanks
@@oscarv.d.2760 You set $30 in GRBL. You can do that from Candle (I haven't used candle in years, so I am not sure how to get to the console). At any rate, get into the console in Candle, and type in $30=24000 and press enter. After that, try using M318000 to tell the spindle to start see if it spins up. If it does, then it is working, if not, something isn't being seen by candle. If it does start, type M5 to stop the spindle. Candle shouldn't care one way or the other about the voltage. The VFD cares about the voltage coming from the control box. What CNC do you have? Thanks for watching!
@@tk.designsThank you for your quick response, I just download G sender and now I know where to modify the value, my cnc is the Genmitsu ProVerXL 6050 and I installed a Vevor VDF CNC spindle with 2.2 KW and 110 volts
@@tk.designsyes the VDF is a H100 series, there is only one command that change a little bit it is the one to use AI1 your option is I think 3 in mine is 9 but all the rest are the same. in another news my cnc is now working 100% with G sender I changed $30 =24000 and change a little the gain in P702 to 295% and I can have 23980 when I send a S24000 m3 command. Again, I really appreciate the time you took to put your video
@@DomzGarage Can you record a video and send it to me? Go to my channel page, and there is a link to contact me via email. You can send it there. I haven't ever encountered where just 1 setting was locked before. Also, can you tell me exactly which VFD you have?
I reviewed the video that you sent me. It looks like F070 setting is locked on your VFD controller. I am not sure if it is faulty, or if there was a firmware update done by the company to prevent adjusting this. According to the manual, it should be able to be set. My apologies for not being more helpful.
I think it will make it easier for profile cuts, or 2D cuts. I might even see if I can do an inlay using the BADGER as my 1/8" bit. Thanks for watching!
I am interested to see how much time I can cut down when I do roughing for 2D carves, and to test whether or not I can do inlays with the BADGER bit. Thanks for watching!
Once I got the settings dialed in a little bit, it sure did cut nice. I will be seeing if I can adjust some things and get her cutting up to full depth and speed. Thanks for watching!
Absolutely! IDC Really went the extra mile on the order. M&Ms, a nice pen, a couple of different stickers, and a free coffee cup. It was my first order with them, and won't be my last. Thanks for watching!
