Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Woodworking). This thread is read-only.
Pics and video coming soon.
I always try and step up my homemade gift game. Last year I build a box for my father-in-law with some photo transfer. This year I’m building a music box for my Wife. She is 10-weeks pregnet with our first child so I want this to be something special she can pass on. I have access to a CNC at work. (Maybe TIA will do a CNC giveaway soon? <hint>) .. Although I’v never done CNC inlay, my foolish self decided to try and build a music box with an inlay anyway. .. With only two days left I think I’ve figured out how to do it. Credit goes to Paul Zank and Damien Durrant
The process is V-Inlay. Essentially you cut a pocket with beveled walls. The purple represents the area that is routed. I chose Purple because I wanted to get an idea what it would look like with the purple heart wood inlay
and then cut the ‘male’ inlay with inverted bevel walls. The two pieces fit together and form a nice clean fit. … hopefully.
As far as the design, I was going to do a double inlay, purple heart and yellow heart. Using solidworks I designed the inlays and pocket.
That method became too complicated for my first go so I decided to simplify things and use Vcarve software with only one inlay. I’ll get fancy later. Now to decide on what to carve.
here are a few designs I threw together. (No TIA logo for the Wife.. sorry guys)
I can convert just about any simple-ish line drawing into an inlay, so if you have any ideas pass them along. Im not very artistic.
Looks awesome bro! And congratulations sir! I’m lying on my couch with my son Will, our first born, November 14th and a couple of months early, in the day bed listening to him sleep right now. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Looks great … and a big congrats !!!!
Congrats man and awesome work
congrats dude, on becoming a father…..as for purple heart, just make sure any cutting/routing is done with slow speed and sharp bits. Purple heart has a oily resin deep within it’s grain, if it is heated to quickly this resin comes to the surface and darkens plus it hardens and becomes brittle and almost impossible to remove.
comp56 wrote:
15 hours ago, comp56 said:congrats dude, on becoming a father…..as for purple heart, just make sure any cutting/routing is done with slow speed and sharp bits. Purple heart has a oily resin deep within it’s grain, if it is heated to quickly this resin comes to the surface and darkens plus it hardens and becomes brittle and almost impossible to remove.
Good to know. I was using 1/8″ to test and going fast. I’ll re-evaluate when I cut from the bigger stock.
I have to go to Rockler to pick up a vbit and larger stock. I always spend too much money in that place.
So I didn’t finish but I’ve made progress. I’ll post more pics and video after the holidays.
Merry Christmas TIA Crew. I hope all your tool dreams come true.
Walnut & Bamboo mix. Bamboo was all I had. It’s a bitch to work with!
Post moved to Woodworking… ?
That’s pretty slick, amazing what those routers can do.
At the in law’s shop, I’ve used their CNC router, it’s a small one but effective, should really get into doing more of that, it’s addicting!!
Congrats too, hope everything goes good with the recent pregnancy!
KnarlyCarl wrote:
8 hours ago, KnarlyCarl said:That’s pretty slick, amazing what those routers can do.
At the in law’s shop, I’ve used their CNC router, it’s a small one but effective, should really get into doing more of that, it’s addicting!!
Congrats too, hope everything goes good with the recent pregnancy!
Thanks; she’s only about 10-weeks so we didn’t want to announce. However, Christmas seemed like perfect timing. I told my mom, sister, grandmother, & grandmother yesterday. Overwhelming emotional reactions.
but back to the wood…
Im addicted to CNC 100%. I grew-up in grandpas wood shop. He’s one of those old timers who can use a chisel & hammer better/faster then me with a jig.
I’m an electrical eng but I’ve never forgotten my love of woodworking. I have a small shop in my garage. Still no CNC but I’ll build one eventually.
I worked till about 3am. Although I’m not finished, it’s in good enough shape to give her.
I used a little pastwax to bring out the natural beauty of the wood. I’ll use oil later and give this box a proper finish.
Inside is lined with felt & includs a Rockler music ? movement.
I would like to add miter splines and more engraving also.
I made a video explaining the inlay concept & I’ll upload later. My wife gets alerts from my YouTube uploads & she hasn’t opened it yet.
tried my best to wrap it. .. didn’t have much energy though
Beautiful,
Merry Christmas !
awesome job…..
EEtwidget wrote:
3 hours ago, EEtwidget said:I worked till about 3am. Although I’m not finished, it’s in good enough shape to give her.
I used a little pastwax to bring out the natural beauty of the wood. I’ll use oil later and give this box a proper finish.
Inside is lined with felt & includs a Rockler music ? movement.
I would like to add miter splines and more engraving also.
I made a video explaining the inlay concept & I’ll upload later. My wife gets alerts from my YouTube uploads & she hasn’t opened it yet.
tried my best to wrap it. .. didn’t have much energy though
Nailed it.
My attempts with gifts for my wife is pretty lame…. One year I got “her” an iron filtration system lol she would have liked something special for herself but she does agree we have the best tasting water now!! Win!!!
That’s pretty nice work man. Learning the cnc machines my self. Experimenting is always fun but damn those bits are expensive! Lol
Theultimatehic wrote:
10 hours ago, Theultimatehic said:That’s pretty nice work man. Learning the cnc machines my self. Experimenting is always fun but damn those bits are expensive! Lol
Yep, also hard to find proper end mills. I highly recommend using the v-bit method. ~$29 for the diablo 90-degree bit. I would of liked something smaller but this is the only one HD carried.
KnarlyCarl wrote:
18 hours ago, KnarlyCarl said:
Nailed it.
My attempts with gifts for my wife is pretty lame…. One year I got “her” an iron filtration system lol she would have liked something special for herself but she does agree we have the best tasting water now!! Win!!!
My wife bought me the isprings 6-stage RO kit a few years back. She loves to buy me presents that make her happy. Sure does make good water for the low price. I’ve got a ppm monitor inline with pre & post filter.
Well, the box isn’t perfect but my wife loved it anyway, I’ve learned a lot from this build and look forward to trying again.
I will apply a proper finish and try to fix some of the ‘mistakes’. Here’s a short video of the build process. I’ve got better 4k footage but need to spend time in the editing room.
Looks awesome! Great work.
And more importantly, congrats to you and your wife!
thats pretty sharp dude! have any robot helpers?
JimboS1ice wrote:
On 12/26/2016 at 9:28 PM, JimboS1ice said:thats pretty sharp dude! have any robot helpers?
CNC was my robotic inlay helper. ?
thats cool. I had a couple classes in school that used solidworks. Its usually a nice program.