I am an experienced Easel user. I recently used the inlay generator for the first time to make a 2 piece sign. After a few trial runs, I committed to carving the wood and the intended PVC to lay in. The pieces fit a little tighter than I’d like. Using the generator, I used a .008 tolerance. I would prefer to not start from scratch. If I run it again and adjust my tolerance, with the hopes of just recutting the Maple, what should I expect? I guess what I really need to know is, by increasing the tolerance with the intent of reusing the existing PVC pieces, will Easel make the inlay coutout a little bigger or the PVC pieces smaller? Hope this makes sense. Thanks in advance.
It depends on the shapes you are inlaying. The inlay generator not only sets up the offset tolerance, it also takes into account the width of your bit. Depending on your shape, you might end up with it fitting fine, or having some wider areas with a visible gap.
What I’d do is get a scrap of wood and cut the new profile into it to see if your existing inlays would work. At least you wouldn’t be ruining your wood part.
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Supposed to be a better inlay app coming soon too
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Phil, I have tried that. With the .003 (preset), .005 and .008 tolerances. All fit too tight. I am looking to spray paint PVC letters into a Maple sign. I know if I try it like it is, the paint will chip off the sides of the inlayed PVC pieces.
Mike, any time frame on the new app? Is there a Beta I can try?
Can someone proficient with the inlay app answer the following please?:
The app generator says “you do not need to set your cut to cut outside of shape”. By default, my test cutouts have been cut on path, which if anything, should have made the pieces fit loosely. I am using a 1/16 bit and entered same into Easel and the inlay app. Appreciate anyone’s feedback. Thanks.
The .003 tolerance is for material that hasn’t been modified. Adding paint adds significant (at this scale) material. Going from .003 to .008 is not really much wider, we’re talking about 200 microns. It’s not even 2 hairs wide.
I’d try bumping that up a bit more, maybe .012, see how the fit looks before painting. You should have a visible gap for paint (though very small).
Also, the reasons they mention not changing the cut is because the final generated shape is taking into account your bit size. So cutting on the path is providing the .003 gap.
As a side note, I don’t personally like the choice (I’d prefer to get a shape I can set the inlay to the outside and the pocket to the inside), but it’s not like I feel like writing my own plugin.
Thanks Phil. I’ll try that. Appreciate it Sir.
Phil, I ran a test this afternoon at .012 and it fits exactly like I’d like. Thank you so much for your input. Cheers.
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