Veneer pattern cutting.

[bleeth]

I'm working up some samples of pattern veneer inlay work for one of my veneer suppliers and have some pretty fine parts to cut. We cut the patterns to their clients designs and they lay them up. I have gotten a couple 1/16th"D straight flutes for some of the smaller designs but some of them won't work with a diameter even that small as the corners are too narrow. Other than laser any one have any suggestions?
If we can pull this off properly it will be good for some pretty regular repeat business and this is a climate that really makes that attractive!

[jerry_stanek]

Can you use a v point and mirror the part to cut from the back side

[Brady Watson]

Dave,
Why stop at 1/16? You can get 1/8" shank tools down to .002" cutting diameter. There is certainly nothing wrong with running a 1/32" end mill. Go with a 4-flute to get your chipload right without maxing out the RPM on the router.

I've used down to 1/64" (ball) for ultra tight 3D work. That's about as small as I go since you'll start seeing the limitations of a rack & pinion tool in 3D at that point...

-B

[bleeth]

Thanks for the slap in the face Brady! It's been such a while since I had a use for extra small tools that I forgot they exist!!
So B&B has great micro-tooling including small end mills but 4 flute? With the small sizes of the pieces my cutting speed will be pretty low. I have it set to .5/sec.

Jerry: There was a thread series quite a while ago on doing inlay work with a V-bit as you suggest but on these challenges that wouldn't work without too much "fiddling".

[oddcoach]

I have done some tiny inlays in mother of pearl with a .020 bit. I was going at 0.05 for all 3 axis. the came out good. I crazy glued the blank down ant then put the whole thing in some acetone and it popped right off

[bleeth]

Nice info John. I was talking about Mother of Pearl inlay for the guitar or two that I'm planning from Scott Greens video series (for which I will give a shameless plug-It is excellent!). What kind of spindle speed and stepdown did you use? How thick was your MOP?

Cut first sample today in some cheap paper back maple I had around. Used Onsrud 10-00 1/16th straight single flute. Came out pretty good after fiddling with feed, speed, stepdown, and inlay allowance a bit. Had a bit of fuzz to clean up on both male and female but that was pretty easy with my belt knife (my everything tool). Veneer was .004 and I got best results with two passes. One would have been fine if it wasn't for the near perfect sizing required for inlay. The bit had a pretty long CEL for such a small one and I was getting too much flex in it for full depth.
Cutting a couple in some real stuff tomorrow-Figured Anigre and qtrd sapele. I think I'll have less cleanup with climb on this. Definately would prefer a downcutter and moving forward I will get that. Also will get 1/32.
Customer was very excited when they saw it and are promising much work.
A decent day. For a Friday.

[oddcoach]

the MOP was for guitar inlays. they sell it as .060 but it varies alot. i checke the files i cut and i was using a 0.023 tool it was a ballnose. i had it leftover from another project.
spindle speed was about 8000 and the stepdown was 0.010 you could probably be more aggressive. I only had 2 bits so i was playing it safe. I have a great place to get the tiny tools www.razorsharpgrinding.com they make the tools down to .040 and can get tools down to 0.005 very reasonable too they will also custom grind tools

[bleeth]

Thanks for the info John.
Cut the sapele and anigre Saturday. Better quality veneer and backer than the maple. The anigre was on fleece back and sapele on paper. Put both down with a light coat of contact cement sprayed on the board only. Had plenty of tackiness to hold even the smallest parts and then they peeled right off. Cleanup for both was just a brushing off with fingers. Fit was clean. Biggest issue now is even though spoilboard is well surfaced I still had to adjust depth mid project from one side of the carrier board to the other. Thickness on both was dead close to .02 so they cut in 1 pass. I ran .5/" at 10K. Did 4 samples for client of same pattern but different combo (same veneer/cross grain insert; different color insert, etc).
Customer brought over another sample product to try: Coconut shell veneer! This is like mosaic tiles bonded together with epoxy but the thickness varies a lot. His sample was so small I told him we would need to start with a larger piece.

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