cutting pockets for inlays

SVanderkolff

SVanderkolff

Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
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Does anyone know where I can get some very detailed instructions on how to cut a pocket for and corresponding inlay into steel? I do have a mini mill but am certainly no expert. I don"t have a pantograph although that may eventually be necessary. What I need right now are some basic "How to" preferably in video. After trying it on my own I realize that somebody a whole lot smarter than me has probably figured out how to do it both more accurately and easier.
Thanks
Steve
 
While I am sure you could program a CNC mill to cut an inlay pocket, it is normally done with gravers and burins.
 
If you can find it look up Neil Charity tutorial. It is a very clever system for doing very accurate inlays.
Cheers.
 
Okay, so what are gravers and burins? And thanks for the tip on the tutorial, I will see if I can find it.
STeve
 
Neil Charitys tutorial is certainly great, but I cant find it now either. If you can get your hands on the book "How to make folding knives" by Wayne Clay, Frank Centofante and Ron Lake, the latter has a pretty good tutorial in his section on how he makes his interframes. Basically he uses templates for both the cavity and the inlay and cuts theese with the milling machine, with the shank of the cutter acting as a guide. The only thing that mr. Lake does not describe is how to match the inlay template to the cavity.
I´m by no means an expert, but I have made a few interframes, and I solved this issue by using the cavity template to cast an inlay template. I use a gun bedding compound similar to Accraglas since the template has to be very hard to withstand the shank of the cutter, riding against it. Also the compound used cannot schrink or swell when setting as that would obviously distort the dimensions.
The cutter must have exactly the same dimensions on the shank and the cutting portion for this to work. Neils method gets around this problem with different sized guides.

Honestly I have never been able to get perfect fits right off the mill but with a little (a few hours) handfitting, I get decent results.

attachment.php


I´ve been thinking about doing a WIP on one of my interframes, but I just have not gotten around to doing it yet.

Brian
 
There were a pair of Deckel pantographs for sale on kijiji lately, very cheap - see if you can still find them ?
 
In wood working they sell templates and router bushings you use the same template for both the inner and outer and change the bushings on the router. The difference in the size of the bushings is equal to the diameter of the cutter. I don't see why a jig to hold the work and a roto zip tool could not be used to do this in steel given the proper cutter.
 
Gravers and burins are hand-engraver's chisels.
Using a RotoZip would be a disaster. Wood and metal are completely different.
 
I Don't know what a burins is other than a hockey team. But a carbide Burr in the roto Zipp should work. A hand held engraver would work, but it would take for ever in steel. Using a Foredom grinder would work, but you would have to come up with some sort of base to set the depth of cut.
 
No, a RotoZip won't work. It cuts too fast, and it is designed for cutting wood.
 
A burin is a hand held metal chisel/graver that is struck with a small hammer for metal engraving. A graver is any engraving tool designed to cut metal. Hand gravers are held in the palm and pushed through the metal. There are hundreds of graver shapes and cuts. All engravers will not cut steel. You need special engravers ( and special skills) to engrave steel. Cutting out a pocket for inlay in steel is even more detailed.

Jim, take it from a person who does this every day....a rotozip will not work, and unless you have great hand skills, a Fordham tool will probably make a mess.

Most of us use power-gravers of some sort. I learned on an antique Gravermax with vacuum/air pressure handpieces. It was like holding a miniature jack hammer. They have come a long way since then. These make your hand guide the tool while a power source provides the cutting force. These can run from $1000 to $10,000. Gravers run from $20 to $50 each. A gravers ball ( vise for holding and turning the work) for steel engraving runs $500. A boom engraver's scope will set you back $1000 or more. The GRS school is where most people go to learn these skills. There are no good short-cuts, money savers, or fast track system for metal engraving.
 
Thanks for the info. I have seen the GRS system. While it is great for engraving in the proper hands. I don't see that it would be the tool of choice for removing large amounts of metal to do inlays.
Still could not find any information on bruins I looked on the GRS site and s Google search.
 
bladsmth said:
Ther OP wants to do inlay is STEEL.
Click to expand...

I understood that Stacy. The procedure I described (poorly?) is the one I use to cut a pocket into steel (or titanium like the knife pictured in my first post).

Brian
 
This needs to be combined with the "photographs of Niel Charitys interframe" thread. Great photos and step by step instructions.
 
Well a few things I have learned trying to do Niel Charity's method for the pocket.
First off it does work but there are a couple of things that make it a bit easier.
Do not use carbide endmills when doing the manual portion of the cut out. It is not smooth enough and you will be continually breaking the teath on the endmill. Make your movable portion as heavy as you can. Mine is 3" by 6' by 1 1/2" thick solid steel and it is too light. When I am i the city next I am going to pick up a block of 6" X 4" X 2" and hopefully that will help. Make the pattern piece fairly thick. Mine is 1/4" and that seems about right. Much thinner and I think the guide might slip out just at the wrong time. This is not easy on the hands. I have to take a break every 20 minutes or so because my hands and wrists simply won't take any longer.
I hope this helps, if any one else is trying this please post your observations as well.
Thanks
Steve
 
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