Hey everyone,
I was in the wood shop for the general authorization last night, and saw a shapeoko near the dust collector. Is this operational? If so, would it be able to do inlay work for an end grain cutting board? If not I’m guessing the only other option is the MultiCam (which isn’t available for new members)? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Matthew
I’m not sure who teaches the smaller Shapeko. @jphelps is teaching the big one. Same ops, Jay?
This is a job for Burtman. Send out the Burt signal.
According to the calendar, @jphelps taught that machine tonight.
My experience with that machine is that if you don’t need to change bits you can get a good cutting. The gantry tends to move when you change bits and that can throw off the precision of your second cutter.
Yes the Shapeoko 2 can do Inlays though I can’t speak to how well.
Maybe laser cutter is the way to go?:
Not sure how good the results will be for an end-grain surface, though. Althugh it begs the question: inlay in an end-grain cutting board? Will this be a real working board (e.g. cutting, chopping, carving hot meats, etc) or a display/serving piece (e.g. charcuterie)?
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am hoping to make some end grain cutting boards that can be used in the kitchen. I may need to wait for another machine since it will require the changing of bits.
Wouldn’t the inlay screw up the primary benefit of the end grain cutting board? Will it be in the center or off to the side in a corner? I feel like the inlay would get fractured easily set in end grain but I’ve never tried it so don’t know.
Also maybe look into whether it’d have enough wood movement to destroy the end grain bits it’d be pushing up against. Against I don’t know if the inlay would have enough movement to really do any damage as they’re typically rather thin.
I’m wondering more about tightness of fit being able to thoroughly clean the board. Maybe not a problem.
There’s videos and tutorials on this subject for various machines including the Shapeoko 2. This one is dated but might be of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUNMJtBarsY
I’ve helped two members do inlays in cutting boards using the Multicam. Unfortunately it’s temporarily down while we wait for some electrical parts but I’d strongly suggest that you wait a week or two if able. I’d be happy to help you.
Both of these were a friction fit into the board and the glue swelled the wood a couple thous and locked everything in with no visible glue line whatsoever.
We accounted for the bit radius too. All angles on the inlays are radiused properly to fit perfectly.
With regard to concerns above (which I had as well) of possible cleanliness issues and also not ruining the look of the inlay though heavy use over time, a few comments at end of this guy’s “lessons learned” thread suggested using the non-inlay side for real (i.e. knife, food) use, and inlay side for display purposes:
