@chips Regarding your script, what are the odds of just prompting the user for the needed info instead of trying to pull it from the tool database?
I have been searching for ways to do VCarve Inlay with Fusion 360 and stumbled upon this thread. I thought I would contribute what I have come up with…
Firstly, to deal with the Rest Machining problem that @chips mentions above, I decided that its possible to modify the Radial Stock to Leave settings in the 2D Pocket operation AND modify the Bottom Height of the Engrave operation so that no peaks (that I have seen) exist inside the female pocket or outside the inlay profile.
To make it easy for different VBit angles and pocket bit diameters, I created a file that works out the geometry
vBit angles etc are entered in the user parameters and calculated values are saved as favourites.
Since I am a new user, I can’t upload yet, but will do so when I can
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For the actual V Carve file, I have 3 sketches all created on the XY plane
- Artwork
- Female Stock Outline
- Male Stock Outline
Extrusion is used to create new components for female and male stock allowing for glue gap, cutting gap and sanding allowance.
Switching to Manufacturing environment, 3 setups are created
- Female - using the female component with standard WCS
- Male - using male component and an inverted WCS
- Facing - using both components and standard WCS
Female setup has 2 operations
- 2D Engrave - Use VBit with same geometry as calculations, Sketch contours are selected from Artwork sketch, Bottom Height takes value from calculations and is offset from selected contours, Top Height is selected contours, Feed Height is Stock Top + offsets etc
- 2D Pocket - Derived from Engrave above, use pocketing bit, Bottom Height is selected contours offset by pocket depth, Top Height is stock top, Radial stock to leave is from calculations
Male setup has 3 operations
- 2D Pocket - Pocketing bit, Select Artwork Sketch Geometry, ensure arrows point to outside of the profiles, Bottom Height is selected contours minus cutting gap and sanding allowance, Top Height is stock top, Radial Stock to leave comes from calculations
- 2D Contour - Derived from 2D pocket above, VBit, Bottom Height is selected contours, Top Height is Stock Top
- 2D Engrave, VBit Selected Contours for Artwork PLUS Male stock profile sketch, Bottom Height comes from calculations, Top Height is selected contours. Once again, be sure that your Feed Height is Stock Top + offsets etc
The 2D Engrave above runs a path around the male stock geometry as well as the artwork. I would love to find a way around this, but havent yet. Also, choosing multiple depths in the Engrave operation and varying them can sometimes cause an incorrect toolpath to be generated.
Facing setup has 1 operation
- 2D facing - Use facing bit, Geometry is Male profile sketch, Bottom Height is selected geometry offset by sanding allowance, Top Height is Stock Top
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In the male setup, I use the 2D contour AND the 2D Engrave for two reasons:
- The 2D contour can safely remove stock ABOVE the sketch profile level as you can’t define the Top Height in the 2D Engrave operation as Stock Top. It makes the cuts in the wrong place
- The 2D contour seems to leave more material behind than the 2D Engrave operation, rounded corners maybe?
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Hi, was wondering if you’d be willing to share this file. Thanks
@wiifm would you be willing to share the file that you have created? I have been digging into this and would love to see how your work could incorporate into the learning and process I am developing.
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I’m still having trouble understanding the solution or process for v-carve inlays for Fusion 360. If you are using the same geometry for your inlay (male) as you are for your female piece, the engrave toolpath will not truly cut to the depth you need it to since a radial offset is not an option in that command. It seems like the only way to achieve this is to have a different geometry for your male and female parts where the male geometry is offset inward from the female geometry. I’ve been trying to figure this out for a few hours now to no avail. Any further insight would be greatly appreciated!
Hey Chip!
First of all, I hope your eye problems are over 
I’ve been looking for a way to do Vcarve inlay in fusion for a while and you’ve come the closest to a real solution. I was wondering if you have made any progress on this? I think fusion released the API’s you’ve mentioned you needed… 
Greetings!
How’s it going Chip… checking to see if you’ve had a chance to work this out yet with APIs in Fusion. Thanks
do you have a pdf file of this that you would be willing to share
First of all thank you Chip for the work you did and the thinking you posted for us all to benefit from. The fact that you’ve not been back since posting ‘pray for me’ before you eye operation is really worrying - I hope things are ok for you.
@wiifm thanks very much for posting that file, which I am just simulating now in F360 and looking forward to understanding the formulae in the parameters table. Quick question first though: when I load it without changing anything and simulate, F360 has a warning on the Female 2D pocket1 operation (one or more pockets were not machined because they were too small to be reached with given ramping constraints.
Do you get that warning also, or have I got some global constraint that I don’t yet understand. For info it is the eyebrow that is not machined. Obviously if you don’t reply I will look at ramping and try to solve, but am trying to avoid breaking your file before I’ve understood it. All the best to both you and Chip and thanks again!
@wiifm A bit of a self update. Not sure I did the right things, but I ‘cured’ the warning by reducing the (female) 2D Pocket1’s “Mininimum Ramp Diameter” to anything below 0.4mm. This was by trial and error, and probably would not clear chips but does clear the warning.
The previous Engrave1 operation was skipping the eyebrow for some reason, I changed tool to one of my smaller ones, with success, but noticing some other areas not being machined changed it back to your 6mm 30 degree tool and weirdly the eyebrow was now being machined. The other areas not being machined remain, it may be part of the design I’ll need to do further digging on that.
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Hi Dennis, I don’t see this sketch in the link you provided below. Is it available? BTW: Thanks for the instruction.