Potato Drawer Inlay

I was asked by a friend if I could cut a 12 x 14 inch inlay for a fancy potato drawer out of 1/8 MDF. They passed me an SVG image, that I then imported into Fusion 360. (Side note - Fusion 360 messes up scaling of SVG drawings).

Since the design involved some really narrow passages, this was the first time I tried using a 1/16 bit (the downcut that Sienci has available in their shop).

First pass - 1/8 up cut, adaptive clearing with slight stock to leave, to rough the shapes out.
Second pass - 1/16 down cut, adaptive clearing with “rest machining” on and slight stock to leave, to get into the smaller passages.
Third pass - 1/16 down cut, full contours, to get the final finish and pattern.

All in all it came out nicely. A few fuzzies that can be scraped off with a fingernail, but no tearout. Not super complicated, but a nice little project - and it was nice to try out that oh-so-tiny 1/16 bit.

I’m super happy spring is finally here - means it’s much more comfortable in the garage - time to spend more time there!

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Thanks for sharing this with us; cool design and nice execution.
I liked your use of the 1/8" up cut mill for the first pass, as I’m assuming the edge of the mill stayed away from the edges of the cutouts. If it didn’t, then I think a down cut mill would have been a better choice.

Keep sharing your work with us; cool!

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Yep, left material behind when using the up cut bit, and came back with the down cut for the final contour passes to remove the remaining material. Fusion 360’s “adaptive clearing” is pretty well set up for that.

Thank you for the encouragement, I’m going to have to up my cool and complicated game - I find a big part of the fun is nailing those little details.