I received some more Proofgrade plywood. That along with the veneers allowed me to finish this long-messed with project. The plywood engraved very evenly so I could do an inlay. This is 1/8" maple plywood. It took an hour and 52 minutes to engrave the 7 inch circle. I did it at 675 LPI.
I used a toothbrush, a hat pin and an exacto knife to clean up the substrate. I especially had to clean around the perimeter where the exhaust deposited its residue. Even though there was a thick layer of goop, the masking performed perfectly.
I ended up cutting out the inset pieces in the cherry veneer so I could finish the inlay. Much simpler than leaving the gussets proud and fitting in.
Protip. Mark the back or front of your veneer with some markers of a specific color. Sometimes it’s hard to tell cherry from maple with the masking on. I had to re position one of the outer ring sections.
One suggestion for Glowforge. It would be great to have one more type of veneer of a different color. I know I could stain it but with the masking and everything. This has to do with the four color map theorem. To do a compass rose with the sections correctly colored to highlight the directions you would need four. I made do with three and it looks ok.
Missed the masking on a few of the pieces. Here it is without any finish on the veneer.
Here it is with a light coat of spray finish.
You will note the gaps here and there. As careful as I was to do the math on the original design, I don’t think I quite had it correct. This is the first time I did an inlay so getting all the pieces snug from the very start was a challenge. I didn’t press the veneer in tight until I got all the pieces in. I had to take a few up and shift them to get them all in. I also had to trim with a blade the final two gusset pieces. The eight pieces that are triangular with the round edge are made up of two separate designs. One edge is longer than the other by a 1/2 mm. I copied and pasted one too many times and made six of one and two of another.
A little closeup so you can see the gaps here and there. This is a pretty challenging piece in the end to get it all to fit in.
So have at it. Any questions? Comments? Observations? Suggestions? They are all welcome.
I made the top a square of 9" since I had a piece of Proofgrade with that much real estate available. Thinking of making a box eventually.