rhoads56 Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Couldnt find the other thread where people showed off their duplicarvers, tried searching, maybe it was on another forum. ANYWAY, here is mine. $300 AUD worth, which was for the stainless rod, and linear bearings. Works a treat. The router is able to be adjusted to a specific angle (as is the pin also). See the horizontal rod?? That how you adjust it. Two turns is one degree... or something like that. Great for planing surfaces when you put the roller pin into the chuck. Handbrake system. Different pins for different router bits. Currently has a roller in the chuck, which is good for roughing in neck surfaces, truss rods, etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Cadenhead Posted July 12, 2005 Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 Looks nice. Have you got pics of the product? Is the brake necessary? What bits work best on a neck? Monty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2005 brake is handy. havent used it for necks or tops yet, only real simple stuff so far. Everything i do is totally custom, so i dont really even have much of a use for this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocksolid Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 brake is handy. havent used it for necks or tops yet, only real simple stuff so far. Everything i do is totally custom, so i dont really even have much of a use for this ← what kind of stuff have you used it for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 well, i finished it literally a few days ago, so nothing guitar related. Although it was working well enough to thickness timbers, and practise on the signs, lettering, a bowl, etc, just to see how it all worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocksolid Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 I'm sure that thing will come in handy, i sure wish i had one for doing archtops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 (edited) That's awesome. I built one too. It comes in very handy for carving tops. I don't use it for anything else. I rough carve my ttops and then do the rest by hand. Cool! So are you getting very goo accuracy to be able to carve necks? That is great. I haven't yet tried that with mine. EDIT: I love the bicycle brake idea. I might have to mod my carver with one of those. Edited July 13, 2005 by Myka Guitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted July 13, 2005 Report Share Posted July 13, 2005 In theory, I'd like to build one of those some day. In practice, I'm not likely to ever produce high enough volumes of guitars for one to be handy. I don't intend to ever get into the business. Still, you just never know. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Just finished putting this together. Porter-Cable 1/2" router, the design is almost exactly David Myka's (right down to the brick counterweight). The table just rests on a shelf, and is attached to the wall by 3 massive heavy door hinges, so I can actually fold the table up against the wall if I want to get it out of the way. Its 1/4" plywood (the good kind) braced w/ planed-down 2x4s glued & screwed to the back. Rock solid! Just used it for the first time today to free-hand rough out the neck heel on my bass proj...the travel along the rails is a little sticky, probably some of that residual grease they coat the rods with for shipping. Do you guys use anything special to lube the rails? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 ky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Erik, how much $$$ do you estimate you have into that? Where did you source the parts? I have had good luck with silicone spray lube for a lot of things metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 You'll want to keep Silicone spray lube as far away from your guitar work as humanly possible - it'll make anything it gets on *hell* to finish, and once it's on wood it's virtually impossible to get rid of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesj Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 You'll want to keep Silicone spray lube as far away from your guitar work as humanly possible - it'll make anything it gets on *hell* to finish, and once it's on wood it's virtually impossible to get rid of it. ← Almost anything is going to collect the wood dust. On that I woud use wd40 (or similar...cheap) and wipe them down before and after every use. (Spray the rag) keep anything you use away from your project, Lubricant and raw wood makes for a bad finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 The silicone spray I used would spray on wet and after a few seconds of lige "buffing" it was dry. It never collected any dust. I have heard the warnings regarding silicone and wood but as James said, almost any lube is probably bad for wood. Just use it sparingly whatever you use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Silicone is bad news in away that oil, grease etc aren't, because it is near impossible to remove with solvents, and messes with the surface tension of finsihes, causing fisheyes and craters which are nightmarish to deal with. Even dry, it will cause the same havok, which is why it's such an effective lubricant. As you point out, all lubricants are to be avoided, but silicone is head and shoulders above in it's potential to be a mammoth PITA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 The router was ~$150 (already had it), the rods and mounts I found as surplus stuff at work (otherwise I'd never have done it). I got the pillow blocks directly from Thomson, about $500 just for those. Plywood, screws, etc.....I'd say slightly over $700. The rods & pillow blocks are all 1-1/4" diameter. I have been wiping it down before & after with WD40, its getting a bit better. I think I just didn't do the best job of removing that layer of oil/grease or whatever that was on the rods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesj Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 The router was ~$150 (already had it), the rods and mounts I found as surplus stuff at work (otherwise I'd never have done it). I got the pillow blocks directly from Thomson, about $500 just for those. Plywood, screws, etc.....I'd say slightly over $700. The rods & pillow blocks are all 1-1/4" diameter. I have been wiping it down before & after with WD40, its getting a bit better. I think I just didn't do the best job of removing that layer of oil/grease or whatever that was on the rods. ← I would have used McMaster-Carr, Pillow blocks are like 35-40 each..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I would have used McMaster-Carr, Pillow blocks are like 35-40 each..... The pillow block housings are roughly that much but the linear bearings are another $35-45 on top of that. But you are corret in that they can be had cheaper. You just need to watch out that you get quality bearings in a setup like this. There are several Thomson setups on the Bay' now. Erik, what are the dimensions of the rods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesj Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I would have used McMaster-Carr, Pillow blocks are like 35-40 each..... The pillow block housings are roughly that much but the linear bearings are another $35-45 on top of that. But you are corret in that they can be had cheaper. You just need to watch out that you get quality bearings in a setup like this. There are several Thomson setups on the Bay' now. Erik, what are the dimensions of the rods? ← I understand the quality thing, I was just looking at the first carver and its made like train wheels on a track, I have seen other types that use Iron pipe for rails, Aluminum, even wood..... His looks to be a much better design... but dollar for dollar, I would want to go alot less, I would not use it enough to justify 700.00, besides I belive I could make a CNC router for that kinda money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 We had a 'DIY CNC' thread very recently, and the conclusion seemed to be that for that kind of money, you could make a 2D (not 3D) CNC machine for light-duty work such as inlay. However, the consensus was that you don't have a shred of hope of building a body-routing grade CNC machine for remotely close to that price. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesj Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 We had a 'DIY CNC' thread very recently, and the conclusion seemed to be that for that kind of money, you could make a 2D (not 3D) CNC machine for light-duty work such as inlay. However, the consensus was that you don't have a shred of hope of building a body-routing grade CNC machine for remotely close to that price. Greg ← Sure you could the 3rd. axis would only take a small slide and ball screw (4-5" travel max), and a stepper motor, the 3 axis controller is only 150.00 (30 bucks more than the 2 axis.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 stop talking about it and make one to prove Greg wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 The rods on mine are 4' long 1-1/4" diameter. Bomber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringkilla Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Done some degree of research on this subject. Do not use any kind of lube for linear bearings. They run on delrin bushings,good for at least 20 yrs. at the frequency it will be used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 stop talking about it and make one to prove Greg wrong ← Absolutely. Not a person on this forum would mind being proven wrong here. I'm sure lots of people would see ~$700 as a small investment for a 3D medium-duty CNC capable of doing guitar bodies and necks. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong at all. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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