Duplicarver with Pictures

[LGM Guitars]

24" x 12" means you'd have to have more than one setup per side to do a body though, and 24" would be pushing it for doing necks, I'd rather invest in something that is going to be versatile for a long itme, not something I'm going to regret buying in less than a year.

As far as CNC and flipping the blank for the other sides, it is all in fixtures and jigs 100%.

When a body is cut on CNC, it starts as a rectangular blank, typically the back is routed first as it is generally the least work and flatter than the face. On the ouside edges of the blank, there are locating holes drilled, these fit over pins on the clamping table, the holes are symmetrical and all the way through, this means when you flip the blank the center is exact center every time, not only on the X axis, but on the Y axis as well. The rear cavities are routed, then the piece flipped over to the front, all of the cavities and neck pocket are routed, then contours cut, then the outline cut. On a big enough machine like the one I am currently looking at, You would have 2 jigs set up, one on the left to cut the back, and one on the right to cut the top, the CNC program would cut the back on the first blank and then immediately go to the front side right blank. There will be small portions remaining where the body will still be attached to the outer block, these are simply removed by hand (in casting these are called sprues, not sure what you'd call them in wood) then for final finishing if more cutting is required, they would fit into a mold jig for final cutting with the CNC.

In the tool and die shop I made tons of items using this same process in steels. The trick is always having an accurate jig and being sure to always use the same 0 point on that jig. Once you're set up, you can't do anything but turn out accurate consistent bodies.

Now if I can just get my old boss to hurry up and buy his new machine so I can buy the old one!

you need to know more than CAD, the CNC will not read a direct CAD program, there are CAM (computer aided machining) programs that will convert the CAD for you, but you still need to input spindle RPM, feeds, cutting depths (for multiple passes) and understand the CNC language (G code languages)

There is a steep learning curve to CNC, I'm sure some of the less expensive ones have simplified it pretty well, but in all honesty, buying a $3000 CNC is IMO a total waste of time for bodies, for routing inlay it would be very cool, smaller work that doesn't require much power, but for bodies I'd stay away, even for heavy routing on the back of the necks I'd stay away. The problem comes in weak stepper motors, this results in lost accuracy and heavy wear on the machine. They also state that it is not a fast machine, the purpose in automation is to speed up the process, with properly made router jigs you could cut bodies faster with a good router, especially with a router like I have, it is a porter cable plunge router with 6 depth stops on a rotating base for the stops. I can set all pickup, trem, and cavity depths, use one bit, and do all my cuts with 3 setups. One body takes approximately 20 minutes to route by hand.

[ryeisnotcool2]

yeah im not gonna get that cnc, it wont work for me, its to skinny

i guess its back to the duplicarver idea, gotta start designing!

[daveq]

That was a pretty cool looking unit. It looks like a few guys got together and put their software, and machining skills together to form a small company. Really cool stuff.

Here's my thoughts on a CNC machine -

I would really have fun building one, and probably using it (for the initial few weeks). After that, I think I would have transferred from being a builder to being a salesman. The fun of building guitars would probably have been turned into pressure to sell them. I think the CNC would be a good thing to have if you could sell the guitars faster than you could build them. If not, then it may only end up being an expensive toy.

At least with a duplicarver, you are still involved and "hands-on" with each piece.

[ryeisnotcool2]

i agree daveq, but right now it does seem like im selling faster than im building!lol

i think a duplicarver will still be faster but unfurtunetly i wont be able to build bridges on it, and i will still need to have a cnc make me some alluminum templates, but oh wel its all good!