brian d Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Well, I didn't feel like going through quite that much trouble, so I made this little attachment for my router table, akin to what acoustic/hollowbody builders use for routing for binding on their bodies. The idea was just to provide enough clearance to get the headstock wings out of the way. Pardon the camera phone quality pic. peace, russ Russ, could you explain how the attachment works? Does the bearing ride on the fretboard or the back of the neck. How do you allow for the taper or profile of the neck? Thanks, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 The neck lays on its side. The bearing rides along the back of the neck. Obviously, you want to use a bearing that's close to or less than half the diameter of your neck at the nut, to avoid having the bearing overlap the rounded side of the opposite side of the neck. You taper the neck before doing this. Also, there's no allowance for neck profile. This will give you a fat "D" profile that will most likely be far to bulky for anyone to appreciate. Thus, you just take it down to where you want it exactly with your weapon of choice, be it a spokeshave, rasp or whatever. This jig(although it's really too simple to deserve such a title, I think) is only meant for roughing out the carve on a tapered neck, nothing more. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2006 Finally got a vacuum pump put together. Here are two pictures of the pump itself: As you can see, the guts are hanging out of the switch box at the moment. When I plugged the bugger in, it wouldn't start. So I started troubleshooting. Going with the "try the easiest and cheapest solution first" method, I tested the on/off switch for continuity. What do you know, the switch was bad. I've never purchased a faulty lightswitch before. Guess there's a first for everything. Here is a test run with a lower platen, some ibanez explorer clone and the flexible upper platen all in a vacuum bag. I was just testing out the pump and bag to check for leaks here, not veneering anything. These are the veneers that are going on the front and back of the explorer. It belongs to a friend of mine. I'm doing some modifications to his explorer and he's going to build me a few one off pedals. This veneer has some wild and very tight flame figuring. It's best seen in the veneer that's cut off on the left hand side of the picture. These pieces are hanging because they had just been sprayed with veneer softener. They're now between plywood and paper towels drying. The softener will allow the veneers to conform to the gut cut, aanj, and, to some extent, the 3/4" roundovers without cracking. The edges won't be visable because the guitar is getting a burst finish. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahilltrade Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 thats an awsome little build you got going there. love it. cant wait for the updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, it looks as though my sidetrack from guitar building is over with. Although, it looks like this piece will be getting me a few commissions in the racing world. The body, firewall and floor pans are all my work. The body is carbon fiber, and the floor pans are kevlar/sheet aluminum. There are a few aluminum panels missing in this photo, namely the insides of the wheel wells and the interior of the radiator duct, but for the most part, I'm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 (edited) a few more. The paint job was done in an afternoon; the deadline was pretty tight. It's candy purple over carbon fiber on the top and lsu yellow on the bottom, all HOK. The graphics are just vinyls under the clear. There are still a slew of sponsor stickers that need to go on, but we didn't have them yet. After those go on and get cleared, I may wet sand and buff it if I have the time. Exams are next week and we go up to michigan the week after that to compete. I'm quite excited. peace, russ Edited May 3, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidlook Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 a few more. The paint job was done in an afternoon; the deadline was pretty tight. It's candy purple over carbon fiber on the top and lsu yellow on the bottom, all HOK. The graphics are just vinyls under the clear. There are still a slew of sponsor stickers that need to go on, but we didn't have them yet. After those go on and get cleared, I may wet sand and buff it if I have the time. Exams are next week and we go up to michigan the week after that to compete. I'm quite excited. peace, russ Are you going to be competing in formula student with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 (edited) Formula SAE, you mean? Yeah, we'll be competing against something like 130 other universities this year. Based on our preliminary tests, we've got the potential to do very, very well this year. The car that LSU put out last year was absolute garbage, so the whole team is quite happy. You're in college as well, correct? Are you involved in formul SAE as well? Edited May 3, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Thats seriously awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Thanks ben, below is a link in case you're interested in some process pics. Keep in mind that they're in reverse order, apparently a consequence of photobucket's uploader. http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/thegarehanman/indycar/ Between design and fabrication, I'd say this constitutes about 6 hours a day, 5 days/week, for about 3 months, with a few all nighters thrown in there. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Russ, Photobucket ~> Account Options ~> Album Settings (edit my album settings) ~> Sort album by Newest, Oldest, Alphabetical. One of those should get the album in the correct order. Well executed, great work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidlook Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Formula SAE, you mean? Yeah, we'll be competing against something like 130 other universities this year. Based on our preliminary tests, we've got the potential to do very, very well this year. The car that LSU put out last year was absolute garbage, so the whole team is quite happy. You're in college as well, correct? Are you involved in formul SAE as well? Not this year, but I probably will be in two years. I build my guitars at the school workshop right now and I share that workshop with the formula guys, shure looks like a lot of fun, and their car looks amazing. Do you know if you'll be up against any european universities at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted May 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, I don't know for sure, but I was under the impression that the michigan event was an international competition. I'm only a sophomore at the moment, and this will be my first fsae competition. Out of curiosity, do you have any idea of what sort of budget your team was working with? I'm not trying to pry; it's just interesting to know what teams spend since it seems to range anywhere from $10k-$100k+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aidlook Posted May 4, 2007 Report Share Posted May 4, 2007 I read an article somewhere that the parts would cost around 250-300K (swedish crowns? so that would be aroun 30-40K I guess for parts. I'm not shure what the entire budget is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted May 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2007 That's not a bad budget at all, I wonder how similar your metal and composite prices are to the ones here in America. We spent about $25k(US), and that includes our traveling budget. Maybe we'll have more to work with next year if we can actually place in a respectable rank this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 (edited) Been doing a little work in the shop... http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/theg...ch/000_0285.jpg I wrapped my forms with some thin steel. Rich says it seems to distribute the heat a bit more effectively than slats alone, makes plenty of sense. http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/theg...ch/000_0286.jpg I originally just had sprigs to pull my "clamps," for lack of a better word, against the form. I decided that a turnbuckle/spring combo would be better in that it would give me a bit more control over how much pressure is put on the side. http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/theg...ch/000_0287.jpg My bandsaw isn't as accurate as I'd like, so I couldn't really cut a caul out with that. I had this spare schedule 40 pvc lying around. It seems to stand up to the heat just fine. I may modify it so that the wooden insert doesn't touch the bottom of the pvc, so that the pvc deforms a bit to conform to the form better. http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f59/theg...ch/000_0299.jpg Side bending test run...good thing I bought some scrap sides to do test runs with. I think the problem was that the side wasn't hot enough and that it needs to be thinned at the bends. I would've been using an infrared thermometer, but I bought the thermometer today and wouldn't you know it, the batteries were dead. Oh, and one other thing... Edited June 11, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_ado Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 nice J-PAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Nice, that electric is turning out damned hot. Drop me a line on MSN and I'll give you some bending info to help you out, cause really, it should NOT be hard with a form. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 How thick is the wood? You might be trying to bend too fast. It's important to get the steam working and heat that sucker up before applying a lot of pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 (edited) The wood is at about .9". It's flamed maple. I imagine that has something to do with it cracking so easily. I've hand bent flamed maple binding and recall it reacting similarly. I did wet the wood and wrap it in tin foil and tape. However, I didn't put any butcher's paper in the sandwich to retain the water. Also, I've got 125watt bulbs(3) in the bender at the moment. However, looking on the OLF forum, it looks like people use 200watt bulbs. I'll need to get some of those. Chris, I got your pm, I'll get back to you in a bit. Edited June 12, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Cool stuff Russ. I am happy to see you getting that acoustic started. Do you remember that 335-ish guitar I built a while back? It had flamed maple sides as well. I went through a set trying to bend it without cracking until I started soaking the maple for about 30 minutes before bending. Then it worked great. The cocobolo should bend like plastic. Have you drawn out the bracing yet? I am just getting back to work on an acoustic that I started last year but had to abandon it in the winter because my furnace was drying the place out. So I am just now figuring the bracing out. I decided to try a laminate with a .020" piece of CF between two 3/32" pieces of spruce for the x-brace. It makes for a very rigid brace. I am hoping to minimize top deflection when under string tension. I will just use spruce for the rest of the bracing. I'll let you know how it goes. Nice car project too. One of the people in the building takes older 30s-40s style roadsters and coupes and fits them with a completely updated drivetrain, suspension, and interiors. Pretty awesome stuff, although nothing like what you are doing with the carbon fiber panels, etc. Nice work. ~David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I got some new batteries for my infrared thermometer and some 250watt heater bulbs for my bender this afternoon. The bulbs were bigger so I had to make a few minor modifications to the jig. Anyhow, I kept heating up the bender and I couldn't get a reading over about 150F on the thermometer. I knew this was wrong since any water that touched the metal quickly boiled and evaporated. I just figured out that the semi-reflective surface on the metal has been reflecting the infrared beam and giving me some sort of combination of the bender temperature and ambient temperature. I put some strategically located pieces of masking tape on the metal and now the reading are great. Even without the thermometer, it was obvious that those 250watt bulbs made all the difference. In about 2 or 3 minutes, the top of the bender was holding steady at between 320 and 350F(there are some hot spots) and after about 5 or 6 minutes, the sides start getting into the high 200's and cresting 300. I've got a piece of flamed maple soaking in some water and I'm gonna give this another shot in a few minutes. Wish me luck. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Worked worlds better this time. Much less spring back and no cracking whatsoever. There was a bit of spring back in the cutaway, but that could be remedied with a little more time in the bender and some attention with the heat gun. Cool, time to finish up my mold so I can bend the coco sides and stick them in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 (edited) The shell is more or less finished. The radii on the front and back have been roughed out with a plane and will need to be sanded to their final dimensions with a dish. The access panel that will be located at the tail will be added once this has been done. peace, russ Edited June 25, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 Looking great Russ . Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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