Using Wedges To Make A Neck Angle

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

I cut up some wedges out of 3/4" MDF today. Ideally they should be a bit longer, however this is what I have to work with. They are cut to 3 degrees. My plan is to lay my neck cavity template on top of them to cut the neck pocket with an angle. As long as everything lines up and is accurate (check and check) it should work out. Double stick Duct Tape will keep everything solid. I should have it done Friday or over the weekend. Just wanted to run my plan past you guys before I went through with it. I dont know if anyone has done it this way before.

Side note: once I get back to school in August I will draw up and laser cut wedges to be 100% accurate for future builds.

pic 2

pic 3

pic 4

Edited June 22, 2007 by wwwdotcomdotnet

[Xanthus]

I would worry about your router munching those delicious cheese wedges for dinner. what type of bit are you going to use? Because even with a bearing/template bit, I don't see how one would keep the bit from eating into the wedges. I might want to put all of the wedges on some sort of common back piece, so you can line it up perpendicular to the centerline of the guitar, and a stop piece to outline the border of the pocket completely, so you can run a bearing bit around it. Other than that, it's a pretty cool, easy-to-construct, and lightweight idea

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

thats just the thing though, the wedges side under the template completely (see picture 4). i am using a template bearing follower bit, and the template sit on top of the wedges. the bit never touches them. you can see the middle wedge is cut in half to allow for the routing of the pocket

[Xanthus]

oooooh, gotcha, I must've overlooked that in the pics Well that solves everything, now doesn't it? Excellent work! I'd just find some way to connect all the pieces to make setup easier. Maybe drill two holes through the pieces and throw two metal bars through them with washers and nuts on the end, so you can just measure a line, take the wedges out, and spread them.

PS, where in MA are you?

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

i live in swampscott

but yeah, my plan is to make a permanent one next semester out of multiple pieces of lasercut mdf, and run a bolt through all of them

[Xanthus]

Sweet! I live in Malden. I love it up in that area, Swampscott, Salem, Gloucester especially. Anywhere near the ocean, really I'm a pirate at heart.

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

yeah, swampscott is pretty nice. i used to live in marblehead for 8 years and moved here about 5 years ago. and i live across the street from the houses on the beach

[erikbojerik]

Yeah....lived in Boston from 88-93. Finding paaking in Swampsctt is wicked haad, I usually had to paak in the yaad, or in the Stwop & Shwop paaking lwot, or in Maablehead.

Looks good! I've done a similar thing for a 2° angle, when I did it I had the wedges stuck to each other side by side (double stick tape) when shaping the angle, so that way I knew they'd all be identical.

When you're routing, be careful about getting a little gap underneath the template, between the template and the body. If it is large enough for your bearing to slide into, you'll rout a divot in the side of your neck pocket. You can prevent this by sticking down wedges #2 and #4 to line up with the edges of the neck pocket, so the bearing will have something to ride on the whole way around.

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

that was my plan for the sides of the route, but for the base of edge i am not sure what i will do. ill just go slow and be careful

[Xanthus]

Yeah....lived in Boston from 88-93. Finding paaking in Swampsctt is wicked haad, I usually had to paak in the yaad, or in the Stwop & Shwop paaking lwot, or in Maablehead.

*shakes head* I hate you so much, Erik I have to deal with that god-awful accent 9 months of the year, and add in the drunk people stumbling down Brookline ave after a Sox game *shudder* When other people say it makes us sound "wickid" dumb, I'm inclined to agree.

Thankfully, I'm a big linguist and literature major and everything, and that coupled with my compulsion to correct people on their pronunciation, I've grown up without a Bostonian accent! Go me!

[j. pierce]

I did exactly what you show, but only used two wedges. Bandsawed out of MDF, with a straight piece of MDF along the top as my back stop, and rails double sticked atop the wedges to give the bearing something to ride against until enough was cut that the bearing could ride against the cavity itself. Worked well. I used carpet tape to hold things. Be careful your wedges are lined up so the everythings perpendicular/parallel where needed and you should be fine.

EDIT: Just loaded some photos from my camera - my wedges where actually stuck on *top* of my flat pieces of MDF.

[wwwdotcomdotnet]

update: the set up worked perfectly, i never got around to posting the pictures.

Edited October 10, 2007 by wwwdotcomdotnet

[Xanthus]

Yay! Haven't seen this one in a while, glad to see it's still kickin'

That jig looks pretty nice, j., but it doesn't look too sturdy. If it is and it works, though, good I myself just made a larger base out of MDF for my router, and I can now clamp it to the edge of a table and have a router table! Wicked excited!

Regarding your jig setup, though, how do you keep the router from eating your wedges, a bearing bit?

[RGman]

Yay! Haven't seen this one in a while, glad to see it's still kickin'

That jig looks pretty nice, j., but it doesn't look too sturdy. If it is and it works, though, good I myself just made a larger base out of MDF for my router, and I can now clamp it to the edge of a table and have a router table! Wicked excited!

Regarding your jig setup, though, how do you keep the router from eating your wedges, a bearing bit?

Your answer:

thats just the thing though, the wedges side under the template completely (see picture 4). i am using a template bearing follower bit, and the template sit on top of the wedges. the bit never touches them. you can see the middle wedge is cut in half to allow for the routing of the pocket

[Xanthus]

Whoops, didn't specify I was asking j, actually, but it's cool, I see how he did it now.