Soapy

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, henrim said:

I really should have a better way to attach the board

If it's not broken there's no need to fix it.

Agreed, you can't use the entire length of the board. Double checking the ready cut fretboard blanks against a 24 fret fretboard revealed that there's not too much extra, a ½" wide tape at both ends doesn't leave any slack.

[henrim]

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

If it's not broken there's no need to fix it.

It's probably fine as the passes are light. And there was no problem with my test pieces. Everything stayed well in place. I'm just not feeling comfortable feeding taped pieces into machine spinning 15000 rpm. Only thing I'm more scared of than woodworking machines is a sewing machine. Metal working machines are so much more zen compared to these savage tools. I guess it is because they don't generally spin so fast, everything is clamped down rigidly and you never ever feed anything by hand.

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Agreed, you can't use the entire length of the board. Double checking the ready cut fretboard blanks against a 24 fret fretboard revealed that there's not too much extra, a ½" wide tape at both ends doesn't leave any slack.

I cut and plane from larger raw pieces so that is not really a problem for me. But that is something to consider if I ever iterate this jig. I had this thought that because the fretboard is already attached to the jig, it would be great if fret slotting was done in the same fixture. But I won't go there for now. Otherwise I spend next six months perfecting the jig that already does what I want it to do.

I actually built this jig already last week. I had the moving part made of a piece of film plywood. Which generally is fairly flat material. Before starting to cut a fretboard, I realised that, that piece of ply was actually twisted. Although it didn't take more than hour to build the jig, I was pissed, and it took me a week to get back fixing it. Yesterday I planed a piece of pine to replace the plywood part.

It is easy enough to build a new one from better materials some day if needed. And if so, then I may get back thinking about the features the jig should have. 

[Akula]

Double sided tape with tape loops either end should hold pretty good. Get some 357 Gaff tape, that stuff holds entire concerts together. You can also route for a small length then re-tape past the part you've routed. That way you've got an indestructible tape at either end of the leverage, if that makes any sense. 

[henrim]

44 minutes ago, Akula said:

Double sided tape with tape loops either end should hold pretty good. Get some 357 Gaff tape, that stuff holds entire concerts together. You can also route for a small length then re-tape past the part you've routed. That way you've got an indestructible tape at either end of the leverage, if that makes any sense. 

Yeah, I'm positive it holds. I have done sheet metal constructions with tape. With stuff that they use for taping fire engine panels together. Can't remember exactly what it was. Anyway, I know these tapes can hold pretty good. Still it feels "wrong" to feed a taped piece to a high speed machine. Tape is needed to keep the board flat but I think I would prefer some kind of mechanical clamps in the ends. Though vacuum would nice alternative to tape. I guess tape feels kinda same as using a magnetic table to hold pieces down in steel machining. It certainly holds well enough in many operations but still I rather bolt the pieces down. So, all in all this more a mental thing.

[Bizman62]

How about carving a groove at the ends and use zip ties? Or, if you really want to make it fool proof, hose clamps? Like this from Biltema:

[henrim]

48 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

How about carving a groove at the ends and use zip ties? Or, if you really want to make it fool proof, hose clamps? Like this from Biltema:

Zip ties are as fine as tape. Even without groove I think. But no metal objects. Just in case. If I had limiters on the table then I could use screws or metal clamps. But without limiters it’s too easy to feed too far. Tape is just fine for now. 

[Bizman62]

But think about all those shiny sparkles, spreading stainless steel shards all around your eyeballs!

[henrim]

16 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

But think about all those shiny sparkles, spreading stainless steel shards all around your eyeballs!

Yeah, it’s beautiful, I know. Or in this case it was mostly pieces of carbide blade flying around.

[Bizman62]

Yikes!

[henrim]

14 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Yikes!

Yeah. That is one of the reasons why I prefer hand tools. That was a miter saw accident. Somehow the vernier was on the miter saw table. One of those things that shouldn’t have ever happened, and I can’t tell why it happened, but it happened. Scary as hell. That said, I have only ever been stitched because of hand tool accidents.

[Akula]

On 12/2/2023 at 6:00 AM, Bizman62 said:

But think about all those shiny sparkles, spreading stainless steel shards all around your eyeballs!

Two weeks ago, I had to go to hospital where they dug a chunk of metal out of my eye. Not pleasant! No idea if it happened in the shop or at work - the doc said it had been there for several days and had even started to rust...

 

[henrim]

3 hours ago, Akula said:

Two weeks ago, I had to go to hospital where they dug a chunk of metal out of my eye. Not pleasant! No idea if it happened in the shop or at work - the doc said it had been there for several days and had even started to rust...

Outch. Hope it’s all ok now.

I have nowadays several goggles around the house, because if they are not right where I need them, I may not bother finding them for “just a quick cut”.

[Bizman62]

3 hours ago, Akula said:

they dug a chunk of metal out of my eye

Ouch indeed! Funny thing with eyes, apparently they don't have too many pain sensors.

I've learned to wear goggles at the workshop most of the time, partially because they have bifocal lenses. When moving around I tend to push them on the forehead as I only need glasses for reading and other closeup work and the lenses aren't that clear any longer. With earmuffs I may be sloppier for a single minute job but the goggles fall on my nose every time I'm using power tools. As your example shows it only takes a fraction of a second to get a hole into your eyeball. Fortunately they also heal quite fast.

[henrim]

I chose padouk. I actually radiused two boards but I didn’t quite like the first one. There was a tiny knot in a wrong place on the first board.

I made a table saw slotting jig while working on my last build but I guess I didn’t remember it as I started to saw fret slots by hand. Only then I remembered why I built the jig in the first place. Because my slotting saw was dull. Completely dead. I have never sharpened a blade like that so I first thought about moving to the jig. But decided to give sharpening a go. I had no idea what I was doing but apparently my method worked pretty good. That blade is now plenty sharp and it only took like 15 minutes with a needle file and magnifying loupe. Those teeth are small. Considering the coarse procedure I was surprised how good it became with minimal effort!

[Andyjr1515]

16 hours ago, henrim said:

Because my slotting saw was dull. Completely dead. I have never sharpened a blade like that so I first thought about moving to the jig. But decided to give sharpening a go. I had no idea what I was doing but apparently my method worked pretty good. That blade is now plenty sharp and it only took like 15 minutes with a needle file and magnifying loupe. Those teeth are small. Considering the coarse procedure I was surprised how good it became with minimal effort!

And that's reminded me of a job I keep forgetting to do!

[henrim]

Progress is slow but there’s some. I bent and cut the frets and filed tang ends. I’ll just fill the fret slot ends with tiny strips of wood. Padouk in my experience is quite forgiving and I expect the filled spots to be nearly invisible. But I might very well be wrong. In which case they will be visible.

[Bizman62]

10 hours ago, henrim said:

Progress is slow but there’s some

Progress is progress disregarding speed, And most likely you'll get this project finished before global warming has been stopped by political actions.

Your tool set is somewhat puzzling... Yours must be the most professional looking fret organizer block. Not only are the holes perfectly aligned and equally spaced, but you also have taken the time to do the markings with a tool instead of a Sharpie! Lasered or punched? Doesn't matter, they're perfect. And I don't believe you have bought that!

Further, what is the function of the metal block with a black grooved top?

And finally, the wooden wedge tightened clamp (curious about the real name for that tool), is that a commercial product or a family heirloom?

 

[henrim]

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Lasered or punched?

Punched. Only thing missing is a place for the zero fret! But zero fret is a special case anyway, which will be done separately later. But it somehow started to bother me Probably not enough to make a new block though.

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Further, what is the function of the metal block with a black grooved top?

Funny that I didn’t notice that it looks metal in the picture. It’s actually maple and ebony. I guess it’s dirty from metal dust and in the shadow. Originally on off cut of a neck with 12” radius fretboard. I have widened the fret slot so that a fret can be pushed in to the slot easily and removed just by lifting it. It’s for holding the fret steady while filing the tang. I’m holding it upside down so that the fret crown is placed in the groove on the wooden block that can be seen in the front on the picture. If that makes sense. A picture would help. I‘ll see if I can snap one later.

The wooden block mounted to the table is a bench peg (“naakeli” is what I have learned to call it). It is a goldsmith thing. It’s mounted to the front edge of a table top that is close to eye level. The block is removable. It is wedge shaped so that it can be rotated around for a flat surface. It’s a sort of sacrificial surface where you can file grooves, drill holes, saw slots or whatever to hold small pieces down while working on them.
 

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

And finally, the wooden wedge tightened clamp (curious about the real name for that tool), is that a commercial product or a family heirloom?

Another goldsmith tool. “Klova” in Finnish. Or in goldsmith language as I don’t think the word is widely known. Another handy tool for holding small pieces while working on them. I have sawn a groove in it to hold a fret in place. Although I now prefer to use the above mentioned neck-off-cut instead for tang filing.

Other than that, I use two files. A bastard file for filing the tang and a wedge shaped needle file for marking the cuts and to cleaning the coarse cuts. Both files have one smooth edge that is ground and polished.

Edited December 12, 2023 by henrim

[henrim]

27 minutes ago, henrim said:

Klova

Called "ring clamp" apparently.
https://webshop.sar-machine.fi/verkkokauppa/en/home/2293-ring-clamp-no-233.html 

Easy woodworking project for a handy man, but with 7 € price tag may not be worth the trouble. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by henrim

[henrim]

Frtd.

[Bizman62]

10 hours ago, henrim said:

Frtd

Couldn't find what that would mean in luthiery. Please?

[henrim]

10 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Couldn't find what that would mean in luthiery. Please?

Fr_tt_d. Want to buy a vowel? 

I see I accidentally omitted one consonant too. 

[henrim]

If there’s something I’m good at, it’s shooting my self in the foot. It would have been a lot easier to make the neck joint before glueing the fretboard, but no.

Rough cut is now done with hand saws and chisels. It needs some adjustment still but the most scary part is done without causing any damage.

Started to chisel neck pocket too. And planed the top to a 3 degree angle around the pocket. Pocket needs still to be deeper and it will have the angle too. Neck pocket will continue inside the body where the neck extension will be seated. Plan is to make it bolted. But it’s possible to glue it as well. 

[henrim]

Some fine tuning needed, but getting there. Next time though, warn me against doing stuff like this without a mortise machine. 

[henrim]

These 5-way thingies are bitch to tinker with. Getting a little bit ahead of time wiring this monstrosity but I just need to make sure I leave enough thickness to the body to fit it when I shape the body. And it’s better to have all the wires attached so I remember to make the cavity big enough on the first go.