jay5 Posted April 26, 2004 Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Well I got a little ahead of myself yesterday and rough cut my first neck before routing the truss rod chanel. Now I dont have a square edge to use. Does anyone have any advice on how I should procede? I was thinking of rigging some sort of fence up but I am not sure ecactly how to go about this. I have seen people selling neck templates that have the truss channel in them. Could I make a template? I am using a stewmac hotrod. The bit for that has a 7/32" cutter on a 1/4" shank. Could I make a template just a tad big and let the shank run along it kind of like a bearing? Any help is greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 26, 2004 Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Did you only cut the sides or did you carve the curve on the back as well? Either way, here is what I would do. Clamp the neck onto a table and make sure it is level across the face, all the way down. If you carved the back of the neck and it is off the table you should support it with the right sized piece of wood. Mark your centerline on the neck face and determine the length of your slot. Measure off how much you need for a fence to guide your router at either end of the slot, that is, it should be the same distance as the center of your bit to the edge of the router base. Clamp another piece of very straight wood (higher than the neck) alongside the neck at the distance you measured from your centerline. There will be a gap between your fence and your neck so you need to fill that gap with another piece of wood that is equal to the height of the neck face. This should give you a stable surface to run the router on without accidentally tilting. Before routing you need a starting hole to insert your bit. I usually measure off the depth I need (7/16" in this case) on a 1/4" drill bit and wrap a piece of masking tape around the bit, 7/16" from the tip. Drill in to the edge of the tape at the starting end of your rout. Here is a trick to make sure you are on track. Insert a pencil stub in the chuck of the router and set it so its just protruding past the router base. Make a trial run along the fence (router turned off, of course ) and see if the pencil line is on center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted April 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2004 Southpa, thanks alot for the help! I figured I could rig somthing up and since I havent shaped the back that method sounds perfect. Also that hint with the pencil is a great idea, I will use that as well. thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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