Jump to content
Entry in the May 2024 Guitar of the Month contest is now open ×

donald k wilson

Established Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    137

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by donald k wilson

  1. donald k wilson
    [We work that way also. Building a box around an irregular shape is by far the simplest way to register that we have found. We use x,y lower left corner and z registered to the top of the work surface. All cutting becomes neg. z dkw
  2. donald k wilson
    Jer, I SO recognize that router pass!!! I ruined my first cherry back with a go to command w/o a raise z to clearance. Welcome to the club. Project looks good looking forward to seeing it finished. dkw
  3. donald k wilson
    Thanks much, I'm trying!!! I'm still finishing. I like the look of this finish but I will never ever again do another (unless someone wants to PAY for it) If I had gone waterbased I'd be playing this right now. Hopefully finished guitar pics soon... thanks dkw
  4. donald k wilson
    And finally... into the finish room. 3 layer stain transparency and pad applied spirit varnish for the antique look. I have 4 applications of varnish so far and at least two to go. This finish is not a money maker!!! The color is a little off in this pic, the light in my finish room is not condusive to photos. Next stop final assembly and STRIIIIIINGS.
  5. donald k wilson
    All the fussy little stuff, lots of time little apparent progress. side markers in the fretboard.
  6. donald k wilson
    jer, I think I read the same complaints about shopbot as you did and I had concerns. I did some more research and found the problems were primarily with the old cable drive systems. My machine is rack and pinion and seems to be very reliable with (they say) return accuracy to .001. I can't really say, I haven't tested it. In my experience over 4 years it seems to be fine. More to the original point, my machine is large, with 4x8 table and I use it all. I thought it was robust but after using it over time I would want it built more solidly! (Shopbot now offers a better built table.) I used to cut 4x8 sheets of plywood on a 10" contractors saw and we made it work but when I had the chance I upgraded to a full 14" cabinet shop saw and never looked back. I would apply that same logic to a cnc machine. happy hunting and good luck!
  7. donald k wilson
    Hey jay5, I have both ryobi r.o. (or d.a.) and makita palm sanders. they do different things better than each other and both have proven almost bulletproof. for any flat (reasonably) sanding the ro is great, it doesn't leave telltale pigtail marks like the palm sander which sometimes don't show up until you stain! R.o. is not so handy for curves it tends to grab and take off and will also leave little cuts on concave surfaces. You could probably get both for less than $100 if you shop around and they're both very useful. dkw
  8. donald k wilson
    Straightedge in place on the neck to check neck angle/ bridge ht relationship and centerline alignment. All's well. On to the nut, tailpiece, endpin, final sand and finish. I'm playing with stains and transparencies right now, I'm still thinking the antique look but I haven't decided 100% yet...
  9. donald k wilson
    Thanks jer, it was pretty straightforward design work in the cad program, I just mixed and matched curves and components until I got something that seemed to balance. Here is a picture of the other neck jig in use for cutting the headstock shape and tuner holes.
  10. donald k wilson
    This is the beginning of setup. I am checking the bridge location and height relative to the neck angle, body c.l. and scale. So far so good.
  11. donald k wilson
    Here is a quick jig for sanding the back of the neck. It has a 12" radius carved into it which cradles the fretboard keeping it from rocking and I can get all around the neck at the same time. There is another neck jig and a carved top for a single cutaway on the cnc table in the background...
  12. donald k wilson
    I'm back... Lots of sanding at this point, nothing too exciting. A couple of small steps forward on the little things. I decided on a logo for the headstock and I'm doing it a little differently. I have a simple letter carving program for sign making and I "v-carved" the logo. this was fun during all the sanding monotony.
  13. donald k wilson
    18,000 rpm but it wants to take off. I'll probably slow it down on the return flight.
  14. donald k wilson
    Nice work... The wood is beautiful. My machine has a tabbing function in the setup menu I have started to use, it leaves little segments of wood in the last depth cut so the piece doesn't release and I don't have to use tape any mure. I don't know if it is shopbot proprietary or if it's available somewhere but it's really handy. dkw
  15. donald k wilson
    Just another look at the neck jig from the other side. It's been a long haul and I feel like I'm getting close to the "f" word... I don't dare say it. (finish )
  16. donald k wilson
    this is the new neck setup so I can cut the whole neck in one pass. It is a complex toolpath and I didn't like cutting it in two passes side for side, too much margin for error. You can see the prototype in the foreground and the collet/ neck heel interference requiring the 2"dia. ball mill.
  17. donald k wilson
    This is the finger joint used to attatch the neck extension to the heel of the neck. The joint shows, it is a great looking piece and is very strong.
  18. donald k wilson
    Actually I did a test fit with scrap and everything seemed ok but this is the real deal, still nervous. Here is a closer view of the mortice in the body.
  19. donald k wilson
    This is the body in the jig, I just cut the dovetail mortice and that giant sucking sound is me holding my breath...
  20. donald k wilson
    Now for the mortice in the body. The jigs were designed in the cad program and cut on the cnc machine por exact offsets based on micrometer measurements of the shaper collar and dovetail bit. It got fairly involved.
  21. donald k wilson
    a closer shot of the dovetail in the jig. there is a 1/4 " spline that the truss rod slot rides on which aligns the neck in the jig.
  22. donald k wilson
    Neck and body have to be joined up. I decided to go traditional and use a dovetail. This scared me but no guts no glory so I started measuring and designing the jigs. The dovetail has to be cut on the neck before the neck extension is glued on or it gets in the way. Here is the neck in the jig, the jig automatically cuts the 4 1/2 deg. neck angle into the heel.
  23. donald k wilson
    This is the cutter in action. I didn't use this jig for the finished neck. The 1" ball mill doesn't have enough clearance for the collet so the neck had to be cut in two setups left and right. The heel is too high laying flat and the collet hits it cutting around the base of the neck at the heel block. The solution is a larger diameter ball mill and a new setup which I'm working on right now. Lot's of first time mistakes and experimenting...
  24. donald k wilson
    Here is the proto neck on the jig.
  25. donald k wilson
    Definitely not OSHA approved... Sorry about no progress for the week, I was out of town but I actually got to play a little guitar live. It's been a long time for me... Pictures of the neck progress, I wanted to machine this on the cnc as well. I tried several different versions of jig and approach. This is one of the jigs, the prototype neck and the cherry neck all posing. The truss rod slot slips on the spline on the jig and the heel is indexed to the edge.
×
×
  • Create New...