demonx

Dropped some of the new BKP Juggernauts in this beast to see if the colors will work... I'm liking the contrast!

I can see it now - in years to come, people saying "He only makes CNC guitars, just pushes a button and a guitar pops out!" At least I can say I have actually handmade guitars like this with no CNC and no paint to cover up any errors!

Snapped some pics of Sams (#2) guitar today:

Yes. I'm wanting to take a body blank and have it ready to sand, pilot holes and everything drilled ready for assembly. I'll still have to drill tuner holes and elec holes and manual route truss slot. Pretty much everything else will be automated. About the 2D to 2.5D, things like pockets etc aren't a problem, I just cannot get the curves of a carved top, another example is I drew up a bolt on neck, I got the main profile, got the headstock, got the heel, I just cannot join the three together with the complex curves. Reason for going a bit more full on with my first machine is I'm sick of buying tools and then having to upgrade. Its a waste of money buying things twice and there's been a lot of that over the last year or two. Then seeing RADs issues with his machine, Doug has recently upgraded himself, I decided to get the upgrade and save the headaches of an entry level machine. It'll certainly be a massive learning curve, but I just want to do it right.

Wow - blast from the past, many great builds to pick from. Choose wisely!

Mach 3 Vectric (simply what the machines builder uses) I've learned 2D Autocad for things in the past, so I tried doing 3D stuff in it but having difficulty. Have got Rhino 3D but having trouble working anything out.

It's not even built yet, won't be for another two months approx. The tool changer added something like eighteen grand on the price once the machine was upgraded to accept the extra weight and adding the extra control and motor etc etc. The tool changer will also need its own air compressor but I'll just use my existing one to start off with

Ok, I've taken the plunge. I'm finally entering the world of CNC. I decided a while back if I was going to do this, I was going to do it properly, so I hired an engineer to design me a CNC suited for one purpose only, building guitars. Long story short, I gave the engineer the specs of Dougs machine telling him "This guy knows what he's doing" and then the engineer pumped out some specs. I passed them along to Doug who (thankyou) has offered some valuable advice and then the specs were revised to the following: X-Travel 1700mm. Y-Travel 1000mm. Z-Travel 200mm These might actually be a fair bit larger on the finished machine. Aluminium & steel construction. Maximum recommended cutting tool capacity Ø12.7mm. Fitted with (miniumum) 425oz-in stepper motors on each axes. X-Axis: Dual Rack & Pinion Drive System. 30mm linear bearings running on supported precision ground hardened shafts. Stepper motor pinion drives spring loaded to minimize backlash with rack. Y-Axis: Rack & Pinion Drive System. 25mm linear bearings running on supported precision ground hardened shafts. Stepper motor pinion drive spring loaded to minimize backlash with rack. Z-Axis: 16mm x 5mm pitch ballscrew leadscrew. 20mm linear bearings running on supported precisions ground hardened shafts. Stepper Motor mounted to leadscrew with self-aligning coupling. Controller: Fitted with Bipolar Stepper Motor Drivers. 48VDC power supply. Breakout board with IC buffer & 25pin parallel port interface. Fitted in enclosure with cooling fan. 25pin serial cable for connection between the control box and your computer. Output relay for switching of Spindle. Travel over-run limit switch inputs. Automatic Tool Change (ATC) System: 2.2kW Water Cooled Spindle with ATC. 6 x Collet Chuck Tool holders. 1 x Tool Rack with 6 tool forks. Includes spindle mount, water cooling system, pneumatic valving system, VFD setup & cabling. Aluminium T-slot Table, (using 160x40 profile T-slot Extrusion): The machine will also have a remote hand controller and a dust extraction hood. Long story short, this thing is costing me an arm and a leg, enough that I've had to take out a bank loan using my house as security and I have no idea what the hell I'm doing, so I reckon you guys are my "call a friend" at the moment! It'll be next year till the machine is built and delivered, but I wanted you guys to be the first to know. Cheers

Automotive 2k over a clear grain filler is my favorite finish. I recently did a wenge neck in Danish oil and even that looks good.

If you think the wenge looks good now, wait till you put a finish on it! The stuff pops like crazy Looking good by the way

I don't round the edges so to speak, but I do give them a very very slight bevel.

This was the pick of the Rosewood boards, had some unique grain compared to the others. I cleaned it up this morning before I started to assemble the guitar:

Glad you've found the right place to learn Maybe don't advertise until you've built one or two dozen guitars from scratch and have things ironed out? Best way to learn is simply build for yourself, then when you've got that down pat, build for your friends. Start getting the skills down before you even start a facebook page or website, otherwise you can ruin your name before you even get started.

Welcome to the forum I just had a quick look at your facebook page and it left me confused, are you building the guitars or are you just assembling kits? If you're actually building as your description suggests maybe you need to address this in your facebook page so potential customers are not confused like I am. However if you're just assembling kits, I would suggest not using any name that resembles the meaning custom, as then that is also missleading, as when a person orders a "custom" guitar, they expect a custom handmade guitar, not a kit that someone assembled and painted. So all confusion aside, good luck and have fun!

I've been fine tuning the headstock over the last few years - I really like this version. Looks great (in my opinion) and the functionality has solved all the problems I've been trying to address for a while.

I like these guitars, they're pretty damn sexy!

Too fenderish for me!

A couple more pics to demonstrate: old style truss rod slot used to do but same layout:

I leave the lock nut surface the same as the surface the fingerboard gets glued to, then during assembly I add shims under the locknut to bring it to height. I've never heard of it done any other way for a lock nut style build This is my old headstock shape, but its the same technique for this purpose

Bit further along with #4

Finally, FINALLY got my hands on some Black Limba! It's thick enough for solid bodies but I think I'll book match it so it goes further.

This should be a great looking guitar, nice wood selection

Couple more assembly pics - this time its #1 Bareknuckle Warpig and kahler look so cool together Also started assembling the next one today but ran out of time: Warpig & Mule combo

Thanks for the replys

Doug - are you suggesting I should draw 2D in autocad, then export into Rhino for the 3D? I've been trying to draw 3D in Autocad which is quite complex I looked around for a "free" download of Rhino and didn't come up with anything, so I've been trying to use Autocad