Thread: CNC Guitar Neck

Jason
Beautiful work I love the finished Guitar to death.
What part of Sydney are you in ?

Ross

Fantastic. I want one!
A CNC that is.
I've been thinking about the possibility of putting one together, but I only have a vague notion of how to go about it. If someone can recommend a web site with step by step instructions, or a "CNC assembly for dummies" type of thing, you'd make my day.
Maybe I need a kit....

Thanks for your kind words Ross, I live in the Northern Beaches

Paul, If you check out the CNC section there are a couple of ideas for how to get started with CNC. I knew nothing about CNC but just started reading lots of forums. The cnczonedotcom is also a very valuable resource. Good luck with it as it has been a great experience for me and adds another dimension to what I do.

cheers, Jason

Extremely well designed in looks and cnc usage.

There's no doubting the true benefits of a cnc in the more mundane jobs with guitar building
and for that matter I'm sure you could just about do most of the build processes.
I reckon it'd free up alot of time for the smaller production builder to focus on more important matters. Of course that is after the learning,programming, trial runs but nevertheless once you're up and cutting, It'd be great.
I find it all quite intriguing but way out of my league with my limited computer nouse.
Is the programming alll done in standard 3d cad form ?

Hey, brilliant work!
How many watts are the milwalkie (wrong spelling Iknow) dremelly things?

I noticed that you go from one extreme to the other. Holding the completed CNC neck and in the background is a very primitive hand crank drill

thanks Oz,

You may be surprised what you can achieve. I hadn't really worked with metal before I made my machine. I was very weird to have aluminium and steel swarf on the workshop floor instead of dust. I will admit that there was a lot of work that went into it - but it was more than worth it. The electronics side of things was a bit of a challenge for me too but I got through.

You are right about the computor side of things as this certainly helps. I am pretty good with the PC but my 3D drawing skills are very poor (and 2D for that matter) - I have just practiced a lot. That said; you could outource the drawing to someone else if you don't want to do it yourself.

The trick is not to use CNC for everything. Use it to make jigs, do inlay and other jobs that require a lot of precision and repeatability.

hope this helps... btw, I really admire your guitars - really great work!

thanks Mongrel,

The Milwaukee is is 500W die grinder variable speed 10,000-29,000 rpm. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it. I think I will invest in a proper spindle in the near future. This is more so for the noise factor.

I have got all sorts of different tools in my workshop and I have got to say that two of my favourites are the spokeshave and the humble scraper (for fine tuning the neck carves).

I forgot to add some other pics on my last post. A couple of better shots of the machine and also a preview of a headstock veneer (in the design phase) and then the completed headstock with carved scroll text in the truss rod cover and mother of pearl inlay for the "jb"

Hey JB,

thanks for presenting that. Very insightful. And here i was using hand tools like a sucker....

Peter

Is the controller unit 3rd party or home made?
I worked for a few years as a repair tech and I remember, with some horror, repairing a Roland drafting plotter. It was, I guess an X, Y, 1/2z meaning it drew in 2 directions but had interchangable pens. (I might add this was about 17 years ago when 2 MEG of ram was considered high end) X was a worm drive, Y was a paper spindle feeder, meaning the paper moved instead of the penhead and 1/2z was this viscious little solenoid that would have enough power to punch a hole through aluminium sheeting if you didn't calibrate it right. Ahhhh the bad old days
I have often contemplated building one to etch PCB's but you know how it is?

How was it the first time you started shaping a "real" piece of timber? I would be petrified that it would go out of control and totaly mince a $50 piece of timber. Kind of like a killer robot. Lets hope these CNC machines don't become "self aware".

sorry for the delayed reply guys - I am overseas at the moment

Mongrel,

The driver board/Controllor was custom made for me as I had no idea at all how to do it. It was probably just bad luck that one of the axis was faulty. I will buy pre-made boards from now on. I think I will buy a Gecko540 in the next few weeks. It sounds like you have the skills to make one though. I think it would be a fun thing to make.

Peter,

Yes, Always a bit nervous putting a good piece of timber under the CNC. I find myself watching the full cut cycle the first time I run the code. This can take some time as the 3D roughing toolpath for the neck took 3hours to run!! I am trying to look for ways to reduce this time - As I would rarely CNC carve a full CNC neck I don't have too much of an issue with the times. I am more worried about the die grinder running nonstop for that long - these things are designed to run in shorter bursts. A few of the guys are now buying specialist High Speed spindles which are much much quieter and are built for this kind of work. I think I will be ordering one soon. This ensures I am right on the spot if there are any collisions etc. I haven't had any major dramas to-date