Thread: machinery for building acoustics

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

See OLF website for plans for a router jig to make these radiused forms.

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What is the "OLF" site.

Thanks Greg

here you go......very helpful informative bunch

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/default.asp

Get good quality 14" bandsaw and router these are the most usefull big machines. Table saw? well you can get by without one and a table saw is a very dangerous animal. It will throw large bits of wood at 60 miles an hour directly at your face

Yes I agree with the elbow grease brigade its nice to use handpower but I have spent most of my working life as a pro craftsman [30 years] and my back, elbows and shoulders are r@@ted So bear that in mind when your are selecting those work saving power tools.

The 14" deluxe jet BS has a 1 1/3 hp motor with a cast iron frame and wheels. With a 6" riser block and the right blade you can resaw most hardwoods. You can get it for under $900.00. Get a powermatic if you can afford the extra $200.

I use a cheap GMC 1200 watt router which is pretty ok. It has nice handgrips a trigger start and speed control. The depth controls are pretty crap. Even so I have done quite a few bodies with this tool.

I recently bought a triton 1400 and it is very nice but it doesn't have a trigger and it has to be manually switched off. If a cut goes wrong it takes longer to shut down the machine. The hand grips are not as comfortable as the old GMC but the depth controls are first rate and it is a very smooth tool well worth the $290.00 price tag. Dont ever move the router out of a job until the bit stops spinning. Every job that has gone wrong was directly because I lifted the tool off a job while the bit was spinning.

Your first project should be to build a table or make a spot on your work bench to mount your router,

Also a lot of what routers are about is getting the right bits and I would include here the best quality bits available. I like carbitool and the italian ones you get from carbatec. Very nice. Cheap bits are not worth buying either from a quality or safety stand point.

Oh and one more point about the router. It is a screaming high speed finger masher and body wrecker. Read up on safety with routers and do plenty of practise runs before you taclkle that expensive piece of curly maple.

The bandsaw is one of the safer machines but still you gotta be mindful and have total 100% attention on what you are doing.

The dremel is also very usefull as are handplane #4, a cabinet scraper [saves much sanding] a random orbital sander and some good rasps and chisels

When I started out buying toosl I wiah I had have asked your question as it would have saved me a lot of money in tools I bought that have had limited use.

well thats right ray...so many ways to skin a cat as far as guitar making goes so some people swear by tools that others probably wouldn't use...
either way it all adds up to an expensive but very satisfying hobby.

They had the 14"jet at the woodshow for $6-795 can't remember which but was an absolute bargain but i don't know if all the things like fences were extra or not but was a good price anyway....

whenever i start looking at expensive machinery i just refer back to the william cumpiano/natelson book at their tool list....and it usually knocks the sense back into me

Originally Posted by old_picker

The bandsaw is one of the safer machines but still you gotta be mindful and have total 100% attention on what you are doing.

I have my daughters trained so that they know that when a machine is operating, even if they ask me something, I will ignore them until I have finished. I have had too many stuffups and near-misses by allowing myself to be interrupted!

If I'm using the plane or the gouge they can stop me whenever they like!

A wise man CB... We have around 15 bandsaws at work and I shudder when I see people operating them; brains off and going hell-for-leather.
I caused an uproar when I had the OH&S department put a stop to people using cotton gloves while using them. The workers didn't want to get their hands dirty when using the bandsaws, so they'd wear white gloves and they kicked up a stink when gloves were banned. Only when I nudged a glove into the blade where it snagged on the blade and disappeared, closely followed by my question "How'd you like your hand to have been in that glove?" did they listen to my rantings.

To throw in my two-bob's worth Gratay:
I regularly use the luxuries such as: drop saw, circular saw and bench (table) saw, I could get away with a good handsaw for those. I'm building a thickness drum sander, but could also thickness by hand with a plane and sanding block.
Some things I couldn't do without would be a good set of chisels, although only a couple would do nicely. Definately a good plane! A router is a time saver and although most things can be done the "old fashioned way", a router is probably the most used tool I have. A bench grinder is up among the things that don't get used much, but when you need one, you NEED one! Try sharpening a chisel with a file!
I've done without a bandsaw so far, but it's probably one of those things that I'll wonder how I ever lived without one, once I get time to make one!
Old picker said it right about routers too.. they are one mean and unforgiving piece of equipment that I rate up with chainsaws on the "One slip and your history" scale!! Use with caution and the best modus operandi is "If it feels unsafe, it probably is"
Hope this helps a bit

One of my employees tried to rout the edge off a door. He leaned the door against a chair, used a G clamp to clamp a 2x1 fence to the router. All went OK until he hit a nail, slipped, his thumb went into the blade ... and he went off to get microsurgery. And made a bloody mess all over the studio floor.

Hey we should start an "accidents I have known" thread!!!!!!!!

Nails.. the curse of wizzy-wirry things and the arch enemy carbide tips!
Hey, I like your idea of an "accidents I have known" thread CB... I'm sure we've all known of a few hair-raisers that would be interesting enough to show the "here's how you DON'T do it!" part of our hobby! Kind of an extension of my TV Lifestyle show thread.

Originally Posted by contrebasse

Hey we should start an "accidents I have known" thread!!!!!!!!

Oh Yes!! I love gory stories!
Routers, and scraping bits of finger off the wall etc!
They surely have value as cautionary tales too?!

Jack

heres one to start with from one of the other topics on this forum


https://www.woodworkforums.com/f13/misadventures-renomart-circular-40521

That's gotta hurt! :eek: