Overarm (i.e., Pin) Router

[sbandyk]

Ah.. I didn't realize you were making small guitars from the pin router pictures. I though the fret boards looked odd and I finally followed your website link. Very nice.

I'm making mine for the kids so I shrunk down all the dimensions. The neck width goes from 1.5" at the nut, up to 2".

The big problems initially were finding the hardware.. because standard bridges have too much span.. and the full width pickups look kind of funny.
The mini-humbuckers look a bit better in proportion.. and I found a vendor on ebay that had bridges with a small span.

My last big problem now is to figure how to get my 3-5 degree angle on my neck pocket with my basic tools.

 

[73Custom]

very nice Frank !!! very nice !!!

 

[mterry2]

Hi!

Love your builds.
I'm really intrigued by this machine.

Most of my woodworking experience involves using other folks equipment.
Never had my own workshop and in the process of building a modest one.
I am wondering if this Compressor is adequate for running the ShopFox?

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-D55140-Heavy-Duty-1-Gallon-Compressor/dp/B000HZJMFM/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1FBBESCJDTWV8&colid=7OOZTPS1FHD7]Amazon.com: DEWALT D55140 Heavy-Duty 1-Gallon 135 PSI Max Trim Compressor: Home Improvement[/ame]


The PSI is there, but how demanding is the Shopfox?
little I hope..

I already have the ShopFox and am considering the Porter Cable 75182 Router motor, that should make it a champ.
Perhaps a bit of overkill, but my tax return is already burning a hole, and I haven't even got it yet.

Now to wait.




I guess another question would be is how to correctly add a hyperlink to a post.

 

[pinefd]

Sorry, guys, I missed these questions and comments until now...sorry for the delay!

Frank, great thread... what size bit did you use for the inlays?
Jim

Jim, I used a 1/8" diameter bit for the inlays, and then finished off the corners with a couple of sharp chisels. I hope to try a 1/16" bit next time around, but of course, I'll still need to do the corners by hand.

Ah.. I didn't realize you were making small guitars from the pin router pictures. I though the fret boards looked odd and I finally followed your website link. Very nice.

I'm making mine for the kids so I shrunk down all the dimensions. The neck width goes from 1.5" at the nut, up to 2".

The big problems initially were finding the hardware.. because standard bridges have too much span.. and the full width pickups look kind of funny.
The mini-humbuckers look a bit better in proportion.. and I found a vendor on ebay that had bridges with a small span.

My last big problem now is to figure how to get my 3-5 degree angle on my neck pocket with my basic tools.

Sbandyk, if you're still around and haven't already solved your problem(s), one thing I'd suggest is to check out the Rio Grande BabyBuckers. They're very nice smaller scale pickups which work well with smaller scale guitars. They fit in a mini-humbucker or P-90 route. Here's what they look like:

Hi!

Love your builds.
I'm really intrigued by this machine.

Most of my woodworking experience involves using other folks equipment.
Never had my own workshop and in the process of building a modest one.
I am wondering if this Compressor is adequate for running the ShopFox?

Amazon.com: DEWALT D55140 Heavy-Duty 1-Gallon 135 PSI Max Trim Compressor: Home Improvement

The PSI is there, but how demanding is the Shopfox?
little I hope..

I already have the ShopFox and am considering the Porter Cable 75182 Router motor, that should make it a champ.
Perhaps a bit of overkill, but my tax return is already burning a hole, and I haven't even got it yet.

Now to wait.

I guess another question would be is how to correctly add a hyperlink to a post.

Mterry, that compressor is very similar to the one I use, so it should work out fine. I think my tank is a little bigger, but that shouldn't matter too much. And with regard to the PC 7518, that will work great. At least one other person around here is using one of those in his ShopFox; and in fact, I picked up one of them myself today!

very nice Frank !!! very nice !!!

Thanks!


Frank

 

[monsterwalley]

Sbandyk, if you're still around and haven't already solved your problem(s), one thing I'd suggest is to check out the Rio Grande BabyBuckers. They're very nice smaller scale pickups which work well with smaller scale guitars. They fit in a mini-humbucker or P-90 route. Here's what they look like:

Frank

Got to give a shout out to the babybuckers! Frank turned me on to them on
my scaled build for my daughter. I can't imagine anything else in her guitar. (see in photo in sig below)

Sorry for getting of topic Frank..........

Oh and I'm really jealous of your router set up. I could never get that snuck past my wife

 

[sbandyk]

Thanks for the tip on the pickups.

I went with a set of Artec mini-humbuckers on the guitar I mentioned earlier.
Here's the model, same vendor I ordered from [service was good]
GOLD Mini Humbucker Covered Pickup SET (mh2) - eBay (item 390162214808 end time Mar-03-10 13:37:31 PST)

I finished the guitar up already and handed it off to my nephew. If you'll forgive my guitar work, here's a link of me playing it.. to get an idea of the Artec tone
MobileMe Gallery

I'm pretty happy with the neck pickup. It's fuller than I expected. The Bridge pickup is a bit thin. I've got another video somewhere of me pulling off a rif, straight out w/ no effects straight into a POD toneport and it sounded like a classic chicken pickin riff. The upside of thin is that it gives up a nice 'buzz saw' tone if you overdrive it enough. Certainly no thick creamy distortion though.
Output for the bridge was a bit disappointing compared to the neck until I really cranked the height up. I didn't get around to putting the meter on them but I doubt the bridge ouput was higher than the neck.

The recording setup for the video is:
guitar to Distortion pedal -> BBE Sonic Maximizer -> Fender Ultimate Chorus 2x12 combo.
After playing dirty through the Fender (transistor) You'll hear me go clean, then distortion pedal, then BBE near the end. The Mic clips bad when the pedals kick in. :-(
I mic'ed it with a condensor mic, off axis, but I didn't spend much time on the setup. I just wanted something to post to show my inlaws, and maybe my nephew before I brought it out.

For the price.. the pickups look great and I'm happy with the tone overall. They're very striking looking pickups.

 

[Ganorin]

Hi Frank
Thanks for the very good pictures and inspiring thread, it was one of the main motivators to build a selfmade pin router!

A question: How are your bodys mounted to the template? I don't see any holder and cannot imagine where you would put screws, without having holes which are visible later on...
Thanks
Alex

 

[bfcg]

You could use screws in the areas where you will be routing out the toggle and control cavities later.
Make sure that you counter sink the screws to keep a flat surface.
Frank might use double sided tape for som of those operations.

 

[Ganorin]

At the stage where I do the neck tennon I usually have the cavities already routed, but the double sided tape will surely do the job, thx!

 

[bfcg]

At the stage where I do the neck tennon I usually have the cavities already routed, but the double sided tape will surely do the job, thx!

Use the carpet tape version, it is very tough.
A different approach would be to make a male version of the control cavity and toggle cavity and attach them to your template base so that they will "nest" and keep the body firmly on the template.

 

[pinefd]

Alex, yes I use the double sided tape too. It works great...as long as you get the right stuff. You can use carpet tape, although this is the tape I use: Buy Double-Faced Tape, 1" x 36 yds. at Woodcraft.com

And great looking overarm router! I see you did that using a drill press...nice job. Care to show us some better pics of your setup for anyone else who might be interested? I assume that you can only lower it manually, using the regular drill press arm, or were you able to hook it up hydraulically (or other) so that you can lower it automatically?


Frank

 

[bfcg]

I have seen that design before, I think it uses a cam lever to raise and lower it.

 

[Ganorin]

Hi Frank
Thanks!
Actually I have the luxury to always work with my wife together, thats why the router is modified to our way of work. (she does the sawing, I do the routing )

The arm is to raise the whole thing, to get the workpiece underneath, I always aim to have the routerbase flush on the object, than I have the best vacuum-cleaning...after this we tighten the whole thing with a nut from behind. It is attached to the drilling machine just for stability (it improved a lot). We can raise the table if necessary. I have a footswitch which is powering the router, so I'm in control of the power of the machine. Either I or my wife are lowering the router with its own original lowering mechanism (black knob at the side))

I also routed the inlays (naturally after reading your thread ) with the pin router

I like the machine, but I have also a great respect for it. I nearly routed into my finger with it four weeks ago, that's why I want to give also warning, since sometime in this forum this is not evident enough

this routing is often recommendend to avoid tear-out. I can only warn everybody to move the object in the same direction as the router turns. The tool can and most probably will (as in my case) bite into the object and moves it torward the bit. In my case the 4kg heavy mahagony was thrown into my direction, destroyed by the router and the crash onto the floor. It could have been much worse, the router bit could have been damaged and flying with 20000rpm into our direction and if I would have had my fingers on the other side of the tool, they might have been pulled into the bit...

So pls be carefull!
cheers
Alex

 

[bfcg]

A conventional cut moves the work against the rotation of the spinning bit. (safest for hand routing)
A climb cut goes in the direction that the bit is spinning and is dangerous if you are holding the router or in the case of a pin router the work piece.
Climb cuts should be left to CNC machines only.

 

[landsharkey]

A conventional cut moves the work against the rotation of the spinning bit. (safest for hand routing)
A climb cut goes in the direction that the bit is spinning and is dangerous if you are holding the router or in the case of a pin router the work piece.
Climb cuts should be left to CNC machines only.

Climb cuts on a table mounted router as just as dangerous, correct? I'm going to outfit a spindle sander with a bushing to use with undersize templates.

 

[bfcg]

Climb cuts on a table mounted router as just as dangerous, correct? I'm going to outfit a spindle sander with a bushing to use with undersize templates.

Yep. It will pull the work in and anything that is in front of the bit like your fingers will go with it.
I know that must have put a nasty image in your head.

 

[landsharkey]

I've only done a few bodies with a table mounted router with bushings/undersize templates and even with a push block in each hand won't attempt it again.

 

[Ganorin]

a video of us pin routing a wenge puzzle piece for our new project (puzzle bass, the body will consist of wooden puzzle pieces of different woods...)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzGFt8exJA4]Pin Routing a puzzle piece for the puzzle bass - YouTube[/ame]

 

[H.E.L.Shane]

a video of us pin routing a wenge puzzle piece for our new project (puzzle bass, the body will consist of wooden puzzle pieces of different woods...)

Thats all i got..

i mean i seen marquetry puzzle TOPS... but never a whole guitar body....

that needs a thread of its own

 

[Ganorin]

I was not sure it is interesting to the rest of you, if you want I'll gladly post a few pictures....