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Todd, Thanks for the extra info. Oddly enough, I made a sled for compound radii using the same setup, only the fretboard is the part that does the moving, and I can feed it through my thickness sander. Maybe that`s another way to get around the blow out and problems that come with the inlays.
Coe

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Thank you very very much Todd, great information and jig, really appreciated!

Here`s a pic of the sled I was referring to. Works well. Haven`t tried it on a board with inlay in it yet. I cut the fret slots first, and radius before the taper is cut.

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Nice jig too Coe!

Thanks Todd and Coe for sharing your methods. I knew about the slanted runs through a thickness sander but also knew you had to finish up with a radius block and sandpaper. The router method appears to be almost perfect off the jig. Amazing.

Congratulations on the jigs and successful outcomes.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Thanks Todd and Coe, I like this design and I think I'm going to make one when I find the time. Thanks again for posting this guys!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Todd, I have thought of one idea, stops to keep the bit from grabbing the jig at it's lowest movement. By limiting the travel, it would make it safer.

Second idea has to do with holding the jig in place while in actual operation. How about two small thumbscrews on the outboard of the moveable arched base. Two quick tightens of two thumbscrews would hold it in place during travel?

Thanks again for sharing the idea afresh, albeit a borrowed idea.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Todd, how did you cut your radius arch? IT looks like it was done on a CNC. Very square and lacking obvious divots from a bandsaw or jigsaw. A guy could cut a template and use a pattern bit? How'd you do that?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Todd, great stuff. I appreciate you (and others on the OLF) who take the time to take great pics to explain an operation. It really makes understanding how things work easier for those of us that are a little thick.

Bruce, to cut accurate radii I always use my bandsaw. All you have to do is attach a board a little longer than your radius and insert a pivot pin. Then you can just swing it through the bandsaw and get the desired radius. Hope this is what you were talking about.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Bruce, my small 12" bandsaw has an attachment especially for circle cutting. It is dedicated to this bandsaw but something similar could be made for any saw very simply. I mostly use it for making the Drill press sanding discs, as in the picture.



Colin

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Thanks Colin for that ingenious idea, there's probably a way to achieve the same results with a home made jig set up on the bandsaw table ?? I'll be looking into that!

Man, i'm just crazy about this place too!

I was just admiring how perfect the thing was cut on Todd's jig. Thanks guys for the suggestions. Matter of fact, I'm not sure I'd have put two and two together here.

My Building Trades Classes were always called upon to produce a couple hundred basketballs, cyclones, footballs, megaphone signs each year. I mean, every kid in town had one in his parents yard.

On the basketballs, we added a plate to the bandsaw, added a pivot pin, pre-drilled the blanks half way through and went to town. No problem.

The cyclones were the tough ones and it took ten minutes each on the bandsaw. I learned pattern routing from Kathy Matshushita online. So we made patterns of a cyclone, attached them to the blanks and bam, cut on a router table in no time. Matter of fact, I had one student that could cut one in 18 seconds. It took five others to keep up with him. ONe ran only the vacuum hose as he worked. The others were attaching and removing patterns.

Thanks guys for the reminder. This is a great place to hang out when you aren't in the shop.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Great jig Todd! Any future improvements you'd make to the one shown, before we all make one? UHMW plastic parts?

Nice idea, very simple but effective.
The only downside is that it's limited to a single radius, meaning you can't do a compound radiused fretboard with it.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don, that`s where the basis for my jig comes in. I the workpiece itself is pivoted, it can be adjusted with each pass through the tickness sander. The point of contact is always in the center of, and the highest place on the jig. I`m sure Todd`s setup could be adapted to do the same thing.
BTW I`m not trying to take any credit for someone else`s jig (I`m pretty sure it`s been done before), but I did come up with it on my own! Mom says tommorrow I`m gonna learn how to tie my shoes!

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Hi Everyone,
My ears were burning, so I thought I'd drop in. I'd been waiting for something to happen on another forum.... but I guess you are all here. :-)...I see a lot of familiar names. I hope you don't mind if I add a another tidbit or two to this discussion. Todd has done a beautiful job here.
     Tidbit#1- The router trammel jig that you use to cut out the arches for the arching jig makes very nice material for fingerboard sanding blocks too. Before they were commercially available, I used this method to put together sanding blocks for the fingerboards after they came off the arching jig.    Just make a big circle, cut the segments out and glue them together face to face. It is really pretty slick. You of course have to line them up and clamp them pretty accurately.
    Tidbit #2- Double sided tape.   I use Manco Cloth tape for indoor carpets. It roll of it is about the price of a couple of Wendy's double cheeseburgers. I usually cut a few strips from one pc. I've had to pry off the fingerboard occasionally with a chisel, the stuff really is pretty good. My experience with the plastic tape and the fiberglass tape hasn't been as good.   Again, kudos to Todd for his nice pictorial essays!

Hey Marty,

WElcome! Great to have you here. Grab your digicam and post em up to 150K, I think.

And yes, Kudos to Todd's pictorial. (I'm a picture guy )

Welcome to the OLF Marty. Many of us here still float into MIMF every once in a while. I hope it works both way!

Shane

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Canada

Hey Marty, thanks for sharing your wisdom and to Todd for kicking it into view from the archives of MIMF.

I'm absolutely thrilled at the simplicity and am now ready to build this myself as it is easily understood and followed due to Todds expose'. Thanks to the both of ya! I'll post some pics when I'm done. bd

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Great thread indeed, Thanks to Todd, Coe and everyone else for their input, i can't wait to build me one of these jigs!