Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone use one of these Powerfiles?

It's basically a 13mm belt sander.

We bought one a few weeks ago when the Padauk neck
was proving to be particularly intransigent and chipping and tearing with chisels and spokeshaves.

With about 15 minutes work the neck and heel were basically finished apart from a hand sand

We figured it had paid for itself in one neck!!!
The cost over here about $95AUD(Pacific Pesos)

I did a quick archive search and couldn't find anything similar so I thought the info may be of use.



Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

I have seen them but had not heard of anyone trying them...thanks for the post...it looks like a really clever tool for tight spots and I can see why it would be super for things like a neck, expecially the heel.

Cool Bob,

Good ol Aussie ingenuity

Cheers

Kim

I thought the expression was "Yankee Ingenuity"?

Looks like we all have a claim to that one, eh?

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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."

Yeah, well I thought of it first this time Don

Cheers

Kim

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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."

   Aussies have ingenuity!

    One of'em stuck a big blob of grease inside the louver handle on the drawer of my bench! Stick your fingers in that and you'll realize just how ingenious it is!

   Very clever!   

   You know I've seen air grinders used in that configuration for auto body work, but I never really thought of using something like that on wood! I bet that would do it to it!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Nice suggestion. I still think the ultimate weapon is the rotary chainsaw blade that Mario and I believe Sylvan use in their neck construction. It's called the Lancelot and it's very formidible and scary!!! See Mario's article in one of the recent issues of "Guitarmaker".

I use the belt sander as illustrated in John Mayes' DVD's as my main stock remover and then settle down to the rasp, spokeshave, file and sandpaper to finish it off.

Others go directly to the CNC but I feel that I would dearly miss the calming tactile effect of hand fashioning. Then again...I'm never in a hurry to build a guitar.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I use an ArborTec Pro instead of the Lancelot for neck roughing out & shaping of plates on archtops. It's another bit of Aussie ingenuity - has three small carbide teeth that can be rotated when dull or replaced when needed. Much easier than sharpening a Lancelot and the small teeth keep it from grabbing the wood.
That belt sander looks like it will be a good companion for finishing up the rough surface left by the ArborTec.

GD

Another alternative to you "chainsaw" luthiers is using the angle grinder mounted Kutzall that Lee Valley sells -- a lot smoother cutting and less scary than using a Lancelot or ArborTec.

I'm with JJ -- I find you can rough shape a neck on a stationary belt sander fairly quickly (and a lot less scary than an angle grinder).

[QUOTE=Billy T]    Aussies have ingenuity!

    One of'em stuck a big blob of grease inside the louver handle on the drawer of my bench! Stick your fingers in that and you'll realize just how ingenious it is!

   [/QUOTE]

He obviously didn't have access to Vegemite

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

[QUOTE=bob_connor] [QUOTE=Billy T]    Aussies have ingenuity!

    One of'em stuck a big blob of grease inside the louver handle on the drawer of my bench! Stick your fingers in that and you'll realize just how ingenious it is!

   [/QUOTE]

He obviously didn't have access to Vegemite [/QUOTE]

[quote=bob_connor]He obviously didn't have access to Vegemite [/quote]

Geesh! It was a practical joke not an assassination!!!
Billy T39061.6929513889

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

What's with all the heavy weaponry? I'm happy with a sharp spokeshave.

                       Paul

I like to wear out yard sale drills by using them with sanding disks for rough shaping jobs.

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...