Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey guys,


Well I may be behind the times here. But I was wondering about how I could
make my own radius gauge that was actually fairly accurate, and I came
up with this. I created a couple of radius' in photoshop that can
be transfered to whatever material (I am going to use aluminum) to use
as a gauge. Like I said I don't know how you guys do it and I may be
stating the obvious, but I thought I'd see what you guys thought.





The pics below are scaled, but the links go to the full size images
(30" x 4" ea). If you copy the image when it is full size, you can
print it and transfer it to any material to make a gauge. You can
always print smaller sections (12" or so) and combine them to create the desired length, as well as long as you don't
change the scale. If it were printed complete it would be 30" long.




Links to full size pics:
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/chansencc/15Radius.j pg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/chansencc/25Radius.j pg

Oh and by the way... to make sure it is full size, if you are using Mozilla just click the picture. If you are using Explorer, hover your mouse in the bottom right corner of the pic and then click the box when it appears. If you right-click and 'save as'... the pic sizes should be 37.7 kb for the 15' and 46.0 kb for the 25'. Anything less will mean it is not the correct size (and no longer the correct radius).

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

Note -
Remove the space between the 'j' and the 'pg' on the links after you paste them.

Can anyone partially print the full scale pics and tell me if they are accurate?

Thanks!!!

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

I just printed off the 15' radius image and tiled it across 3 x A4 sheets in a landscape format. I then stapled the result together and checked the assembly against my gauge. I can report that the image is very accurate and a spot on match to a 15' radius.

I did make one change to the image before printing that I highly recommend. To save wasting a lot of ink, try whiting or greying out the centre of the image as there is no real need for anywhere but the outer edges to be black.

Cheers

Kim

i would recommend that you make your radius gauges with both a convex and a concave face, as both are very useful in making the jigs and fixtures used these days.

an example of the concave radius's usefulness is as a routing template to make the guide rails of a radius dish making jig. also for checking that your top or back is actually the radius you intended. the convex side serves as a routing template to make brace radiusing jigs, bridge sanding block, etc.

given the relatively low cost at which they have been available for a long time now i have just bought mine when ever i need to replace one. severalof our sponsors offer them.

Thanks for the pictures.
Help for the digitally challenged: Is there any way to print out this pic (tiled across several pages) without using Photo$hop?
Things that don't work for me: MS Photo Print Wizard, Photoshop Elements.

Thanks

John

[QUOTE=crazymanmichael]

given the relatively low cost at which they have been available for a long time now i have just bought mine when ever i need to replace one. severalof our sponsors offer them.[/QUOTE]

Michael-
Could you be more specific? Which sponsor did you buy your from? (There's a long list of 'em..)

Thanks
John

Hey John,

It can most easily be printed in a tiled fashion if the pic
has been converted to a PDF. Not everyone has the capability to convert though.
Once it is a PDF though anyone with a computer less than 10 years old should
have Adobe Reader. Then you can just open it and click print – but make sure
that it is not scaled (little drop-down box).  

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

I have had some luck using a custom defined page for printing  a plantilla, setting it up to print a page 8 1/2 inches wide by the length necessary, 22 inches or something like that.  It works pretty well.  Sometimes you have to look in the printer setup and change the layout to print full size.  Some printers default to something like 97%.  I know my two Epsons do.  In the case of these Templates, you could probably force them both on one page 8 1/2/ x 31 inches and print in landscape mode to put them vertically on the page.  Cut your page out of a piece of poster paper.  It receives inkjet printing very well.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=Chansen]

<p ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Hey John,</span>

<p ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">It can most easily be printed in a tiled fashion if the pic
has been converted to a PDF. Not everyone has the capability to convert though.
Once it is a PDF though anyone with a computer less than 10 years old should
have Adobe Reader. Then you can just open it and click print – but make sure
that it is not scaled (little drop-down box). <span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span>

[/QUOTE]

Thanks.
Windows XP- Brother Laser Printer
I've got it converted to pdf (Adobe Photoshop Elements can do that).
Opened in Adobe Reader 7- Print (no scaling) just prints the middle 1/3 of the image. No tiling.

I've never been able to get things to tile, so I'm interested in the way to do this!

John

HMMM. I'll have to get back to you when I'm not at work...

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

I tried cropping off an inch or so off each end, and printed it on an   8 1/2x28 piece of poster board.  Was able to get both on one page.  If cut carefully, could use the cutout to draw the concave radius on the back side of each Template.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

OOPS, I meant to put this picture in there.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=JohnAbercrombie]Could you be more specific? Which sponsor did you buy your from?[/QUOTE]
Got mine at Luthier Suppliers--comes with both inside and outside radius on one piece. I think that LMI has 'em too.

Thanks, Carlton.
$18ea+shipping isn't too bad considering the work it takes to make something really smooth and accurate for yourself.
John

lmi. but i think the luthier suppliers version has a nice cnc'ed lable on it. a bit tidier than my sharpie scribble.

another suggestion. i try to keep my originals aside, and use shop made duplicates. routers are so very useful in making a duplicate, and so very destructive if you slip whilst using the original as a routing template. but of course you need not ask me how i know this.

Yes, there is definitely a time to just buy these types of things, but it doesn't hurt to have back-ups either way. or throw-aways in any case.
I just made several more in fact. They are:
 
12'
20'
28'
30'
24"
12"

I don't guarantee accuracy here, but they should all be pretty spot-on if you have a decent printer. And they aren't an ink waster anymore because they are no longer solid black. Just PM me if you want a copy. They are in PDF format.

Later

_________________
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Louis Hector Berlioz

Chansen / C hansen / C. Hansen / Christian Hansen - not a handle.

Christian

Good of you to do this, Christian.

Great information Christian! I'm sure many people here will just print them themselves. Thanks for doing this. If you are anyone else wants to get them already finished, I can do any radius in acrylic. You only have to pay shipping on 1 order, not on each. You can get them HERE $18+5 shipping.
We no longer put holes in them because we changed the CNC process. Sorry about that!
Tracy

_________________
Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Thanks again Christian.

I got them to print using Acrobat Pro which shows the tiling options in the Print window.

Cheers

John