Official Luthiers Forum!

Kent, I bet that jig works great (love the skate board ajuster!), but how much of the dust generated are you able to collect?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Read Mario's article in I think Summer issue Guitar Maker. May have been spring issue, time just gets by me. Great article on building neck and butt join of neck to body.

Just the basics mam. Just the basics.
Spokeshave,curved carving knife, rasp and sandpaper.
When the power goes this rabbit will keep on running.

Todd

Arnt, without trying too hard, I probably get 90%. A friend used it recently on a run of 5 necks. I had just cleaned the shop. We set up the dust collector as shown and I had a ceiling mounted Jet air cleaner running full speed nearby. I turned off the air cleaner a couple hours after he was done and there was definitely some fine dust around the shop. But it wouldn't be too hard to build a better dust hood for it that would do a better job.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

It would be cool if a neck sander like Kent's could be used with a concave platen to match the fretboard radius. I suspect that it would not be possible to "bend" the sanding belt in such a short length, however.
I would think that a long belt such as on a stroke sander could be fitted with a concave platen with vacuum behind the belt for sanding the fretboard radius. Perhaps that is how Mario is approaching it?

Another advantage of a long belt might be heat dissipation. I have an issue with heat buildup when sanding ebony and MOP fretboards on my 6x89 edge sander.

Check StockroomSupply.  They were selling self adhesive graphite strips to put on the  flat part of 4x36 and larger sanders.  The intention being to cut down on heat.  You could probably adapt to your edge sander.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nelson, The long belts "bends" just fine to the concave platen. A little stiff, but it does it. There are also highly flexible belts available. vacuum would help, for sure, but then the surface would no longer be as true as I wanted it. As it is, we(Bob and I) made a vacuum jig for holding the fretboard to index on this system, and the vacuum channels pulls the fretboard out of flat(we went with a single large channel at the suggestion of another CNC operator, instead of several narrow channels which would offer better support). Useless... Don't underestimate vacuum's power! So, I now am back to 2x stick tape. Some ideas work out, some don't...

Length is always good to have. I transformed my sander when I modified it to take a 108" belt VS the 89". Just that little bit extra helps a lot.

Oh, and don't assume the graphite sheets to be flat. Always dress them after installing...., then check them often.

[QUOTE=grumpy]Oh, and don't assume the graphite sheets to be flat. Always dress them after installing...., then check them often.
[/QUOTE]

Grumpy, what do you dress them with, sandpaper?  Seems ironic, doesn't it?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

sandpaper?  Seems ironic, doesn't it?

Why is it so? I made a long, dead flat laminated board(2-3 inches thick) with an 80 belt stapled to it to dress mine.  The graphite gets dented and worn rather quickly...

I just meant sanding flat the surface your sandpaper is going to ride on seems a little ironic  Nevermind! 

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Well, it's perhaps a bit ironic that the ultimate reference for flatness is not generated by any measuring device (which would then itself need a reference). Flatness is assumed as the outcome of a grinding process of three plates against each other using a fine abrasive. In other words, you can't machine the flattest plates, you have to sand them.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Mario--You mention distortion from "vacuuming" and that got me to thinking. (dangerous situation) I sometimes have trouble with vacuum not pulling parts down flat at the outer edges and I've always figured just not enough vacuum force. It may very well be just the opposite, too much force causing distortion, as you mention.
I do all the machining on my fretboards on the fixture pictured above and noticed the corners of the board wanting to pull up just a bit at the wide end. You suppose its the vacuum porting groove (1/4" width) being too wide?   Guess I need to try backing off a little on the "inches of mercury".

I leave 'support dots' under the part footprint on all my vacuum fixtures these days unless they're for very small and/or thick parts.

The majority of the area under the part is still empty, for good vacuum, but there are enough little flats left in the vacuum zone that the part can't deform.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Npalen...your vacuum jig design looks good, more likely than not your parts are not flat enough to begin with.

Another possibility is that your O-ring is not working as it should. Depending on the design of your jig, you could also be losing vacuum thru screw holes & such that mount the jig to the backing plate.

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Thanks for the feedback, guys.
I do the finish radiusing of the fretboard after it is on the neck using a radius fixture on the edge sander.

FYI-On Frets.com there is a "tour" of Tacoma Guitars factory that shows a rig for sanding the radius on fretboards-AFTER the neck is on the guitar-interesting sander.

Brad, do you suppose that's a vacuum line going to the platen?

Cool!

yes