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How does one cut dots? I plan on using faux turquoise top dots, and I'd like to cut matching side dots out of slab. Are there such things as plug cutters for small dots?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I doubt you would be successful cutting the dots in shell or recon stone with plug cutters.
Commercially available shell dots are laser cut and recon stone are cast into rods or cylinders the cut and polished.

If you are casting your own recon stone then straws make good forms. Otherwise I would find commercially available dots or cast them as plug cutters are just going to make a bunch of chips. You might be able to find a cnc water jet or laser cutter in your area tha can cut them for you, but I would think the cost would be prohibitive.

I thought shell exploded when you cut it with a lazer.

I have cut very small dots with plug cutters but it isn't easy. they crack, you lose them, etc.

IIRC I got the cutters from rio grande.

I believe abalone needs to be water jet cut but I know MOP is often laser cut as is Ablam

Glue a shell fragment to the shank end of twistdrill, mount in drillpress and file the fragment flush. Drill the pocket with the same twistdrill.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Clever... you would just have to be careful not to over-file. Good idea! A decent diamond file might be perfect for this.

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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."

Dave, cool! I'll give it a try.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I think an ordinary fine cut steel file might be better. Less likely to reduce the diameter of your drill shank with each one you make.

Glad I could help Ricardo. Can't take credit for the idea, but I ran acrross it when I was in the same spot as you. I've done it on one guitar, so I know it works.

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Dave
Milton, ON

Try the Rescue pearl company for turquoise dots.
LMI also carries some.
Good luck

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How long is that in luthyears?

Dave, I tried your technique. It worked real well. Thanks

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Which companies are using lasers? Last I talked to Chuck Erikson (in fairness, about eight months) he knew
of nobody having any real success cutting shell with lasers (and I believe he and Larry Sifel had put a good
deal of effort into making it work).

Waterjet would cut but isn't precise enough for complex pearl work until you're into a really expensive setup.
The industry standard is high-speed air spindles (Pearlworks, Precision Pearl...me ), though I think there'll
be more guys using higher speed electric spindles in the future if they can keep the bearings from cooking
at 90K RPM.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Bob,

What type of cutters are you using @90k rpm ?
I am running some .015 bits @ around 35K. Am I missing something?

(Still leaning this Techno Machine!)

Thanks,
Paul

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Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com

Probably the same cutters you're using at 35K. There are always different issues to deal with when going through
massive changes in RPM. The stuff you need to account for is different at 5K or 10K or 30K or 90K, it's not just a
linear progression of feed rate. I run my 65K turbine most of the time because the bearings on the 90Ks wear out
a lot faster, but I'd use 90Ks all the time if shell was my bread and butter like PearlWorks.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

There's a method that I think I read about in Frank Ford's Frets.com site that I tried and works very well.
You find some sort of metal tubing that's inside diameter is the size of the dot that you want. I used the metal cap on an old inkless ball point pin. Next you cut some teeth into the edge of the tube with a needle file. Put that in your hand drill as if it were a bit and cut your shell or abalone or whatever other material. One thing that I found necessary - as I used a pen cap with one end closed - was to drill a small hole into the closed end so that a straightened out paper clip could be inserted in order to push the newly cut dot out of the tube.

I think you can find some photos of this on the Frets.com site

I once broke up an abalone shell with a hammer, selected a portion that had good color and then used the above method, but only drilling into the shell a 16th of an inch or so - not thru the whole shell, then pried the dot out with a stylus.

The same homemade bit, given that it's thin metal, can be used to drill into the fingerboard - giving an exact perimeter cut to the hole to be inlayed - the interior wood can then be chiped out.

I later gravitated towards buying precut squares or irregular thin pieces of material and used the above method. But lately, I think I've found the best method of all - buying the dots already cut in almost any size or shape you might want for next to nothing.

j

Ya I agree John, buying the dots already made is the best, but there are times when you can buy the big dots but can't buy the matching side dots. Thanks for the suggestions.

_________________
A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I like Dave Stewart's drill bit idea. Sounds like a good way to go especially on the turquoise.
A good trick to have in your quiver.

j