Finished Cradle

As promised, here are some photos of the finished cradle.   On the order of things I would do differently, if I had it all to do over again, I would extend the center of the basket to accommodate the hanger.  I am not happy with the mechanism that I made up.  It adds an element of fussiness to the design that wasn't necessary.  I'm finishing it with Tung Oil.  The cherry will darken over time, but in the meantime, it is au naturel in color.  It now awaits my grandson. 

 

Cradle Progress

I have made some additional progress on the cradle.  I have assembled the stand.  The feet are a lamination of two pieces of Cherry.  The vertical piece is attached to the feet with a through mortise.  I cut the the mortise for the vertical piece prior to gluing it up, which simplified matters enormously.   The stretcher is actually a lamination as well.  I did not have a piece of sufficient width to run the required length, so I glued up two narrow pieces with a strip of walnut between.  When I cut the decorative channel in the stretcher, I centered it on the walnut.  If I had it to do over again, I might not cut the channel, but once cut, always cut.

The stretcher is also a through mortise.  That I cut on the drill press with a 3/8th inch forstner bit, and cleaned it up with a chisel.  You can see in the photo that it needs to be sanded flush, and cleaned up as well  The two narrow pieces that I glued up for the stretcher were not the same width, so the walnut strip was not centered in the piece, but when I cut the tenon, I centered the walnut strip in the mortise.  The walnut dowel pins are not necessary.  The through mortise would have given more than enough strength for that joint, and so the pins are purely decorative.

The hanging assembly for the basket will fit in the half circle on the vertical piece (the head stock).  You can see it in the photo below.  The "hangers" will be cut from walnut scrap, and will be pinned in place with dowels, that will complement the dowel pins on the feet.  I need to finish shaping the hangers, but they are a variant of "Molly's Cradle," the plans for which can be found with a quick web search.  Personally, I like my idea better, but others may have a different opinion.

I hope to finish it today, and will post details on the "hangers" when I have them all together and cleaned up.

Progress on Cradle

I made a bit more progress on the cradle.  I finished the slats on the other side and laminated the feet and rough shaped them. 

I have partially shaped the spindles that will suspend the cradle, but I haven't quite decided yet what I want to do with them.  You can see in the photo above, the through mortise that will will hold the rail.  I'm going to laminate the rail from the cherry and some walnut.  I also bought a walnut dowel to do the pinning, so the walnut should offset the cherry.  It won't be as obvious as the cherry ages, but it will look sharp initially. 

For reasons that ought to be obvious, I want the head of the spindle to look a bit like the headstock of a guitar.  I am thinking of putting dowel pins along the "headstock" to suggest tuning pegs, but we'll see.  It might be altogether too cute.  At any rate, hope to finish it next weekend.

 

A Bit More Progress

Another bad weather day -- about a foot of snow, but I was able to make a bit more progress.   In the photo at left, you can see the bending mold, now on a stand with the clamps installed.  I made them from scrap oak, but just about any wood will do.  The clamp at the waist has been contoured on the bottom to fit the waist snugly.  I did this on the bench sander, just rocking it back and forth, and checking it against the mold until it was about right.  Although it is not visible, the far post passes through a slot, not simply a hole.  When I had drilled the holes for the posts, I simply cut down with a gents saw into the hole.   This allows one to position it more quickly, a necessity if you are using the Sloan method of bending -- essentially boiling the sides until they are pliable, and clamping them into a bending mold like the above.  I have cracked several sides attempting it, and wouldn't recommend it, but then again Sloan has built more guitars than I will likely ever build. 

In the photo at right, you can see the completed mold.  I decided against the strap clamp for a couple of reasons.  First, they were too stretchy.  As I would tighten the extenders, it opened up the mold.  Second, the arrangement visible in the photos gave the mold greater stiffness.  Basically, it is simply a piece of 1/2 birch ply, tacked and glued on one side, bolted on the other with a 3/8th inch bolt.  Perhaps not the most aesthetically pleasing arrangement, but it works like a champ.

You can see the extenders below.  It is a simple arrangement as well, and a number of luthiers use something similar.  Essentially, it is a 3/8th by 16 threaded rod inserted into a 1/2 steel tube.  Both are available at the local hardware store.  At either end, the rod and the tube are epoxied into the blocks.  When the wing nut is tightened against the steel tube, it extends and puts pressure against the side in the mold. 

To make them, I laminated three scraps of 3/4 MDF, and from that cut six blocks to size.  Using the mold, I marked the contour on each block, and again shaped them on the bench sander to match the contour of the mold.  I then drilled the 3/8 inch hole on one side, the 1/2 inch hole on the other, about 2/3 of the way through the block. 

I then epoxied the steel rod into the 1/2 hole, and cut it off at about the center line of the mold, or where the two halves of the mold come together.  Since the holes were not precisely to the same depth, this worked well, and kept a sense of symmetry.
For the threaded rods, I did the same.  I epoxied one end into the block, then marked it at about one inch in from the opposite block.  In other words, the rod extends into the tube to about one inch in from the tube-side block.  This allows for enough rod in the tube to keep it straight, but also enough in and out play to remove the extenders when the kerfing has been installed on the side. 

The contoured end of the blocks were covered with cork.  The inside contour of the mold was also covered with cork.  It not only makes it all prettier, but smooths out some of the differences between the three layers of the mold and provides a protective cushion.  It's probably not necessary, but I do it regardless.  The cork comes in a roll and can be purchased in places like hobby lobby.  I cut the strips over-sized by about 1/4 inch.  Although the cork came with an adhesive, I still sprayed the interior of the mold with contact cement, waited for that to dry, and installed it carefully.  I then trimmed the excess away with a sharp exacto knife, and rounded it over with a file.        

A Wee Bit of Progress

Yesterday, I spent on yet another household project.  My wife does not like the arrangement of the living room, so I spent the day hanging a cabinet and the TV from the wall to free up floor space.   the challenge was not so much the hanging as the hiding of all the cords that support the electronics.  I have to admit, it looks much better, and she seems pleased, which is good enough for me. 

Today, however, is not a good weather day, so I couldn't move the vehicle out of the garage into the drive so I could get access to most of my tools, particularly the table saw.   I did make a bit of progress over last week on the bending jig.  In the picture above, you can see the hardware set for the upper bout and waist clamps, and the picture below, you see the hardware set used for the lower bout hold clamps, and in the last picture, the half-finished jig.  The stand is a piece of black pipe with two flanges.  The lower flange will be attached to a base.   I needed access my table saw in order to make the base.  

The upper and lower bout clamps are spring loaded, the waist clamp is shaped to fit the waist and is brought down with the two wing nuts.  As I said, I bend the sides first, freehand, then put them in the jig to rest, so speed isn't particularly crucial.  I do like to let the sides rest over-night, particularly if they are still wet from the bending process.

Next week-end, I hope I will have access to my table saw, and I will make the base, the clamps for the bending jig, and the spreaders to complete the mold.  More details to follow.

The Assembly and Bending Molds

I had a little more time to work this weekend, because my wife is out of town with the kids and grand-daughter.  She was a finalist in her school spelling bee, and grandma had to see it.  I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see it, but we have an aged dog that doesn't travel well, so I am dog-sitting.  At any rate, the soundboard is as complete as I can make it for the moment, and I  don't have the plates for the plates for the sides and back.   So, wife away and at am impasse on the guitar itself, I decided to make the molds.  Since it involves MDF, it's also a hellacious messy, dusty job, something my wife fusses over the whole time.  What she doesn't see won't bother her, so long as I clean up well before she returns, all will be golden.  SAFETY NOTE:  wear a respirator. 

To be honest, I forgot to take pictures when I made the primary pieces of the mold, but the idea is fairly simple.  I used my router, a 1/4 upcut bit, and a brass bearing.  I took my initial template, clamped it first to a piece of 1/4 MDF on top of a piece of 3/4 MDF.  I clamped it my bench, tightly -- that's important, tightly -- and cut around the perimeter of the template.  I set the depth so it cut through the 1/4 inch MDF on the first cut, then another 1/4 inch into the MDF below.   Since there is a slight off set between the brass bearing and the initial template, the 1/4 MDF becomes the new template.  I set it aside, and cut around the template five more times, just 1/4 inch into the 3/4 MDF.

A couple of notes of caution.  When you cut left to right following the template, the router has a tendency to drift away from the template on the right side of the cut -- in the picture above, on the lower bout side.  Position yourself so you can keep good pressure between the brass bearing and the template.   

On the 3/4 MDF with the guitar shaped groove, I used my jig saw and cut along the groove, being careful not to cut outside the groove.   You should have twelve pieces, six for the outside perimeter of the guitar, six for the inside perimeter of the guitar.   Each of the six pieces should have a smooth contour left by the router bit, and a rough contour left by the jig saw.  I used my pattern bit, mounted in my router table, to trim off the excess left by the jig saw, running the bearing against the smooth contour, the blade against the rough contour.  I glued them up three at a time, trimmed the edges to make everything neat, and installed the dowels. 

Another couple of notes of caution.  My initial template extends a couple of inches beyond the center line.  Mark the center line.  When trimming the ends where the two halves of the mold come together, you want to hit the center-line mark precisely so the two halves of the mold come together symmetrically.  The dowels are there to keep things aligned and to keep the mold from folding up like a book when the band clamp is tightened around it.  There are a variety of ways that one can bind the two halves together, but after considerable experimentation in the past, this works well.  I have the band clamp.  It provides sufficient resistance for the extenders that hold the guitar against the mold.    So there you have it, an assembly mold.  Next weekend, I'll make the extenders. 

I did get a start on the bending mold.  I'll explain it in more detail, but you can see that it is basically the pieces that are cut out of the center of the mold.  You can see where I've drilled for the hardware.  Since it is six sheets of 3/4 MDF thick, I don't have a drill bit that will penetrate that far, so I carefully clamped two together, and drilled through them.  I glued up the bending mold, three sheets at a time, first using one drilled piece, then the other drilled piece.   Next week end, along the with extenders, I'll install the hardware and make the various hold down for the bending mold.  By the by, I do not actually use this for bending, though if one had a heat blanket, one could.  I bend freehand, but clamp it into the mold to finish drying and to rest.  It's also useful for holding bent binding while it's waiting for installation. 

Thinking About Rosettes

There is the pragmatic side of the rosette -- actually doing the inlay into the soundboard of the guitar -- but there is the aesthetic side of it as well.  Beyond the actual choice of tone wood for the top, the rosette is the luthier's signature.   Consequently, I have been thinking about rosettes a bit lately, and if you'll pardon a bit of philosophy, I always come down on the side of simplicity.  As a devotee of Fretboard Journal, those guitars with elaborate inlays for the rosette and headboard, do not much appeal to me.  I can admire the skill (and it is much beyond me) but let's face it -- some are just gaudy.

Simplicity, for me, means nothing but wood (ok, and the BW perfling strips from LMI).  So, the rosette I have planned will be a simple affair, just a BW perfling line, followed by 1/2 of padauk inlay, followed by a WB perfling line.  There are two reasons for the padauk.  One, I have some scraps and off cuts that I've rescued from the flood.  It's the sort of thing that one can't bear to throw out, even if it has been soaked in pooh water, as my son puts it.  Two, I think the color complements and off sets the redwood that I'm using for the soundboards.  The perfling, with the white against the padauk, the black against the redwood, creates a border, and highlights it.  It's an irresistible combination.

Beyond that, there is an embellishment I have been contemplating.  Once the hardwood for the rosette is in place, it might be interesting to cut a channel in that, filling it with turquoise or another finely ground stone, drizzle it with CNA, then grind it smooth.  I don't think I'd want to put it directly in the redwood, in part because I think the grinding might damage it.  We'll see.

Radius Cutter

I found a little time to mess around in my shop this morning, and I came up with this radius cutter that I will use to cut my rosettes.  I was able to get into the school shop, and we have a great band saw with a re-sawing blade.  It cut the redwood like butter.  I will begin work on the soundboard, beginning with the rosette.  I have something in mind, but don't know how well it will work.  I'll give it a whirl and let you know if it does. 

The construction of the radius cutter is fairly simple.  I had some 1/4 inch oak scrap left over from the bench, so I cut a 1/4 in dado in the sides of the cuter, and at the same time, cut for the end pieces and the slide, but did them on both sides.  The pieces are laid out on my bench.
 

The slide works fairly well.  I took a section of what I'd cut for the end pieces, enlarged the dado slightly.  I drilled a 5/16th hole for the blade, and squared it off with my 1/4 inch chisel.  I drilled a 1/4 inch hole for the carriage bolt, then cut it in half with my gent's saw, pushing the blade up against one side of the dado.  The slide is held in place by the carriage bolt, which pinches the two pieces against the interior slats, and the blade is held in place with a small shaped piece of the slat.  It all pivots on a 1/4 metal pin that goes in the hole on the right. 

The blade is made from an old jig saw blade.  I did some very preliminary work on the grinder, but it will need some additional shaping.  I have in mind a chisel point so I can turn it in both directions, and will work on some when I get up in the a.m.  I should be able to do that without waking my wife and our guests.  Even with the point only partially sharpened, however, it did cut a good groove in a scrap of birch ply, at about 1/32 of an inch wide.

Re-Sawing Prep

I didn't spend a lot of time in the shop on Sunday.  Lora wanted to get out of the house, and so we went for a movie (the new Sherlock Holmes movie -- fun, but no depth) and Chinese food (a moment of nostalgia for the restaurants in Chicago -- so much better). 

I did, however, put together what I will need to do my re-sawing.  On the left, is a tall fence.  I used it in making the raised panels for apothecary cabinet as well.  I clamp the panel to it, then run it across my table saw with the blade set at a 15 degree angle or so.  For re-sawing, I clamp it to the bandsaw fence, adjust the table so it is perfectly square to the blade, then back it away 3/16ths or so from the blade and slowly, slowly, slowly feed the stock.  In front of it are my thickness calipers (will be buying a better soon) and a push tool.  The push tool I put together from off cuts left from the bench.  Next is the piece of redwood that I hope to re-saw, the template, and scrap perforated hardboard that I will tape over the re-sawed plates to protect them.

The redwood I found at Owl lumber back in Lombard.  It was originally intended as decking, but someone recognized the grain and set it aside (and marked it up).  When you rap the plank with your knuckles, it rings, so I believe it has good acoustic properties.  It book matches beautifully, and finishes well.  I don't know how it will go, re-sawing the wood at my school, but we'll give it a shot.  I want to make some progress on an actual guitar.  I'll also check on the parts for my bandsaw today.  It should be relatively quiet at work -- most people already away for the Christmas holiday.  Peace on earth, good will toward people. 

Go Bar Deck & Molds

Yesterday, I fiddled around with a radius cutter, similar to the Lie-Nielsen tool, but I did not get anything approaching satisfactory results, so I set it aside.  The next big projects, though I won't likely work on it much until after the holidays, will be the Go Bar Deck, the Mold, and a clamping station.   

The Go Bar Deck should be a simple affair.  I visualize a plywood base and a plywood canopy of approximately 24 x 24 inches.  In the corner of each, a  3/8th or 1/2 inch threaded rod with a pair of bolts in each corner to hold everything together and allow for height adjustment.  LMI sells the go bars (CLGO), but they are a bit pricey at about four bucks a pop.  McMaster-Carr also sells 3/16 fiberglass rods at 5 foot lengths (8543K28) for about 2.50.  I will go with the McMaster-Carr, and if they don't quite work out, will order from LMI later.     

The base provides something to think about.  It's easy enough to have a 1/4 dowel in the center to capture the radius dish, and a second (not through the dish) to keep it from spinning like a lazy susan.  I have been wondering, however, should I make the base so it can serve as a sort of supplemental work station?  It's not an original idea, but what I have in mind is a two level base, with one side covered with carpet remnant, the other bare or covered with sandpaper.  The advantage would be a covered work surface that wouldn't mar the surface of the guitar while doing things like trimming bracing.  It would also, so far as the go-bar-deck itself is concerned, make it a bit more convenient to attach the base.  I will likely go for simplicity.

I have been procrastinating on the mold for a while, but have decided to press ahead at the next opportunity.  I intend to do it much the same way that I did the blanks for the radius dishes.  First, with a 1/4 spiral up-cut bit in my router, along with a brass bearing closest to that 1/4 inch diameter, I will trace the outline of the guitar into the MDF at approximately 1/4 inch depth.  That will provide two things, the inside contour of the mold, and the outside contour of a clamping station as well as the pressure pads for the mold itself once complete.   I will clean them up with the pattern bit.  Then do it again until I have enough pieces to stack 4 deep on each side, or a 3 inch thick mold.   I clean up the outside edges on the table saw.  I will talk about the design of the mold as I built it, so I can use photos to illustrate, but it too is a relatively simple affair.

I use the clamping station for a variety of purposes, not least as a test when bending the sides or binding.  It could also be used for a mold when bending sides with a heat blanket.  I have never used that method, so won't attest to it, but I have seen it illustrated a number of times.  I built my first on Sloane's advice, where the sides are essentially boiled soft, then quickly clamped in place.  I never found that workable, but like his model, I use spring loaded clamps when I want to use it for actual clamping -- e.g. letting a side rest after bending freehand.  Here again, it's a relatively simple affair, but I will talk more about the design as I build it.  I figure, if you're building the molds, might as well build the clamping station at the same time and save some scrap.

In the meantime, I have a piece of redwood that I have been using for guitar tops.  Since the parts have still not come in for my band saw, I have set up a time Tuesday to use the one at the school where I administer to re-saw some plates.  The responsible dean found it all very amusing, the Provost in the wood shop, and wanted to be there with camera should I happen to cut off a finger.  I can get a start on some sound-boards while slowly putting everything else together.   I've made the jointing jig, and I will likely use the zip flex pearl from LMI for the rosette itself, along with some perfling material.  I'll likely order all that after the holidays.

 
      

Radius Dishes Continued

I have pretty much followed through on my plan for the radius dishes.  I had enough scrap ply left from the shop cabinets to build the jig that I used to cut the plates.  There are a couple of things that I should mention up front.  It makes an unholy mess of MDF dust.  Wear a respirator.  If I were making these dishes for a living, I would have figured out some method of dust collection, but for the two-off that that I'm making, I assumed clean up would be easier than rigging some elaborate method of dust collection.

Pictured, you can see the Xmas Tree Stand that serves as the base, the two end pieces to the right, the two rails for the router on the left, and the two sides on the foreground.  The 1/4 inch MDF attached to the one side is a template for the radius that will be cut into the side piece.  I have a nice one inch pattern bit that cuts such things like a champ and the template was an excuse to use it.  Since we're not talking a ton of material that has to be removed, you could join the two side pieces together, scribe the arch, then remove the material with a belt or bench sander.  Either way, it would work, but I recommend the investment in the bit.

Pictured, you can see the dish blank mounted on the Xmas Tree Stand.  It's a rather simple affair.  Use a wooden dowel.  I used a 1/4 inch dowel.  Your router bit is going to hit it, and you don't want to waste a router bit on this project.   To make the blank, I did as described.  I cut the MDF to size into two 22 inches squares.  I then used a very simple circle jig.  In a scrap of 1/4 MDF, I cut a hole large enough to accept a brass bearing on my router.  The measurement is to the outside edge of the bit -- in this case a 1/4 inch spiral upcut -- and I marked the location on the MDF for a 21 inch circle (10 and 1/2 inches from the edge of the bit).  I drove a finish nail through the MDF at the radius mark into the center of the dish, and viola!  A circle cutting jig.  It's pictured in my previous post.  I cut the circle in the MDF to a depth of about 1/4 inch, then used my jig saw to cut the majority of the scrap away.  On the router table, I finished the edges of the blank using my pattern bit running the bearing against the circle cut with the  router.  Since MDF chips easily, I rounded over the bottom of the dish with a 1/4 round over bit.

Pictured, you can see the router channel assembled.  It didn't work exactly as I had imagined.  With classic engineering oversight, on the length of the box, I had taken into account the width of the of the router base in determining the long end of the box, and so cut it only 3 and 3/4  inches longer than the 11 inch radius.  I didn't take into account the handles on my router base.  Also, I profiled the radius only on the long end of the box to the center marker.  In another well-duh! moment, I messed up the measurements on the first go round and didn't take into account the off-set of the long end.  I cut the radius from the center line of the side, not the center-line of the Xmas Tree Stand.  I disassembled, trimmed it off and started over, but you can easily see that you would want the center line over the center of the dish not the side and the 1/4 deflection (or 1/8th) should be at the edge of the dish not the end of the side.

Here you can see the whole set up put together and ready to rout.  Again, it makes an unholy mess of MDF dust, so use a respirator or something to protect your lungs.  On the router, I used a 3/4 inch straight bit.  The router wants to throw and spin the dish for you, but I could easily hold the router, hold and control the dish, and slowly advance the router from the outside to the center while turning the dish.  The rubber pads on the clamps helped with that.  I lightly pushed them against the dish and that too helped against the tendency to spin.  I had thought of taking the handles off the router to make it fit the channel better, but thought better of it, and was glad I didn't.

When the dish comes out of the jig, you'll want to sand down the ridge on the edge and take away the router marks.  But it worked, and I now have two radius dishes, one for the back and the other for the soundboard.  The stuff in the jar is a mixture of titebond glue and water at about 50/50 mix.  It's mostly just glue from nearly empty glue bottles.  I rinse out the bottles and save the remnants.  For lack of a better term, I call it sizing and I use it to harden MDF for sanding and just generally.  I'll also put a coat of poly on them.        

 

 

Shop Cabinets & Radius Dish

I did dig through my available plates, and unfortunately I didn't have one that would allow me to get a start on an actual guitar -- mostly scraps saved for various purposes, but mostly because I couldn't bear to throw out exotics, no matter how badly stained by the flood water.  So, I am still awaiting parts for my band saw.  I'll be able to re-saw some redwood for a soundboard, and I will probably buy the back and sides from LMI.

In the meantime, I have decided to go ahead and build a couple more shop cabinets.  I had gone to the Depot to get what I needed to make my radius dishes, but they had cabinet grade ply on sale for a little over twenty bucks, so I took the opportunity.  I will have scraps sufficient to make the router jig, and I did buy the 3/4 MDF that will be the dishes.   The shop cabinets are relatively simple affairs.  They are basically plywood boxes, joined with a tongue and groove -- that is, I cut a 1/4 groove on the sides of the cabinet, and a tongue on the top and bottom ends to fit the groove.  One will be used for my routers, and the other will be used for miscellaneous power tools.

As I was building the lattice jig, I did get a start on the jig to cut the radius dishes.  The plan is this:  I built what I am calling a Xmas Tree Stand, which is basically just a plywood X with each arm 22 inches long.  The MDF dishes will spin on this base.  The router jig will be similar to the one used to shape the drum for the thickness sander with a couple of exceptions.  My router base happens to be 6 inches wide, so two end pieces will be cut at 6 inches wide by about 8 inches tall.  The sides will about 6 inches wide as well (conservation of scrap) and about 25 inches long.  One end of the jig will be attached to the Xmas Tree Stand and the other will overhang about three inches or the radius of my router plate.


I plan to profile the sides with the arch on one side for the back using my router and a flush cut bit.  The first step is the creation of a template for the arch.  I use my metal shop ruler to create the arch.  I c-clamp a small block of scrap to the back-side of the rule, then clamp that down at the center of the arch.  I then deflect the ends up to create the arch, scribe it, then sand to the line on 1/4 inch MDF.    Remember, the low point of the arch should be over the center of the Xmas Tree Stand, and should allow enough clearance to attach the sides of the jig to the ends.  To accommodate that, I measure in 3/4 inches from one end of the side (where it will attach to the fixed side) then 11 and 22 inches from that mark.  The 11 inch mark is the center, and I deflect the rule up 1/4 inch on each of the other marks.  I then double stick the template to the side, and cut with the pattern bit.

The amount of deflection at either end can be easily calculated (though I had to be reminded of high school geometry and algebra to do it).  Take the radius of the dish (in my case, 11 inches) and square it (121 inches).  Take the radius of the back and square it (in my case, 20' or 240 inches, squared is 57,600).  Imagine a line tangent to circle 20' in diameter.  Now, imagine a point 11 inches out on that line from the point where it intersects the circle.  Using the Pythagorean theorem (a squared + b squared = c squared), you can calculate the distance between the point 11 inches out and the center of the circle (in my case the square root of (121 + 57,600) or the square root of 57,721, or 240.25195, which I rounded to 240.25).  The difference between the radius of the back (or the distance to the point where the circle intersects the tangent) and the distance to the point 11 inches out on the tangent line is .25 or 1/4 inch.  So each end needs to be deflected up 1/4 inch.  For the soundboard, I'm going with 1/8th inch.

When I have the arches correct, I will attach a 7 and 1/2 inch wide strip of thin ply to the arch with screws.  I'll clamp the ends to the sides so I can get the width exactly right, and then I will attach it to the Xmas Tree Stand so there is sufficient clearance for the MDF dish.  Before I cut the dish, I will cut the slot in the 1/4 ply for the router bit, put the dish in place, and cut up and back to the center mark while spinning the dish slowly. 

I finished the shop cabinets, but didn't get as far beyond that as I had imagined -- focus on one thing at a time.  So the dishes are a project for next weekend.  I will let you know how it really went.


    

Lattice Jig

Granddaughter and kids went home yesterday.  We went to Lowe's where Lora bought a white Christmas tree (something she has always wanted) and I bought a quarter sheet of birch ply (something I can always use).  I adjusted the platen on my thickness sander, and put a coat of poly on the drum.  I will put another coat on today, then during the week, I'll install the sandpaper, and all is for the good.

The lattice jig is really a rather simple affair, though it is somewhat ingenious, and I don't know who to credit for that ingenuity.   I took my design from LMI, and simplified it.   It is used for joining the plates for the back and soundboard.  I'll picture its work when I get to joining the plates for my next guitar,

It consists of two lattices, each of which consists of two rails (thinking of the rail road analogy again) and three ties (with a bad pun on ties).  It is assembled using standard wood-working techniques.  I cut 2 inch strips to length, then set up my dado blade to cut over-lapping notches.  I cut them slightly deep, at about an inch and an eighth, so I could keep it all perfectly flat during glue up.

The bottom lattice required the most work.  Between the notches for the two rails, I removed enough material to accommodate 1/4 inch MDF and some sheet plastic.  It provides the base against which the top rails bear, keeping the plates flat at the seam.

On one side, the rope is knotted into a single hole, and on the other, once it is crossed back and forth over the plates, it is snaked through the three holes pictured.  Drill the holes before assembly.  I glued and pinned it on my table saw, so it would be perfectly flat, threaded the rope and tested it on some scrap 1/8th ply.  It worked as advertised, so I can actually begin work on the guitar.  I will need to dig through my wood, but I believe I salvaged the mahogany for the back and sides, along with a book-matched piece of redwood for the soundboard.

If not, I will need to wait for the pieces needed to repair my band saw come from the manufacturer, and there is another project that I can tackle -- a circle cutter to define the rosette channel.  For that, I need a 1/4 inch brass rod (about 12 inches).  I have the necessary screws and inserts -- those I did salvage from the flood -- and the body I can make from oak off-cuts left over from the bench.  I could also continue making my shop cabinets.  I have in mind a router cabinet and another to hold my hand held power tools.  Never a lack of things to do.         

Thickness Sander and Lattice Jig

I have given this some thought on and off over the holiday, between games with my granddaughter, and remembered something that was implicit in my design for the thickness sander all along, though I wasn't completely cognizant of it. The cross member that holds the hinge is not structural and was unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally behind the white noise that usually fills my head, set up to allow for adjustment. Consequently, I have resolved on the plan to withdraw the screws that hold the hinge support in place on the out-feed side. With the adjustment screw fully extended, I will then bring the hinge end of the platen up until it touches all the way across the drum, and screw the hinge support back into place. I've taken a straight edge to the drum, and it reasonably flat along its length all the way around its diameter, so to continue down my current path would simply distort the drum, making the radius smaller on one side than on the other. I will do this Saturday, when the kids and granddaughter return to Boise.

Also, in the meantime, I have been giving some thought to the first step in actually building the guitar, the plate joining for the soundboard and back. I have used the method that Sloane describes. After getting a good light-tight joint, on a work-board, one places a dowel or metal rod under the plates, taps nails along the two edges of the plates (not into the plates, but abutting them), removes the nails and presses the plates flat against the work-board, places a caul over the joint, and then weights that down. For weight, I used edger bricks wrapped in duct tape, but about anything suitably heavy would do. This works reasonably well -- that is to say, it works -- but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. A couple of reasons, the most important being that you can't really see the joint as it is coming together and its difficult to get even pressure along the length of the joint with the caul, so there have been occasions where plates, perfectly thicknessed, have not come together sufficiently flat at the seam. I have had to cut them apart, re-joint the plates, and go through the steps again.

Consequently, I have been thinking about jigs to join the plates, and the one that holds the most promise is the lattice jig. I call it that for lack of a better term, but it is the jig sold by LMI. Though it has nice features, the price is a bit steep, and I think LMI, in particular, sets prices on such things as if to say, "look, if you're too lazy or impatient to build your own jigs, then you shouldn't be building guitars." Regardless, my next project will be the lattice jig. I will build it from birch ply, cutting strips about 2.5 inches in width and about 22 inches long. It will consist of basically two lattices (think a section rail road tracks with three ties) put together with interlocking notches. On the bottom lattice, on the ties, between the notches for the rails, I plan to remove about 3/8ths. This will accommodate 1/4 MDF and sheet plastic, that will provide a solid flat surface. On each end of the rails, I plan to drill three holes, large enough to thread rope. The three holes should provide enough friction to lock the rope in place, but if not, the exposed loop can be clamped to hold it. To use it, the plates are sandwiched between the two lattices, rope is crossed over the rails, locked into place, and then to provide clamping pressure, a wedge is tapped under the crossed ropes. The lattice holds the plates flat while the ropes provide pressure not only against the edges of the plates, but also to lattice. The trick to this will be keeping the lattice perfectly flat during construction.

A quarter sheet of birch ply should provide enough to build the lattice jig, with enough left over to build the jig that will build the radius dishes for sanding and gluing the braces on the sound board and backs.

Thickness Sander Continued

The pieces of the platen are pictured. I'll begin this morning by gluing the edge pieces up to the platen, and while that dries, I'll begin work on the base. I have a 2/6 piece of construction lumber that will serve as the base. It's been in my shop for a while, so it should be about as stable as possible for the humidity of the area. Today, I'll prep the lumber -- cut off the factory rounded edges, and run it through my thickness planer until I get clean surfaces -- and cut everything to length.

The assembly will be rather straight forward. There will be two sides, which hold the bearings, and two cross members. I will use half lap joints for the cross members, gluing and screwing them into place. At the front of the sander, where the platen is hinged to tilt up to the drum, I want to have a cross member, butt jointed into place with screws. I want to set it so the hinged platen is about 1.5 inches from the drum when it is fully flat. That should leave enough clearance for other sorts of projects, beyond the guitar (my wife has her eye set on "tea-boxes" that could be sold at the open market this coming summer). In the back, set at the same height, will be another cross member, through which the height adjustment screw will be threaded. The width of my table saw will determine the length of the base -- approximately 30 inches -- which will leave sufficient over-hang for the operation of the adjustment screw. The width of the platen will determine the width of the base. I'll make adjustments as necessary.

The object is to keep the construction as simple as possible. I had in mind another "sliding" method of adjusting the platen, but gave up on it for the sake of simplicity.

Thickness Sander Continued

As I've said in an earlier post, there is an order of precedence in the building of a guitar. It isn't minutely exact, but from my perspective at least, it is exact enough. It begins with the sound board then moves to the back plate. For the sound board, there are essentially five steps (1) re-sawing the plate to an approximate thickness, (2) edge gluing, (3) refining the thickness, (4) installing the rosette, and (5) gluing on and shaping the ribs.

Re-sawing is a common woodworking operation, so I won't comment at length here. Besides, I think, most buy their plates from LMI or others at the approximate thickness. I do have some redwood, however, that I rescued from the lumber yard that I want to use for plates. Someone must have recognized it as special and pulled it from a decking pile. The grain is close, tight, and the board rings when tapped with a knuckle. I have cut several plates from it, and I plan to use a set soon.

The drum sander is used at step two, refining the thickness. I have used planes and sanding planes in the past. They work well, of course, but planes have their limitations on highly figured wood, and sanding planes are, well, tedious. I prefer to relegate them to the job of finish sanding, working up through the intermediate grits, then finishing with a sanding block on the fine grits. I have made the drum wide enough to accept the full width of the guitar, so I can edge glue the book-marked plates before refining the thickness.

The next step in the construction of the drum sander itself will be the adjustable platen. It should be relatively simple. I see it as a 20x30 laminated piece of 3/4 MDF and 1/4 hardboard, the latter replaceable if damaged. The design consideration was this: the drum itself is 20 inches wide, and my table saw is 30 inches wide. Since I envision the drum being turned by my table saw motor, that seemed appropriate. I will run a rib along the 30 inch side of the platen at about 2.5 inches thick, this to insure the MDF remains flat along its length, with a notch cut where the bolts secure the drum to the arbor. Since my wife will be in Boise this evening, fetching our grand daughter for the holidays, I hope to stop at the Depot or Lowes on the way home and get what I need to make the platen.

Apothecary Cabinet & Bench

I have finished two new projects for my wife, the apothecary cabinet and a bench to match the dining room table. Both were accomplished with more or less standard woodworking techniques.

On the apothecary cabinet, I built the carcass, then fit the drawers and doors to the cabinet. The cabinet was slightly out of square, so that required some fiddling, but it came together adequate for my wife's purpose -- having many drawers to store the sorts of things that one can't find when one needs them, everything from batteries to dog brushes. Since it was a utility cabinet, I made it from the cheapest materials possible, standard construction grade white pine. The multi-colored finish was my wife's contribution.



On the bench, it is basic mission style, with perhaps the exception of the through tenon on the stretcher. It is a compromise between mission style chairs and a dining room table with a trestle base, which has a similar through tenon (intended to imitate a Japanese joinery technique.

Order of Precedence

There is an order of precedence in building a guitar. For me, it begins with the soundboard, goes to the back, then the sides, all of which come together into the body of the guitar. Then comes the neck, the fretboard, the saddle, and the set up. I will go through all the steps in order, but the first is the soundboard. I have some plates that have survived the flood so I will not need to re-saw additional plates, and I use a rather traditional method of joining the plates, but in the meantime there are are several things that should be done first. I will need, in order, templates for the guitar, a shooting jig, a work-board, and a thickness sander. I laid out the templates yesterday on 0.25 hardboard, and will cut them out today. Progress was hampered a bit as my wife and I painted an apothecary cabinet that I had built for her, and I didn't want dust to contaminate and pock the finish. It should go into the house today, and so my goal is to cut out the templates -- not a particularly ambitious goal, but a goal.

In the meantime, I had ordered and several of the parts for the thickness sander have arrived -- two pullies (one three inch, one two inch), two pillow bearings, and a 5/8-11 threaded rod. It is the beginning of the thickness sander. The plan is relatively simple -- a bed, hinged to a frame, that rises against a spinning drum. The 5/8-11 threaded rod will be the arbor for the drum, the larger pully will be attached to the arbor, the smaller to the arbor of my table saw, which will supply the power. The idea of using the table saw is not my own. It originates with Shop Notes. My design, however, is much simpler. There is virtue in simplicity, so long as it works.

The Great Flood

I have, or had, all the tools to build guitars. I say had because we have recently moved from Lombard, IL, a suburb of Chicago, to Draper, UT, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The move itself was not a happy one. It was motivated by the loss of my job and set in motion by a flood. It put our house, and my shop, under about six foot of water, and left chaos as it ebbed. I was able to salvage many of the tools, but not all. The motors on my table saw and band saw seized solid with rust. I've replaced the motor on the table saw, and with patience, and plenty of WD40 and wet-dry sandpaper, I've brought it back almost to new. The same with the band saw, with the exception that, as I write, the motor is on back order. All of the templates, jigs, and molds, however, were lost. In effect, I am starting from scratch, and will approach my path to the perfect guitar with a beginner's mind.

Perfect Guitar

I have resolved recently to build a perfect guitar. It's silly, really, when you think about it, but I try not to think about it too much (I already think about too many things too much). I doubt, of course, that I will bring my resolve to any resolution. Perfection is an elusive standard, particularly when there is likely to be no consensus up front on just what would count as perfection. No matter, it is my resolve, and it is what it is, and one must begin any journey with a bit of faith that the destination is out there to be reached.