Making Flatwork

[copperheadroads]

Bought an old Rockwell drill press as well as a used 14" bandsaw and little belt sander this past week.

For those cutting flatwork with a bandsaw - what kind of blade are you using?
Thanks.

I use a good quality swedish steel blade 4tpi ,the same blade I use for woodworking .If you want a smoother cut get a 6tpi or higher

[Beef Coon]

Thanks.

[David King]

Bought an old Rockwell drill press as well as a used 14" bandsaw and little belt sander this past week.

For those cutting flatwork with a bandsaw - what kind of blade are you using?
Thanks.

Beef Coon,
I get my blades from this place: KERFMaster (4-pack) | Strength meets versatility. Flexible Wood Slicing Bandsaw Blade
The price is way better here, buying 4 at a time, than any of the other places that sell this particular blade. These are phenomenal for resawing expensive guitar tops and fingerboards. The cut is much smoother than any other wood cutting blade even ones with 14 tpi. I use them for that first and then demote them to cutting up Forbon. if you are nearby I'll give you piles of my used blades but you'd need the resaw kit for your saw to use a 105" blade.

[copperheadroads]

Beef Coon,
I get my blades from this place: KERFMaster (4-pack) | Strength meets versatility. Flexible Wood Slicing Bandsaw Blade
The price is way better here, buying 4 at a time, than any of the other places that sell this particular blade. These are phenomenal for resawing expensive guitar tops and fingerboards. The cut is much smoother than any other wood cutting blade even ones with 14 tpi. I use them for that first and then demote them to cutting up Forbon. if you are nearby I'll give you piles of my used blades but you'd need the resaw kit for your saw to use a 105" blade.

I use a 105" blade with the riser block in ,I believe its 93 1/2" without the block

[Jim Shine]

What I do for making truss rod covers (smaller than even flatwork) is machine the template out of 1/2" acrylic. Then I bond the template to a 1" thick acrylic bar I use as a handle. Attach the material and there is plenty of room for the guide bearing to clear and you can make the handle as long as you want to keep your hand away from the bit.

[Rick Turner]

"Redhouse"...whoever you are...I'll make a point of never answering any of your questions here. You clearly know the way...

But some people are remarkably ignorant (I didn't say "stupid") regarding how best to find primary information...as in what is "Formica", what is "Masonite". And since they do not have the celestial brilliance obviously bestowed upon the Red House, perhaps they might benefit from a suggestion or even two as to how to find the best answers to their questions regarding materials...which is often NOT on the Pickup Maker's Forum...or at least I didn't see you chime in with proper definitions of those two materials. So I suggested what may be obvious...and may not be. Use a search engine, and Google is quite sufficient for most inquiries, to go to the actual sources.

And even that won't tell you everything, and that may be when it's time to come here. My laser cutting pal, John Bower, found that it's easy as can be to cut vulcanized fiber (Forbon, etc.), and that four passes of his Epilog laser wouldn't go through Formica. Laser cutting is still somewhat of an art as far as power, feeds, and speeds go. But maybe I'm revealing too much. Redhouse must know all this stuff already...he's so smart...

[RedHouse]

"Redhouse"...whoever you are...I'll make a point of never answering any of your questions here. You clearly know the way...

But some people are remarkably ignorant (I didn't say "stupid") regarding how best to find primary information...as in what is "Formica", what is "Masonite". And since they do not have the celestial brilliance obviously bestowed upon the Red House, perhaps they might benefit from a suggestion or even two as to how to find the best answers to their questions regarding materials...which is often NOT on the Pickup Maker's Forum...or at least I didn't see you chime in with proper definitions of those two materials. So I suggested what may be obvious...and may not be. Use a search engine, and Google is quite sufficient for most inquiries, to go to the actual sources.

And even that won't tell you everything, and that may be when it's time to come here. My laser cutting pal, John Bower, found that it's easy as can be to cut vulcanized fiber (Forbon, etc.), and that four passes of his Epilog laser wouldn't go through Formica. Laser cutting is still somewhat of an art as far as power, feeds, and speeds go. But maybe I'm revealing too much. Redhouse must know all this stuff already...he's so smart...

Geez Rick two weeks later and ya just couldn't let it rest 'eh? kind'a proves my point. You'll need to try harder (and here's hoping).

[Rick Turner]

It's been a busy two weeks...the Healdsburg Guitar Festival was last weekend, and it was a good one for me. I do have a few other things to do aside from forum wanking!

[David King]

Here are a few shots of the drilling templates in action. In this case I'm drilling brass rear inserts for string-through Teles instead of flatwork (takes the place of 6 ferrules), but the idea is the same.
At the top of photo one you can see the bottom side of one of the templates with the guide holes all connected with a shallow slot. That speeds up finding the next location as the pin rides in the slot when traveling between the holes.
The pin is a busted off carbide pcb drill inverted into a disk of plywood that fits tight into the table hole. The pin is also a tight fit but it can easily be retracted for normal drilling operations and then pushed back up into position from below when needed.
You can see the little clamps that swing in over the part from each side to hold the brass in place.
The ugly grey thing coming from the left side is attached to a vacuum hose and it's held in place by a magnetic bass attached to the drill press column. The vacuum comes on automatically when the drill press motor is started. It sucks away all the swarf and keeps the table clean so you don't get chips caught under the template that would mess things up. The DP motor is turned on and off by a foot pedal leaving both hands frees. A "real" drillpress has the drilling action actuated by foot pedal as well but not this one.

With this set up I can drill 8 holes in two steps each with 4 different drills in about 2 minutes. Every hole is located within a thou or two every time. The same operations on the milling machine used to take me about 20 minutes with plenty of room for error.

[RedHouse]

...The vacuum comes on automatically when the drill press motor is started. It sucks away all the swarf and keeps the table clean so you don't get chips caught under the template that would mess things up...

That's a great idea having the Vac turn on with the DP motor, I need to do that on mine, magnet-nozzle and all.

[Joe Gwinn]

You can see the little clamps that swing in over the part from each side to hold the brass in place.

How long before the drill has widened the guide holes in the brass piece too much?

[David Schwab]

How long before the drill has widened the guide holes in the brass piece too much?

The brass piece is what he is drilling, and not a drill guide. It's a string retainer for the back of a tele.

His alignment is from the little pin on the drill press table.

[copperheadroads]

I've never enjoyed drilling the holes for those large ferrules on a tele ,as they are too close together & get tearout quite often .
I've thought about making something like David is using here

[David Schwab]

I've never enjoyed drilling the holes for those large ferrules on a tele ,as they are too close together & get tearout quite often .
I've thought about making something like David is using here

I made a wooden drill guide when I did my Tele. I made the guide on my drill press with a fence.

If you use brad point drills, which you should, you wont have any tear out. Also the ferrules partly cover the edge of the hole, at least the ones I used.

But using the one piece string retainer is a whole lot easier.

[Joe Gwinn]

The brass piece is what he is drilling, and not a drill guide. It's a string retainer for the back of a tele.

His alignment is from the little pin on the drill press table.

I looked again. I see what you mean.

I made a number of drill guides for a luthier friend, for making the row of six 5/16" holes where the ferrules that terminate the strings on the body will go. For visual appearance, they had to be uniformly spaced and on a straight line. I made them of hardened and tempered A-2 or O-1 alloy steel, with the holes lapped so the drill bit wouldn't hang up on anything. Worked perfectly, will never wear out.