Making Flatwork

[Joe Gwinn]

Why is it then that the Forbon flats I used to buy from SK all had gooey edges from the laser cutting? No resin? I had to wash these damn things in alcohol to get that sticky stuff off.

The heat of the laser may be doing something chemical to the reverted gel (which isn't really paper any more). A better test would be to mechanically cut a piece of forbon and see if alcohol dissolves anything resinous.

Not that many resins will dissolve in alcohol. Perhaps SK seals his forbon with shellac.

Yeah I probably had bad technique in the beginning using the router table, I haven't had one thrown from my hands in a long time but occasionally if the stack I'm cutting tilts a tiny bit the router bit will dig into it real quick and can destroy the template in the process. My whole point was that for a beginner a router is a dangerous tool, so if you get one and never had one before be darn careful; that thing still is the scariest piece of equipment I have and still hate cutting tele neck tops on it. Router tables generally have all these safety guards and fences but they are useless when cutting tiny pieces.....

OK. Tables are still safer than handheld routers for such small things because there is more control and better visibility.

But I still think you need a new, sharp carbide bit, perhaps of larger diameter than you currently use. Dull cutting tools greatly increase the danger, as does too low a cutter speed. Digging and catching implies that the bit isn't cutting nearly fast enough, and I don't think that forbon is the reason.

[jason lollar]

there is no resin in the forbon but having a laser cutter I can tell you the residue left is a prossess of anything burning, its not resin in the forbon is smoke that leaves a residue- put a piece of wood in the laser cutter and you get a sticky residue left on the cut- paper, plastic, bone anything

[jason lollar]

"My whole point was that for a beginner a router is a dangerous tool, so if you get one and never had one before be darn careful; that thing still is the scariest piece of equipment I have and still hate cutting tele neck tops on it. Router tables generally have all these safety guards and fences but they are useless when cutting tiny pieces....."


wise words
__________________

[NightWinder]

Thats a really nice top on that guitar!!

[David Schwab]

Thats a really nice top on that guitar!!

Thanks! I found that piece of wood in a local lumber yard. It was dirty and just stacked in with all the other maple. I brought a small plane with my and when I noticed the end grain looked figured, I planed off a small patch and saw it had really nice figure.

It was cheap too! I used to resaw all my tops.. saves a lot of money.

[Pep]

You can always rough cut with a nibbler or saw then use a belt sander to get precise. I use a drill press for the magnet holes. I have a background in grinding and I feel a hell of a lot more comfortable with a belt sander than a router for small peices. It takes practice though to get straight lines and smooth curves using this method.

[Pep]

Ok, you guys have me interested in the router idea now. Like I said, I've been doing fine with the belt sander but the idea of being able to do 3-5 pieces of flatwork at a time has me curious. I have a router table and some carbide bits that should work, but I've never had to build router templates before. What do you figure is the best way to go about this. I was screwing around with some 1/4" plywood last night and I couldn't figure out how to get it within tolerances that were acceptable to me. On a side note, I really would like to keep all my digits as playing guitar happens to be one of my favorite past times. I agree with Dave that this seems to be a dangerous game.

[Possum]

templates

use plexiglass, if you have a Tap Plastics near you they have a bin of scraps for real cheap, I think 1/4" or slightly thicker works. Use double sided carpet tape to stick the layers together. Its probably the carpet tape that makes the router bit grab real hard, yeh be real careful unless you want to play like Django...

[Joe Gwinn]

Ok, you guys have me interested in the router idea now. Like I said, I've been doing fine with the belt sander but the idea of being able to do 3-5 pieces of flatwork at a time has me curious. I have a router table and some carbide bits that should work, but I've never had to build router templates before. What do you figure is the best way to go about this. I was screwing around with some 1/4" plywood last night and I couldn't figure out how to get it within tolerances that were acceptable to me. On a side note, I really would like to keep all my digits as playing guitar happens to be one of my favorite past times. I agree with Dave that this seems to be a dangerous game.

Make the template two layers fastened together, one layer with the smaller hole, the other for clearance. Use a router bit with a ball bearing that rides on the edge of the template. The spacer generates a gap between template and stack of forbon sheets being cut, so the corners of the cutting blades run in air.

Build into the template setup some kind of handle, so you can keep fingers well away from the action.

Don't expect to be able to see through the plexiglass - it will quickly become covered with dust.

[David Schwab]

I posted this over at the MIMF forum...

I made a template for cutting truss rod covers. It was a piece of MDF the exact shape of the cover. I made this from a cover I liked by screwing it to the MDF and using a router with template bearing bit.

I attached this pattern to a larger piece of wood, about a foot square. I would screw my material to the top and use the pattern bit.

As a variation, you can make one like this, which has the advantage of stopping the router from tipping. Take some plywood or MDF and take a piece of flatwork that you want to copy, and attach it to the MDF, either using screws of double stick tape. Use a router with a top mounted bearing to cut a channel around the flatwork, and then up against the flatwork to form the shape.

After you are done, you can remove the flatwork.

Now you can stack up a few layers of flatwork, attached using counter sunk screws, to the top of the pattern. These screws would be in two holes that would be where the poles would go. You can take another piece of flatwork, or thin ply wood or plastic, to use on the top if you need, so you can make the counter sunk holes in that, to bury the screw head.

This way you would take a rough shaped piece of flatwork, or a small stack, and rout the exact shape. This pattern helps you from tipping the router because you are routing into a recess channel. If needed, you can add spacers to the bottom of the router base with double stick tape to match the hight of the stack.

I never had to do that for the truss rod covers, but I was routing one at a time.

You can use a small laminate trimmer, which might be easier to handle than a full size router.

When I started building my basses, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to make jigs for just about every step, to help keep things consistent and repeatable.

I use routers for everything from shaping the fingerboard taper, cutting out the exact shape of the body (rough cut on a band saw), cutting truss rod and carbon fiber rod channels, rounding over the body, etc.

If you are careful you wont harm yourself. The number one rule... unplug machines before changing the cutters! And don't try to handle small parts you are trying to machine. That's the purpose for this template.

This is a rough drawing of the idea, the inside shape is your pattern:

[Joe Gwinn]

I posted this over at the MIMF forum...
[snip]
I made a template for cutting truss rod covers. It was a piece of MDF the exact shape of the cover. I made this from a cover I liked by screwing it to
This is a rough drawing of the idea, the inside shape is your pattern:

I like it. For the router table, I was thinking of just this kind of setup, only used face down. One can drill some viewport holes all the way through, and it helps somewhat, but one really must use such a template by feel.

There will be dust everywhere. It might be useful to fit a hose attachment so a shop vacuum can be atteched. Don't forget to provide air holes (like the viewports) to let the air in, so the shopvac can generate a nice airflow.

In any case, make sure that there is a "template" around the outside, upon which the ball bearing will ride if one accidentally strays to the outside, which will happen no matter how careful one is.

Given the dangers of routers and the number of pieces to be made, day in day out, this setup needs to be fool-proof.

[David Schwab]

I like it. For the router table, I was thinking of just this kind of setup, only used face down. One can drill some viewport holes all the way through, and it helps somewhat, but one really must use such a template by feel.

I think a router table would be the safest way to use something like this. I never had a good one to try it. I had a cheap one that used to flex too much to do anything accurate.

[Rosscoinc]

Have you ever tried using Micarta for flatwork? Is there any reason you can think of that I should not use it?
Thanks from a newbie.
Rossco

[David King]

A very old thread here...
The reasons not to use it are that it's not very stable, as humidity changes it tends to curl up slightly.
It's extremely hard to cut and drill smoothly without carbide tooling.
It has no give so you have to size your holes more carefully when inserting magnets.

[big_teee]

I've been hearing formica kicked around.
I haven't tried it.
Is it easily glued with super glue?
Not sure the exact application.
I'm sure it could be used like forbon and the fancy colors on top would look cool.
I make some Strat neck pickups with non standard hole spacing.
With no plastic cover available to fit the pickup, The formica would look cool as a top piece of the bobbin.
T