purchasing gray flatwork

[truetone]

Where can I find some? I'm not sure where to find it any help?

[Chris Klein]

No current websites are selling flatwork colors besides black. It is something you have to manufacture yourself. It is very time consuming and the payoff is not really worth the cost of labor unless you manufacture with die cutting machinery ($10,000) or laser cutting ($5000) and manufacture in 10k lots.

[Dave Kerr]

Or you could go the route Jonson showed a while back with the homebrew pin router setup.

[jason lollar]

I use to make all my bobbins except for humbuckers by hand- thousands of them.
Even up to about 3 years ago I was still making everything but buckers, strats and teles by hand so you can do it and still make it worthwhile.
about 10 years ago Wolfe gave me a sheet of copper plated steel about 18 inches wide and 16 feet long- I cut the entire sheet into tele baseplates with tinsnips so I wouldnt let handcutting get in your way.

Simple trick for just doing just a few- draw it in cad with center points on all the magnet holes- print it out full size- tape it onto your material and use a center punch to mark your drilling location. then its just a matter of cutting the outline- easier said than done but you can make a nice product by hand if you have the skills.
its quick for doing just a few- faster than making jigs.

[NightWinder]

Holy shit! Tin snips? Did you use cutting gloves? I had some nickle silver sheeting get out of my hand and slash me across all 3 fingers. Had to super glue it shut. Nasty cuts. Healed now, but still hurts. Anyone know where to get some cutting gloves?
I bet Jason can buckle a guy with his grip! Crush!

[jason lollar]

ha ha any exersize benefit was long ago but you can imagine how many plates that made, now I get them water cut but I was just saying parts can be hand made in a cost effective way depending on the circumstance and what kind of skills you have and method you use.
I have a full woodshop and build guitars and have worked in production all my life in one way or another.

[Phil m]

mcmaster.com sells fiberboard. I was told some time ago that the one they carry is from the grey variety. I personally have never bought any from them.

[chevalij]

I agree with Jason, anything can be made if you have the ambition. My concern with making flatwork manually was with aligning the magnet holes. If I'm off by say, 0.020, is it going to throw everything out of wack? Will the top flatwork end up curling etc.

I recently found out a guy I've worked with for years has a homebrew CNC in his basement. He said give him the cad, he can cut it Amazing what you find out about people....

[Possum]

Forbon....

Who is selling Forbon these days, do any of you buy sheets of it? I have a few half sheets left over and probably middle next year will need to restock. Surely someone is selling it, they aren't out of business they still make it. Buying it from StewMac is crazy unless you're only making a couple pickups.....

[mkat]

mcmaster.com sells fiberboard. I was told some time ago that the one they carry is from the grey variety. I personally have never bought any from them.

I made an order with them and they refused it, stating they no longer ship to Australia (only for a shortlist of long standing customers).

[Joe Gwinn]

Holy shit! Tin snips? Did you use cutting gloves? I had some nickle silver sheeting get out of my hand and slash me across all 3 fingers. Had to super glue it shut. Nasty cuts. Healed now, but still hurts.

All three fingers? What happened to the other 2 or other 7 fingers?

[Dave Kerr]

These guys seem small lot friendly for laser cutting, ran across them while looking up Lexan cutting techniques. You'd have to get your Forbon to them.

[kevinT]

here is a thread from a while ago that might help.


http://music-electronics-forum.com/s...ead.php?t=1352

[corduroyew]

Who is selling Forbon these days, do any of you buy sheets of it? I have a few half sheets left over and probably middle next year will need to restock. Surely someone is selling it, they aren't out of business they still make it. Buying it from StewMac is crazy unless you're only making a couple pickups.....

I buy small scraps from companies that make gaskets. Because it's thier scraps I get it really really cheap. The only problem is getting stuff thick enough for the bottom of the bobbin in black or grey. Typically it only comes in red. Most of the gasket makers will sell it to you by the sheet too but it costs more than getting smaller scraps.

[DrStrangelove]

Dynos vulcanized fiber = Forbon in grey

Do a websearch on Dynos, which is available in grey.

It is an alternative to Forbon and is available from LMC Plastics.
More info on Dynos at http://www.dynos.net
and
http://www.lmcplasticsource.com/dynos/

It is available in thicknesses up to 1/16"(0.062") so you may need to stack thicknesses if you need 3/32" bottom flats.

-drh