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Fret Slotting Machine

Discussion in 'General Talk' started by Fredfow3, Sep 11, 2017.

  1. Fredfow3

    Fredfow3 New
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    Hey all,

    I'm starting up an new shop for making custom, artistian guitars, basses and instruments. I also have a 501c3 corp making instruments for charities, schools, community centers. The production guitars will be made on big CNC, no problems there. Maple necks will also be produced, but the fret slotting time is giving me problems. It takes a ling time to mill slots into a maple neck, and fret sawing is even longer.

    I'm thinking of making a 2 axis CNC machine that will accomodate the neck and use a slitting saw in the Y axis. It could all be done with a Arduino and grbl.

    Question is, is it better to move the neck along the X-axis or move the cutter head. Moving the neck requires a single high precision slide to hold the neck, the cutter just moves in the Y to cut the slot.

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks, Fred
     
  2. Rick 2.0

    Rick 2.0 OpenBuilds Team
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    Six of one, half dozen of the other. Material requirements will be about the same either way. I would probably move the neck, but that's just me. It simplifies the wiring just a bit and the saw would be a bit more stable. Just remember moving the neck will require the track to be around twice the length of the neck so the system will take up much more space than moving the saw.

    The key question here is what would the length of the longest neck be or more specifically the longest distance between the first and last cuts?
     
  3. David the swarfer

    David the swarfer OpenBuilds Team
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    what about a right angle head with a saw blade in the big CNC ?

    for the production necks it is much faster to use a bunch of saw blades on a mandrel that cuts all of the slots at once.

    for custom necks with straight frets a right angle head with a saw blade will do it nicely.

    for custom necks with curved or fanned frets,stick to the milling (-:
     
  4. Fredfow3

    Fredfow3 New
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    Hey guys, thanks for the responses.

    Unfortunely, a good right angle adapter for the Laguna is going to be very expensive, plus I need the machine for making bodies. I could rig up a angle grinder or Dremel to my Shapeoko XL which will work in a pinch, but I also want that for prototyping and testing use.

    I found something close to what I'm thinking on the net. I do not know who drew it or if it was ever made, but do you think I could do a machine like this in OpenBuilds parts? Credit to whoever made it, it's a great looking design.

    al114_fretslot.jpg

    Thanks,

    Fred
     
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  5. Rick 2.0

    Rick 2.0 OpenBuilds Team
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    MaryD and David the swarfer like this.
  6. Fredfow3

    Fredfow3 New
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    Hey Rick,

    This is great! I'll DL a Openbuild partslist and rough out a machine. I think you guys have thr parts in format for Fusion 360 right?

    I was also thinking outside the box, using a mandrel with multiple cutters, running in a lathe. I could build a sliding platform to sit on the lathe bed, with a curved, somewhat eliptical Y guide, mount a neck or fretboard, slide it through and cut them all at once.

    That is a later project, I'm focusing on the auto-fret machine now. If I build a good one, I can share with everyone.

    Cheers,

    Fred
     
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  7. JustinTime

    JustinTime Veteran
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    How wide are the slots that you want to make?
     
  8. David the swarfer

    David the swarfer OpenBuilds Team
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    fret slots are usually about 0.5mm wide
     
  9. Fredfow3

    Fredfow3 New
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    Yes, anywhere from 0.019" to 0.023" depending on the fret wire.
     
  10. Barry Danks

    Barry Danks Well-Known
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    You'll want that 3 axis you want to follow the radius of the fret board...I've CnC'd several bodies and redone necks on CnC's
    I design
     

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