Looking to do some DIY pickup routing

[PitchShifter]

Are these routing bits here designed to fit an ordinary hand held power drill?

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Routing/Ball_Bearing_Router_Bits.html

 

[whitebison66]

DON'T DO THAT.

At best, you'll end up with a lousy looking route. At worst, you'll hurt yourself. If it's under a strat pickguard (or similar), use forstner bits in a drill press. Or use a very small bit all the way around the outline of your rout and chisel it. Please, router bits in drills are a recipe for disaster.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

2nd that, it's just asking for damage, or worse yet, injury.

I've got some of the StewMac pickup routing templates, & that bit when used with it under proper application as recommended by StewMac works very well.

I usualy start in the direct center of the workpiece, then work my way in circular motions toward the perimeter as to avoid chunks of wood flying out.

 

[mayfly]

Holy Crap! 

What they said - don't do that!  If you want to route, get a router and a routing template. Home depot rents routers.  If you've never used one, get a piece of scrap and practice.

A router is a pretty dangerous piece of wood working equipment, but it's a HELL of a lot safer than putting a router bit in a hand drill.

 

[rahimiiii]

You have to realize that routers spins the bit at around 25,000 to 30,000 RPM, a drill goes to 3000 RPM at the very most. Also a drill chuck does not grab the bit as well as a router collet (there's a reason they use collets)

I also realize that a milling machine spins at around the same RPM as a drill but in a milling machine you clamp the work piece to a XY table and slowly move the piece to cut it, you never free-hand a mill... If you do the bit will grab the piece and spin it around.

 

[bpmorton777]

routers are cheap..bout $80. get one and some practice wood and learn how to use it properly befor you mare up your guitar or hands.

Brian

 

[line6man]

using a router bit on a hand drill is a crazy idea!

i once used a drill press to do a quick 1/4 deep oval shape about and inch long, and it turned out ok, but i did it very very slow and careful.

no offense here, but the fact that you wanted to try to do something like this on a hand drill pretty much guarantees that you dont know what you are doing...
a router is a pretty dangerous tool, and you can easily hurt yourself and or destroy your finish if your not careful.

 

[rahimiiii]

There was one time where I chucked a router bit into a hand drill, that was for an amp cabinet where the hole for mounting the chassis was off by a 1/8 of an inch, and I could not plug and re-drill because the dowel is harder than the wood therefore causing more headache, so I chucked a 1/4 inch router bit into the hand drill to try to elongate the hole a bit to allow me to mount the chassis. The router bit did not cut very fast at all at drill speed, but anything larger like 1/2 inch or 3/8 inch bit you're guaranteed to have a blow out or worse.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

My 2 cents... get yourself the cheapest router you can get your hands on (here in Europe that would be one of the special offerings from Lidl or Aldi). It will probably cost you around 30 Euro and come complete with a set of router bits. Start playing around on some scrap wood with that. Sooner or later you're either going to decide to get something with a bit more quality - and then you'll know exactly what features you need/want, or you will decide that working with a router just isn't your cup of tea and abandon the whole thing with minimal cost. But seriously, even a simple router is worth its weight in gold not just for working on guitars but also for a thousand little chores around the house.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

no offense here, but the fact that you wanted to try to do something like this on a hand drill pretty much guarantees that you dont know what you are doing...

Or that you know what you're doing, and doing it anyway because you're a slight bit mentally unbalanced! :laughing7:

You guys are talking about one of these, right?

Because, i agree though with a hand drill it'd be a bit messy.

 

[stubhead]

Or use a very small bit all the way around the outline of your rout and chisel it.

One of the reasons I specifically like hand tools is because things happen slowly.... though I've been using them for 45 years, and I have some chisels & stuff inherited from my grandfather. I can usually have something done by hand before I could have the power tool out, find all the right bits etc. - it doesn't sound like you have a workshop, or much experience with routers, huh? 

Consider spending $100+ on a router than can ruin a $300 body in TWO SECONDS, or $20 on a couple of chisels that can't. "Power tools save time" - how long do you have to work to make the $300 to replace the ruined body? Consider people's assessment of the early C.F. Martin guitars and Stradivarius violins, made with hand tools - quality of the work is not an issue for sure, just speed.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Ah, chisels,  Thats the way to go.

 

[PitchShifter]

LoL. Glad I asked!

I didn't know what the bits were meant to fit. It said "tools for routing"..so did that mean for "routing" holes, or "routing" machines...It obviously meant the latter (I am no handyman).

I'm routing pickup holes that will sit under a pickguard so it doesn't matter if they aren't too pretty.  Just need to get them routed to the Stew mac template.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

I'm routing pickup holes that will sit under a pickguard so it doesn't matter if they aren't too pretty.  Just need to get them routed to the Stew mac template.

If it's worth doing, it worth doing well. Even if the pickguard hides it, you will know what's underneath. And the good people on this board can create a thread with at least a hundred posts about the influence of an ugly pickup rout on your sound...