Seattle, WA area

[SkuttleFunk]

thanks - it's been a l-o-n-g road getting here, but I'm liking the scenery on this streatch and also what I can see ahead  :glasses9:

BTW are you EVER going to use that Amboyna Burl fretboard?

now that Larry is no longer cooking up acrylized boards sutable for fretless, I need to save this for a special build. I'm sure it won't make it to one of my NAMM Show basses this Jan, but there's good potential for it to take a trip to the 2013 show unless somebody convince$$$ me otherwise

all the best,

R

 

[SkuttleFunk]

Wow - 12-oz hot pink basses! We just may be able to keep you.... :headbang1:

I'm trying to corner the Hello Kitty market  :laughing3:

R

 

[SkuttleFunk]

another bass body model with tool paths is ready to hit the CNC

all the best,

R

 

[bagman67]

Will we get to see video of a body being carved on your CNC table?  Looks pretty snazzy!

Bagman

 

[Nando Vallart]

thanks - it's been a l-o-n-g road getting here, but I'm liking the scenery on this streatch and also what I can see ahead  :glasses9:

BTW are you EVER going to use that Amboyna Burl fretboard?

now that Larry is no longer cooking up acrylized boards sutable for fretless, I need to save this for a special build. I'm sure it won't make it to one of my NAMM Show basses this Jan, but there's good potential for it to take a trip to the 2013 show unless somebody convince$$$ me otherwise

all the best,

R

Yeah, I've tryed to enter in touch with him sometimes last months, without success... He has stop working or just won't make more acrylized wood???

PM me to I know how much are you talking about on these Amboyna

And I like this new model! Traditional but roundy!

 

[SkuttleFunk]

so far today I have validated my tool paths for the alignment pin holes, neck pocket, pickup cavity, top routed control cavity, body perimeter, and the first roughing pass of the forearm contour. this image shows a ball mill loaded into the router in advance of its second attempt at its proofing pass (the first attempt revealed that I had the feed rate waaaay too slow, so I'm taking a break to get... it bumped up to a more realistic feed speed. it's getting late, so testing the new code will probably have to wait until tomorrow

what a stinkin' static mess all those purple foam pieces are. they won't sweep away, so I have to use compressed air to blow them away ... only for them to find a new home stuck to something else >:|


all the best,

R

 

[Nando Vallart]

Don't sound like fun this purple evil :laughing7:

Very cool the Hello Kitty decal

 

[stubhead]

You might want to slap a piece of masking tape over that exposed wall jack there, or you might have a "purple poof surprise". At least, I was surprised the first time a wall jack blew up and spit flames at me - maybe it gets better with more experience.

Dust + humidity + more dust + more humidity + 240 volts = Big Whoopie! :headbang1: An amp builder I know in Georgia just had his house burn down from something, mighta been one of these. Electricity is sneaky and untrustworthy at the best of times....

 

[Cagey]

I remember when I first went to work for Westinghouse back 100 years ago, one of the first phone calls I took was from somebody who wanted an "explosion-proof" phone. I had never heard of anything being "explosion-proof" before, and thought he was just looking for something non-existent to satisfy some psycho inner need. It happens.

Imagine my surprise to find that such a thing did exist, and it was for just the situation you describe. Guy had a grain silo, and powderized grain at the right dustxygen ratio is almost as good as gunpowder. Turned out Westinghouse (among others) had a whole line of various products designed for just such an environment. It wasn't that they would survive an explosion (which is what I thought we were talking about), but that they were certified to not cause one by creating any sparks in their usage.

It's a bigger market than you might think, because there are all sorts of places that create atmospheres like that. Chemical folks are certainly good for it, but then there are refineries, paper mills, sawmills, woodworkers, farmers, etc. Plus, there's a ton of money in it. The folks who need such things don't have a whole lotta choice. And it's not an imagined need some gummint bureaucrat thought up (as if they think! LOL!) to collect more fees. Silo explosions are frighteningly common. You don't need a regulation. It's either follow the recommendations of those who've gone before you, or get ready to lose your silo/plant/shop/whatever, because it's gonna happen.

And you know what's weird? Check out a gas station one time. No explosion-proof anything. I've seen garages in the rural south wired better than many gas stations.

 

[SkuttleFunk]

good catch guys - thanks!

once I'm done proofing I'll be connecting up the dust collection shroud so that all the dust and most of the chips are carried away to the dust collector bag. I'm still working out how I want to suspend the 4" dust collector flex hose and router power cord from the shop ceiling, eliminatin the potential for me to cut the cord if it were to get stuck while the CNC is making a cut

in the interim, a slab-o-ducktape will do the job on the wall socket and I'll hand-hold the router cord when cutting

all the best,

R

 

[SkuttleFunk]

I decided against waiting for my Poplar body blanks to be ready, and to instead take the risk that I had everything ready to roll as the foam body appeared to demonstrate. at 7:30P 18 Oct 2011 the first wood body cut on the new CNC endured its last caress of the CNC cutter ... and was ready to be finessed with hand tools to complete the detailing in prep for detail sanding and paint

the first creature to be brought to life is a 2-piece Alder body 5-string lefty with a single P pickup. here's a few images to wet your appetite

when completed, this one will be on display at the Jan 2012 NAMM Show. it's going to get a Maple/Rosewood neck. the body finish and pickguard colors are still TBD

all the best,

R

 

[Cagey]

Wow. What a cool machine, eh? Now you get to sell a kidney to keep it in cutters <grin>

I used to work for a large-scale machine tool builder, and for a long time entertained the idea of building something like that myself. We always had oddball Thompson shafts and ball screws and servos laying around from experiments and/or mistakes in ordering or engineering screwups that could have sourced a lot of the expensive parts I would have needed pretty inexpensively. But, I never did it. At the time, I had a helluva woodshop, but very little of it was designed or suitable for metalworking, so that kinda put a damper on things. It's one of those deals where you need special tools to work on your special tools.

 

[SkuttleFunk]

I found a good place for cutters - a solid carbide 0.500"D x 2.00" 4-flute spiral end mill was $6US new plus a very reasonable s/h fee

even if it only stays sharp for four bodies, it's still a steal of a deal IMO

all the best,

R

 

[Cagey]

You know what we learned in school today?

Sharing.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

This is why Warmoth takes its time developing a new design, many prototypes get built that cannot be sold until QC is at its highest after every spec verified.

I remember lots of guys calling and saying, "I'll submit my CNC program and then you'll have it on file for the future". 

It's just not so cut & dry as that.  There's a lot more work (labor) involved in that.

Thanks for sharing Rod.  Always insightful.

 

[SkuttleFunk]

and back from the paint shop with a light honeyburst finish

the custom pickups are in, and the custom control plate is back from the laser cutter and off to the polishin shop. should be rumbling the neighborhood with this sometime next week ... and then it gets packed in its case and shipping down to SoCal to join a host of other basses at my NAMM show booth :blob7:

fwiw here's another bass that will be joining this one in the booth

if you're at the show, stop in an say 'Hi!' ... I'll be in Hall E Booth 1304 the entire week

all the best,

R

 

[DangerousR6]

Way to go Skuttle, Mach 3 is a great operating system, I have it on my CNC mill. You using Rhino? I have TurboCad, Partmaster, BobCad, Solid Works and Mesh Cam... :icon_biggrin:

That's my next move is a cnc router, I'd like to start making guitar bodies... :headbang1:

 

[SkuttleFunk]

all of my NAMM show builds are now DONE!!!

here's what's about to head south to Anaheim in just a couple hours ...

that's a load of work for one person building by hand (except one was done with the new CNC) to get done in three months working part-time building and holding down a full-time day-job

more images to come from the booth at the show

p.s. can you spot the lone CNC build in the herd?

all the best,

R

 

[Cagey]

That's a helluva collection of fine instruments! Leftys seem to be over-represented, but if you're trying to service an often-ignored niche that's probably a Good Thing. Good luck with the show, and I hope you get lotsa orders!

 

[DangerousR6]

Far left is the cnc build correct?