Planer vs sander thicknesser...

[jeffhigh]

Joolstacho, please do show you neck shaper.

[joolstacho]

Good thoughts Puff, cheers.
I had thought of using the lower impression roller as the feed method -(it's got a manual drive, but I'd need to put some thought into precise alignment of the impression roller with the bed rollers), I did a test a while back and it showed promise, though I didn't have the gearing right and the device did a nice little dance up the workshop floor!
(It's not one of the huge heavy machines we used at art school, it's a lighter contemporary benchtop unit).
-Jools

[joolstacho]

Just a bit of a larf! I caught this machine just before it went to the recyclers. Had no idea what it was for at first, -the bed travels right and left, and there's a toolslide behind that travels at right angles to the bed.
When it dawned on me that the whole bed pivots around it's centre the lightbulb came on and I realised that it machines tapers just like our guitar necks - it's a Taper Grinder. So I grabbed the bugger (not as easlily done as said... it's a heavy jigger!) -and went about the conversion. Hopefully the pics tell the story. Note the vernier adjustment for taper angle at the RH end.
Once it's setup with the router on the cross-slide, I run the bed up and down manually, rotating the chucked neck a little each time, and bringing in the router, ending up with a nicely faceted neck. The neck is mounted on rotating carriers each end, (usually) aligned centre with the top fretboard pos.

It'll machine a neck in a few minutes, -really accurate, reapeatable, and ready for sanding. Great for doing batches. Obviously you still have a lot of heel and head carving and blending to do, but it gets the critical bit done a treat. I've also made a vacuum 'box' that mounts on the bed which I use to thickness tops and backs using a planing bit in the router which is (in this case) setup horizontally. I usually use automatic bed feed here.

It does all the 'hard yards' for you, and it's really easy to sand in any variation from the round section afterwards because you're starting from a dead accurate section.

These machines are still around in machinery wreckers.
-Jools

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[jeffhigh]

Wow, that's killing an ant with an atom bomb!

[Localele]

It might be overkill but I love it.As a bloke who loves old cast iron that thing is pure porn and should go "Straight to the Poolroom". Even has a name that could send shivers down the spine of any neck within earshot.The HERCUS!

[Puff]

Brother if that thing ever found a sympathetic harmonic you and your workshop would be in deep .......

[joolstacho]

Death to ALL ants!!!

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