Stew Mac Binding Jig

[ozziebluesman]

Hi there,

Recently I purchased the Stew Mac binding jig without the plywood work board and guitar shaped ply cradle.

The instructions are a bit vauge or I'm a bit slow.

Does any of you have this jig and could post a picture or are there any tips you can share regard setting it up? I have a small table frame and have secured a 18mm ply top on it the same size as suggested in the instructions. Thats about as far as I have progressed.

I would appreciate any help.

Cheers

Alan

[liam_fnq]

I think they just grab a handful of parts and toss them in a bag. I had a bunch of stuff left over after finishing assembly. Works fine though, and definitely worth the money.

[Bob Connor]

Here's what it looks like in our shed Alan. I've since replaced the table top with marble which is nice and smooth and allows the cradle to slip easily. I don't remember it being too difficult to set up but we did buy it just after they had released it and there was a fair amount of slop in the vertical bearings. In fairness Stewmac sent out new sliders a couple of weeks later after I pointed it out to them. It works pretty well and it's closing in on around 70 instruments now. I've gone through a few router bits though!!!

[simso]

The plywood cradle is actually a good buy, it allows you to easily tweak the guitar to a level surface at four points.

The jig as bob shows merely holds the router above the table

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Liam, Steve and Bob for your input.

Bob: I have seen where some rout the troublesome areas where tearout occurs before routing around the guitar in one pass. I've done this when routing by hand with the laminate trimmer. Do you do similar or just rout in one pass?

Cheers

Alan

[Bob Connor]

I make sure I follow the grain Alan. There is a diagram on the Stewmac site which explains it.

Regards

[J.F. Custom]

G'day Alan.

It's always a good idea to do the reverse cut in areas where the cutter will run into/against end grain in normal rotation, regardless of which routing method or jig you use. It helps to prevent any large tear out or chips being taken out when removing bulk material. You might be lucky depending on the material and depth you are cutting, but for the small amount of extra effort, it is worth making a habit of.

Jeremy.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Bob, thats what I usually follow when doing it by hand.

Jeremy: I will take your advice. Its not much fun dealing with tearout after you have spent so much time on the build. Thank you!

Cheers

Alan

[kiwigeo]

I make sure I follow the grain Alan. There is a diagram on the Stewmac site which explains it.

Regards

+1

[Dominic]

I have the router jig which is nice and simple and compact. Its a good idea to make the surface under the jig nice and slippery with laminex or something similar like Bob's appears to be. You want the cradle to slide around easily with no hangups.

The SM cradle is a hassle though. For changes in guitar sizes you need an allen key to move the brackets and its a bit fiddly and larger brackets and better placed holes with finger knobs would make this heaps easier and fit all guitars without moving holes. And the height adjust screws work but everytime I use them I curse their small size. And if you do cutaways you need to cut out a hunk on each side and move one of the holders so it fits the cutaway bout.

So the design works but is slow to set up and I'm am looking for productivity gains where ever I can.

With router direction, just always go down hill from the widest point on the upper and lower bouts to the waist and/or head and tail. And the finish up with a full pass all the way round with the cutter spinning the right way. (against the direction of the cut).

Cheers
Dom

[pat foster]

Haven't posted here in a while, but here goes.

Here's the jig I use, similar to the SM one, shop-made from a parts list that Lillian put up here a few years ago.

For the carriage, I made some large knobs, visible under the guitar, using T-nudts, partly for the extra torque I can get on them, and partly to protect the the top if the guit drops down. Much kinder than wingnuts. The vertical adjustments are locked down with smaller store-bought knobs (just visible at the lower right) which I'll probably be replacing with bigger wood ones.

The jig isn't as elegant as the SM one, but it's a whole lot cheaper and still a dream to use compared to the handheld jig I used for 'way too long.

DSCN6050.jpg (123.64 KiB) Viewed 22812 times

Pat

[Lillian]

Pat, yours turned out nicer than mine. I like it.

[liam_fnq]

I have the router jig which is nice and simple and compact. Its a good idea to make the surface under the jig nice and slippery with laminex or something similar like Bob's appears to be. You want the cradle to slide around easily with no hangups.

The SM cradle is a hassle though. For changes in guitar sizes you need an allen key to move the brackets and its a bit fiddly and larger brackets and better placed holes with finger knobs would make this heaps easier and fit all guitars without moving holes. And the height adjust screws work but everytime I use them I curse their small size. And if you do cutaways you need to cut out a hunk on each side and move one of the holders so it fits the cutaway bout.

So the design works but is slow to set up and I'm am looking for productivity gains where ever I can.

With router direction, just always go down hill from the widest point on the upper and lower bouts to the waist and/or head and tail. And the finish up with a full pass all the way round with the cutter spinning the right way. (against the direction of the cut).

Cheers
Dom

I'll echo Dom's response. The little cradle brackets are rubbish. I've since built my own. I do my cuts following the same procedure of downhill cuts followed by a full lap around. I am very happy with the routing jig part of the set-up.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks guys for your discussion. Looks like this jig is going to take the stress out of binding.

I have a build ready for binding at the moment. I would like to use some herringbone purfling so that will mean two channel.

Which channel do I cut first, the 4mm x 2mm shelf for herringbone purfling or the 2mm x 7mm shelf for the binding?

Cheers

Alan

[auscab]

A good thread here Alan, I will have to refer to it if I ever decide to build or buy one.

Just out of interest though. How have you been routing for binding and purfs up to this date ?
I read somewhere here recently that you were up to no 6 or 7 ?

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Rob,

Most of the builds finished recently I didn't install any binding so I could keep the price lower. I have been using the hand held jig from Stew Mac and the dremel. It seems to me that the dremel does not have enough power for the job. It works ok however it can get hungry too if you don't adjust the amount of cut careful and it is very time comsumimg. I have used the laminate trimmer on my last binding job and it was better. It is still very difficult for me to get a good clean job cutting the binding channels by hand. I also use a gamil and mark the area to be cut out so it doesn't chip so much. That helped too!

I'm on to build 14 at the moment and I want to get a bit fancy and install some herringbone and outside binding so I decided to buy the Stew Mac jig and hopefully take some stress out of this part of the build.

I can't find the thread link mate you speak of, could you please post it again for me.

Cheers

Alan

[auscab]

I can't find the thread link mate you speak of, could you please post it again for me.

Cheers

Alan

Sorry ,a build number is a special number and I should have tried harder I pulled the 6 or 7 from my bad memory.

14 wow

[ozziebluesman]

Sorry to you too Rob. I misunderstood your comment about the tread. You ment this thread. Anyway, I was sick for the first six months of this year so no building until just recently. I have a dreadnaught for my son waiting for the shellac finish to cure that has been on the bench for two years, a small bodied acoustic that needs some binding and an Archtop that has been on the bench for sometime as well. Lucky its new owner is a patient man. Looks like I'm going to have three guitars about ready all at the same time. Yippeee!!! Whats next? My take on a mini maton acoustic and a OM.

Cheers

Alan

[P Bill]

Alan, if this is for the archy just put it in the carving cradle. Because the sides are an even depth an offset cradle isn't needed. You will still have to get it sorted for the flat tops.

[liam_fnq]

Do the purfling shelf then the bindings.

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Bill, this is not for the Archie. It is another small acoustic guitar I am building.

Thanks Liam, I thought that would be the way to go. So the first cut will be about 6mm by 2mm deep and the last cut a standard binding 7mm by 2mm wide.

Cheers

Alan

[Bob Connor]

I don't think it matters which way you do it Alan.

I do the binding channel first and then the purfling channel.

Regards

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Bob. It might be better if I do the binding channel first then if I have a hickup I can probably fix it. I just ordered a few more router bearing sizes so next weekend I will give it a wirl.

Cheers

Alan

[liam_fnq]

I find the bit-bearing rides half on the binding ledge if I do the binding channel first. I figure it's better to have the whole bearing bearing against the side.

[kiwigeo]

I find the bit-bearing rides half on the binding ledge if I do the binding channel first. I figure it's better to have the whole bearing bearing against the side.

+1