Tools of the trade.

[Dewesq55]

I mean cool rig and all but you need to put some lotion on that rash.

I was joking. Sorry. Really.

That stuff aside, did you have some old white face MDF cabinets left over from a renovation?

Almost. I built my kitchen cabinets from scratch and had most of a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" melamine board and some shelving lying around the shop. I also have a ton of heavy maple from a furniture build that never was.

 

[jtcnj]

Fretboard radius jig. I bought the plans on line. My daughter printed them out one to one on an architectural printer.

It is mostly done except for the router base sled, hold downs and rocking handle. It has pivot points for 4 common radii: 7.25", 9.5", 12" and 16". I have a concept for a pretty cool mod which I will discuss later if it works out. I also need to get a short length of 1/2 rod for the pivots. To test it I used the shaft ends of a couple of 1/2" router bits.

View attachment 1395

Nice! I am a big re-purposer my self.
My wife prefers the term junk hoarder.

 

[BGood]

I didn't comment, because I don't have a clue how this is gonna work and felt I would sound stoopid asking. If you had showed the plans with it, maybe I'd get an idea of what's going on here.

 

[Dewesq55]

Hold on.....ya come into a thread a week + late then pull the nobody's interested card when nobody responds in under an hour?

You do make a point that I could use clarification on, though, and that's: should I have started a new thread? Maybe tools should have their own room? Just thinking out loud here.

 

[Dewesq55]

I didn't comment, because I don't have a clue how this is gonna work and felt I would sound stoopid asking. If you had showed the plans with it, maybe I'd get an idea of what's going on here.

I'm so glad you asked. It's really pretty simple. Most of it is just a frame:


In the middle is just a big upside down pendulum. You secure a fretboard blank to the platform at the top and set the radius by raising or lowering the indexing pivots on each side. Then you set a router in a base that slides along the top rails of the frame with the bit just touching the blank. With the router running, you rock the pendulum side to side (with the handle that's not there yet) while slowly moving the router base down the rails.

 

[Dewesq55]

I'm so glad you asked. It's really pretty simple. Most of it is just a frame:
View attachment 1403

In the middle is just a big upside down pendulum. You secure a fretboard blank to the platform at the top and set the radius by raising or lowering the indexing pivots on each side. Then you set a router in a base that slides along the top rails of the frame with the bit just touching the blank. With the router running, you rock the pendulum side to side (with the handle that's not there yet) while slowly moving the router base down the rails.

This might make it clearer:

 

[smitty_p]

How do you secure the fretboard to to the platform?

Also, just out of curiosity, does the radius take the thickness of the fretboard into account? Then again, the fretboard is so thin it probably doesn't matter.

 

[Dewesq55]

How do you secure the fretboard to to the platform?

There will be hold downs on each end plus double stick tape.

Also, just out of curiosity, does the radius take the thickness of the fretboard into account?

Not sure. I didn't check that out, but I think it does.

 

[BGood]

There you go ! Now it's clear for everybody.
Thanks.

 

[Dewesq55]

More progress. Here is the router base/sled. The pendulum has been removed to addba handle:


Here it is with the router mounted. In this pic you can also see my mod idea taking shape. The threaded rod has a crank handle mounted to one end which also has a piston lever attached. When it's finished, turning the crank will drive the router sled down the rails while the piston lever, which will be attached to the pendulum lever by a pivot, will rock the pendulum from side to side.