What else can go wrong?

I will be shaping my first head stock soon. I have pitbull neck...no body yet...and I figured i should get some finish on it to protect it, but first I should cut the head stock.

I agonized about how to cut it, and finally did a freehand drawing. From this I made a router template with a jigsaw. That more-or-less worked after some sanding, but I was concerned that the sides were not absolutely 90 degrees. So I used the jigsaw-ed template to make a 2nd template on the router table. Second template had nice vertical sides, but one of the curves seemed cut too high. Being a student of the Simon Barden school of luthiery, I filled in the high cut with some veneer, and after a bit of sanding it seemed good enough to test. The good news is that the template seems good. The bad news is that just as I finished routing a piece with the new template, the bearing in my flush trim bit seized. Then it popped off the top of the bit and flew off to God-knows-where. I had just finished routing, and the template came away fine, but I might have damaged the neck if I had elected cut it rather than doing a test first. I have a new router bit in the mail, as well as a replacement bearing for the old one.

Is there any other caution I should take? The router always makes me nervous, but I don't think I'd do better with a rasp...

It may be too little too late, but if you have a router table I presume you must have a decent workspace.
Do you have a drill press?

If so, I use a drum sanding kit in my drill press for that kind of shaping/squaring. The sanding drums range from 1/2" to 2", and I made a plywood work table that mounts onto the steel drill press table. The plywood has a hole in it so the bottom edge of the drum can pass below the wooden table (kind of like and upside down router table). It allows me to keep the drum perpendicular to the work piece.

Not exactly a precision piece of machinery, but it works and way less scary than a router.
I use the drill press for a range of tasks (that my old woodshop teacher would be turning in his grave about). I have Safe-T-planer for small planing jobs and have even used router and endmill bits in it for others.
It's my Swiss Army Knife in the shed!

It sounds interesting, and I have heard you refer to it before. Could you post pics of it?

I have a small drill press, but it is deep in my shed, and I don't use it much. Perhaps that should change...

Hey fender3x, here's some photos.
The drum sander table is small and I've meant to make a larger one with 1/2" ply (current one is 1/4") but it's one of those projects that keeps falling back on the list of priorities. The little one has been sufficient thus far for my purposes.

My drill press has a round slotted steel table and my plywood tables attach via bolts, mud washers & wingnuts underneath.

You can get the Safe-T-Planer from Stew-Mac for $35 + postage. It has its limitations but it's been a pretty handy little gadget. I used it to thickness some neck heels. Worked a treat.

Anyway, here's the pics:

Attachment 35090 Attachment 35091

Attachment 35092 Attachment 35093

I just used a small drum sander in a Dremel to do the curves on my latest headstocks and that went very well indeed. I have the flexible shaft extender which makes it a bit easier to control. A bit of sanding and I was very happy with the results.

I sometimes use a quick and dirty Dremel sanding table I made. This was the previous incarnation, but the idea remains the same. I've tidied it up since and changed wood with a permanent platform for sanding and shaping all sorts of things. The bolt is now inside the hole for better clearance.

M20 bolt epoxied to some flat wood. 14mm hole works great!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4ec05a4f0c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cb6c7c11d1.jpg

I still love the look of that safet T planer

I've got the Dremel router table attachment that could easily be set up to work as a sanding table. Thanks for the idea!

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I've got the Dremel router table attachment that could easily be set up to work as a sanding table. Thanks for the idea!

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Pleasure. Now your turn is to invent a slightly longer sanding drum attachment for the Dremel.

Well, just found this as a way to make your own sanding bands. So you could certainly make your own bands that extend a couple of mm either side of the rubber section, so just tall enough for a headstock.

http://youtu.be/NskSrQQg0U4

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I still love the look of that safet T planer

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Hey BD, I got mine from McJing tools. $60 + $15 express post (express is all they offer).

I ordered online in the afternoon and it arrived the next morning (Western Sydney to Brisbane). I'm sure that wouldn't happen under the current circumstances though.
It's a good bit of kit and I reckon tools are always a solid investment for guys like us :o

Safe-T-Planer

Here's a link to a Dan Erlewine demo video of the planer

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Well, just found this as a way to make your own sanding bands. So you could certainly make your own bands that extend a couple of mm either side of the rubber section, so just tall enough for a headstock.

http://youtu.be/NskSrQQg0U4

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Perfect. They only need to be slightly bigger to get a headstock done. Easy enough to flip the work piece though, too.

@McCreed dude stop it. Your giving me TAS (is that a thing haha?)

This is all very interesting. It would never have occurred to me that you could use a drill press to do planing... I have seen routers used that way but not a drill press. I also love the Dremmel table idea. I have a rotary tool, that could easily be repurposed for that.

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Your giving me TAS (is that a thing haha?)

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It is now!!!

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Originally Posted by Bakersdozen

@McCreed dude stop it. Your giving me TAS (is that a thing haha?)

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Originally Posted by McCreed

It is now!!!

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Oh TAS is very real.....<Clicks on images of second hand and brand new Jointer planers, Dust extractors and spray booth plans...>

After reading enough advice about how to do this that I should have known better... I used the router to try to shape my headstock. Routers are fast, right? I had made a nice template. I had trimmed with a jigsaw. I have routed harder stuff before...

...but there was one little burr on the last curve of the batwing...and it was right along the grain...

Attachment 35393

I found the piece about 2 meters from the router hiding in the grass.

Glued it back in place. No way to clamp it so I literally held it in place for a full ten minutes. OK from the front. Not as invisible a line on the back or on the side. Still, it may be what my father used to call a "cheap lesson." It's not in a place that needs to be particularly strong, and may not show unless you look really close by the time I have sanded and finished it. I am sure that there will be plenty of other flaws in this build that will be more obvious by the time I am done ;-)

Attachment 35394

I will use a rotary tool, or just hand sand to get the shape the rest of the way... slowly and carefully.

Sorry to hear that, F3x. Always painful when something like that happens. Saw and Dremel works for me. I really need to start using a router, but it's so easy to go wrong very quickly.

There is a production work stations for Dremel tools which makes them into all kind of light duty woodworking tools.

I've put router bits with a bearing in my drill press to make an open router table. I've used it for plunge routeing too. I recommend an MDF template for the bearing to ride on. On a lot of wood types you have to be careful of the direction of the grain.

I glued with Titebond, let it sit overnight, and slowly hand sanded with 60 grit, and then finished with 100 grit (for now).

A number of people seem to use a drill press as a router. I would be worried that they don't get enough RPMs.

I have a Dremel and another off-brand rotary tool. I confess I don't control them as well as I would like. And if I went at it with a coping saw I might be too old to care when I finish.

The nice thing about a router is that if you use a template they are fast, precise and require very little skill. Caution, yes, but not skill.

I don't use MDF anymore. Too succeptible to FL humidity. I mostly use furniture grade plywood. What I used this time was some left over door casing, which worked well. Easy to cut and shape to a smooth edge.

The problem is the grain and the headstock. There was a little burr where two cuts with a jigsaw came together, right where material was very narrow. The the blade knocked the little tab off instant it hit the burr.

After sanding it is looking better...Attachment 35401

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I really need to start using a router, but it's so easy to go wrong very quickly.

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I have three routers. The one I like the best is a very heavy duty 2hp Makita knock off with a 1/2" collet. It's scary because it is so powerful and heavy, but it has a nice plunge base that is perfectly round. It accepts any accessory designed for Makita and I think the weight helps to keep it stable so it has the lowest propensity to jump of any of my routers. I have had problems with this router only when I have been sloppy on my setup or have not used a guide.

I was given the table router, which is a 1/4" collet, and was a relatively low end Craftsman (which is a mid-level brand in the US). I think the router is 1 or 1.5 hp. I use good CMT bits in it, and as long as I get things tightened down well enough it works OK. The trick with it is to check to make sure nothing has slipped or vibrated lose fairly often. This is the one that wounded my neck, though. It's lighter than the plunge router even in aluminum table

I also have a small, cheap trim router that I will most likely throw away one day. I have heard that good quality trim routers are easier to handle. Mine, even with a jig, has a very high propensity to jump. So if you get one, don't get a cheap one.

I have used the plunge router on body tops and it has always performed well, as long as I have a good jig, and make successive cuts to get to the depth I want. I also have to check often to make sure the depth is what I think. Never go very long with any router that has adjustable depth without re-checking the depth. I have also used this a lot for round-overs on big pieces. Going slow on something flat it works well and is more stable than my table router. I am sure it is more precise and faster than what I could do with hand tools, but I spend a lot of time setting up jigs, so it's not particularly fast.

What a small table router is best for is making small pieces over and over. But, the way the blade hits the grain can be an issue. If I had to do this again I would probably do it the same way, but I would sand or Dremel the jig-sawed piece first to make sure there is nothing for the router blade to catch on. The better procedure is to not cut into the grain the way I did... It's generally more of a problem with a wood like pine that is prone to splitting. But I have had maple split on very small, very thin pieces like pickup covers. On half inch or better this is the first time I have had a problem, and I am guessing it was the fact that the piece was not smooth in just the wrong place. All that said, I much prefer the table router for small pieces that I can redo if I need to. It was actually pretty easy to make t he templates on the table--and I never had a problem (OK, except when the bering jumped off...), even though I was using cheap pine or fir for the template.

So far what my small, cheap trim router is best for is making mistakes.