What else can go wrong?

[fender3x]

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...

[McCreed]

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!

[fender3x]

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

[fender3x]

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

[McCreed]

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:

[Simon Barden]

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.

[Bakersdozen]

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!

I still love the look of that safet T planer

[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!

[Bakersdozen]

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

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

[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.