Vacuum Fixtures now complete for our fret boards and necks

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Thought I'd post a few pics of the vacuum fixtures we've just made for our own neck and fret boards as well as another builders fret boards we make on a regular basis....this has certainly improved production speed and accuracy - also designed them to suit a variety of scale lengths and string numbers so pretty much a one fixture covers all scenario ....we at least till i'm proven otherwise ;-)
the
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Comments

  • Jimbro66Jimbro66 Frets: 2418
    Never seen anything like that before. A description of the process and end product would really be of interest.
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27343
    Impressive looking piece of kit.
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • TTony said:
    Impressive looking piece of kit.
    Cheers Tony
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  • GraingerguitarsGraingerguitars Frets: 39
    edited February 2018

    Jimbro66 said:
    Never seen anything like that before. A description of the process and end product would really be of interest.
    The vacuum fixture is designed to follow the form of the item it’s intended to hold, the one being used in the first pics is for a customers range of bass fret boards, once i’ve completed a suitable design to allow all of the range of fretboards to fit on the one fixture we machined it from aluminium, there are tangs in the underside for quick alignment in the machines T-slots which also ensure accurate positioning in relation to the machines x & y axis, the fixture is clamped down by two bolts in T nuts, one at each end.  A series of channels are cut into the surface on which the job will sit (in this case the fretboards)a hole is drilled for an air connection and a cross hole between the air hole and the series of channels, then a seal groove is machined to follow the shape of the component.  We are currently using a Venturi vacuum set up which uses the normal ring main of compressed air to create the vacuum but we’ll change to a dedicated pump to ensure a higher vacuum pressure is possible, we produce our fret boards and necks with location holes for the most accurate positioning, it also means that we can machine part of a job, take it off the fixture for another process and then return it to the fixture for positioning within 0.1mm - this makes doing inlays before the boards are radiused far easier and means the inlay can be radiused with the rest of the board keeping everything straight and level.  As far as our process with the fret boards is concerned...we cut the outer profile, radius the board, cut the blind fret slots and then cut the nut slot, everything is perfectly positioned to each other and the location dowels so when mounted on the neck with mating location holes everything matches perfectly
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  • Jimbro66Jimbro66 Frets: 2418
    Many thanks for that @Graingerguitars. As someone who made a first guitar with hand tools from raw materials as a teenager its always fascinating for me to see ongoing technological advances in guitar building. Excellent!
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27569
    Very nice.

    I feel suitably inadequate with my K2 and golf-grip tape approach...
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • Del_PrestonDel_Preston Frets: 76
    edited February 2018
    Wow, fascinating to see.  Is the neck-making a new venture and will they be for sale?  I didn't see them mentioned on your website.

    *EDIT* - I was looking at the parts website...  Doh
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  • Wow, fascinating to see.  Is the neck-making a new venture and will they be for sale?  I didn't see them mentioned on your website.

    we make finger boards for another UK builder which are specific to their needs, otherwise these are mainly for our own production .... that said if approached to make custom necks it would depend on the requirements and quantities involved....making a standard neck to sell as a stand alone part could be difficult as I don't have to exact specs and dimensional details of, say, a strat or tele neck so I would be worried they may not fit into a standard body made by someone else
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  • that headstock will never catch on...
    My trading feedback

    is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?

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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27343
    Graingerguitars said:
     these are mainly for our own production 
    and having had the chance for a close-up look and feel of GraingerGuitars' guitars (at the B'ham show), these are quality pieces of work too.

    :)
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • that headstock will never catch on...

    yeah,  that bit on the end is just left there so the customer can put a clamp on it during glue up to the neck.  It gets removed when the headstock is thicknessed
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  • TTony said:
    Graingerguitars said:
     these are mainly for our own production 
    and having had the chance for a close-up look and feel of GraingerGuitars' guitars (at the B'ham show), these are quality pieces of work too.

    :)

    Thanks @TTony ;
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16541

    I reckon some pre-radiused and slotted boards would be a good option to go along with the parts you sell, especially if you are doing things like the blind ended fret slots... Can you do fanned fret boards? 



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  • WezV said:

    I reckon some pre-radiused and slotted boards would be a good option to go along with the parts you sell, especially if you are doing things like the blind ended fret slots... Can you do fanned fret boards? 



    we can do fan fret, compound radius...if it can be modeled and cut we can do it :-)
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