Home Brew Tools - Fret Hammer

Nomad

Decided a fret hammer would be a useful future tool.

Take a lump of brass, a lump of plastic, and a random bit of unknown hardwood...

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y521/Nomad_Zamani/Tools/Fret%20Hammer/Fret%20Hammer%2001_zpsej65ytf8.jpg

The plastic is acetal. This is a cheap engineering plastic which is pretty tough and quite slippery (can be used for bearings). It also machines rather well in metalworking gear - far better than nylon (which has a tendency to melt if you so much as wave a cutter near it).

I sketched a shape on the wood and cut it out freehand on the band saw...

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y521/Nomad_Zamani/Tools/Fret%20Hammer/Fret%20Hammer%2002_zpszko9uvjq.jpg

Then made a plastic thing and two brass things...

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y521/Nomad_Zamani/Tools/Fret%20Hammer/Fret%20Hammer%2003_zpsqvstzf8r.jpg

The brass was 19mm in diameter, so I turned the acetal down to match. The threads are M8 and the straight shank part is 8mm dia (actually a tiny bit bigger to ensure a snug push fit into the wood). The bit of brass in the middle has an M8 threaded hole up the centre.

Stick an 8mm hole in one end of the bit of stick and soften the edges on the belt sander...

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y521/Nomad_Zamani/Tools/Fret%20Hammer/Fret%20Hammer%2004_zpsf79varp3.jpg

Then oil the wood and assemble...

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y521/Nomad_Zamani/Tools/Fret%20Hammer/Fret%20Hammer%2005_zps5taxnted.jpg

One fret hammer with a (replaceable) soft tip.

The tightening was done with some fairly thick rubber sheet around the parts and mole grips / pliers. Not mega tight, but well past finger tight.

The two brass faces in contact with the wood are slightly dished. This is to ensure that the pressure points on the wood - which could be slightly uneven - are around the outer diameter of the brass parts. If the brass was dead flat, or convex, the pressure points would be uneven or at the centre of the wood near the hole. Putting the pressure points at the outside diameter gives the brass a chance to squeeze into the wood a little to eliminate gaps and gain contact all around, and the latter means the friction works better (greater moment of force further out from the centre) which should reduce any tendency for the bits to slacken off.

 

FelineGuitars

Awesome work - love it!

Nomad

Thanks.

It was one of those things where, when trawling for luthier tools, every time I saw a fret hammer, I thought "I could make that". Cost me more in time that it would have to buy one, but it was fun to make.

Roland

I like this sort of thing. Putting the thought into making something improves your understanding of what it does and how. Then there's the little tricks that the casual observer never notices, like convex surfaces to improve grip and reduce the risk of splitting.