Well guys....

[pete from TN]

I am new here to this musical instrument forum altho I have recently completed a retrofit of an RF45 CnC milling machine. I have been able to make all sorts of cool stuff with it and it has been quite a learning experience.

Yesterday I was surfing youtube and found a video of an AMAZING electric guitar. It is the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time and I simply MUST try to make one, here is the video:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66luKYb3G5s"]YouTube - My Acrylic Guitar[/nomedia]

I have since found out that this is a copy of what is called an Ibanez JEM profile. It is awesome and that one is particularly beautiful. Not just because of the wood but the whole thing is beautiful. I hope to try to recreate that guitar on my CNC mill. I have tried to find a file or other information on this that I can use in my software. I am using an autocad clone for 2.5d drawing and Sheetcam for 2.5d milling and I am using Alibre Express for 3d altho I am kinda new to it. I intend to use cambam to do the cutting on this since I THINK it will need to be 3d. Has anyone here tried to do this guitar?

I will of course have to machine this on some sort of fixture plate because I will need to be able to flip it around to machine it in two halves. My Y travel is only around ten inches so I hope to be able to reach the pockets for the electronics and then only have to deal with any misalignment on one side and only on the basic shape which I can hand smooth if there is any. The electronics will be whatever is recommended in the original guitar and I have found that information already.

Has anyone else made an acrylic guitar here? I intend to try to make one from MDF initially and see how it goes and then once I know everything works hit the more expensive acrylic. Anyone have a good reasonably priced source for this stuff? I am sure it will not be cheap...

This Guitar is AMAZING looking and I am currently working with a local fellow who is a guitar instructor and we are trading woodworking lessons for guitar lessons so I hope to be able to actually play the damn thing at least a little by the time I finish it. Anyways, Nice to meet you all and hope to be able to get started on this soon. Any and all help or ideas would be MOST welcome... peace



Pete

[ger21]

I modeled this JEM in SW using the dimensions in this .pdf

Downloadable Guitar Plans

[pete from TN]

Have you made one from it? that looks like a nice rendering you did there.... I really like the way that model looks. I am wondering if I can make it with mostly 2.5d toolpaths and then come in with the 3d on the contouring of the edges... peace

Pete

[ger21]

No, I was just learning how to use SW. Had no intention of building one.

Other than the contour and the back of the trem route, it's all just 2.5D cutting.

[ihavenofish]

machining the guitar is relatively easy. use the largest bits yout can (1/2"+ ideally) and take shallow passes, then a full height finish pass. do everything you can as 2.5d pockets and profiling and climb mill everything. getting the feed right will take some practice/tests as you have a fairly slow spindle compared to a woodworking router or plastics spindle. ive had luck with 3 flute carbide bits in plastics.

youll have a few other issues. 1 is obviously joining the wood to the acrylic withour fogging and bubbles. i imagine they used epoxy of some kind.

then you have to find a way to hold the blank to the table or jig. you need to go all the way around the perimeter, so clamps are not ideal. you also dont want to do top then bottom trying to join the tool paths in the middle. ive tried this, it just leaves you with alot of sanding. tape with registration pins to prevent lateral movement is what ive used alot. its ok, but you need to go easy on the torque from the spindle - light passes.

if your machine is nice and precise with no backlash, a ballnose with a horizontal waterline type path will do a very nice job on the contoured areas. dont really need a roughing pass if you use a really fine stepover and 1/2" or bigger bit.

other than that, its not too hard, hehe. take your time, air cut and mdf samples first as you mentioned.

[pete from TN]

I know you from the benchtop machines forum. I do not have a router spindle but I am sure I could easily make one for my 690 or my trim router. My machines spindle does spin 6500 easily and I have milled a bunch of wood with it from time to time. Really the dig here for me is finding a PROVEN guitar plan. I am thinking I can machine it much the way you fella with flatbed routers seem to do it only attach it to a largish piece of aluminum and bolt that to the table. Are there not pass thru areas on the body that I can screw the part down with and get it where i want it. I really do not care if i have to manually do the back of the guitar. If I can reach and machine the entire front in two setups flipping in between and get it even close I should be able to finish it with my sanders in the back easily. I have a few ways to polish it out as well here.

That wood application you are correct is another issue. I almost wonder if they poured the whole thing that way... It looks just sick smooth and I see NO bubbles in the wood surface. It really is an amazing piece. I would think a guitar like that one with some LED lights and all the nicer pickups and guitar bits would be worth a helluva lot of money when it was finished. I just WANT one and it would be an EXCELLENT project for my machine. Backlash is not a problem as I have double ballnuts on all axes and servo drives.

DO you have any pictures of your builds? I would love to see what you have made. Do you use a router or a mill? peace

Pete

[ihavenofish]

YouTube - xzeroautomotion's Channel

theres a few videos in that channel, but this one shows the setup of that particular guitar well.

its held in place with cam clamps. you can see them at the side of the wood blank. you machine the top pockets and features, then the outline down to about 1/8" from the bottom - in your case it would be into the wood backing. then you do the ball nose contouring which is in another video for this guitar.

the key is adding registration pin holes in areas noone will notice when its done. in this case i put one pin island in the neck pocket which gets drilled away with a forsner bit. the other pin is under the bridge. in the case of the jem, you wouldnt have a place under the bridge, but you could find a spot pretty easily i think.

then you can bandsaw the excess off, and flip it over, line up the holes with metal dowel pins and double stick tape it down. the acrylic should stick very well. then you just contour the back with a ball nose, mill out the trem cavity and any other rear features and poof, all done.


all that said, it might be more interesting to make a mould and pour the plastic onto the wood.

[pete from TN]

I think that you would probably have to drill the fixture with the registration pins and maybe zero on one of them before the first operations then follow up on the back of the part. It seems pretty straightforward to me but we shall see right. That file the other posted sent had a very specific cad drawing of the JEM and it is well done. I will probably have to take it into autocad and trace it out onto the worksurface and then scale everything properly. My biggest issue will be rereferencing the part after I flip it and then flipping the file and splitting it. I have done one or two files like this but never to this degree. I wonder what would be simpler here, I think I need to try to machine the file beyond the electronics pockets in the center of the guitar and try to do that in one pass and then flip it and follow up the other side. Should work I think because the whole thing is apparently like twelve inches and I have around ten in Y. SO Hopefully I will be able to get most of the part done on one side and then mill the other side slightly overlapping the program to get a good finish lineup. Flipping it over apparently needs good indexing also because the pockets for the tremolo I guess need to be placed accurately right? What on these things is NOT precise in your opinion. If there was something that did not need to be exactly as the original in the pocketing what would that be? The pickguard and electronics plate are gonna need to be where they are but what about the cutouts in the back? Forgive my lack of electric guitar anatomy knowledge here... peace

Pete

[ihavenofish]

precision is a very relative term in the guitar world

basically, you want smooth clean cuts, and the neck pocket does need to be sized to fit a neck nice and snug, but other than that, its very forgiving. the trem cavity in the back could be out 2mm relative to the bridge studs and it would not affect much if anything.

pickup cavities have to fit your choice of pickups in them, but otherwise are of no specific size, same with the controls, and pretty much everything else.

the body is about 12.625" if im not mistake, so theres no way around the indexing, but you might be able to make it simple using the registation hole method. register the back first, then mill the first half of the top. then rotate on the pins, do the second half. repeat for the back. as long as your registration pins are centred, youre good. this will require surface clamps or tape thoug as the cam clamps wont work with registration pins for obvious reasons.

[pete from TN]

that is all good medicine here, Appreciate the advice. I think I may just try to find a used complete guitar for getting all the parts and the neck and then use those parts and their dimensions to fine tune my build. They use some specific ones for the 20th anniversary model this is made after. There are some really interesting things going on here with these guitars and I am pretty excited about trying this. If nothing else it will be a great learning experience. The fellow that I am trading lessons with was really interested in seeing me make one. Maybe I will make two and let him pay for the parts for mine in return for the custom machining... peace

Pete

[Winterfalke]

Your best bet is to use a Fender set neck, which is an industry standard. It will need 4 through holes drilled to bolt it on, giving you a good reference when you flip it over. Also, if you are putting a trem in, the floyd rose pattern has a through hole to the spring cavity in the back giving you another place to locate off of. Check out Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Custom bass and guitar bodies, necks, pickups, pickguards and hardware for more custom guitar info, and they have just about all the hardware you could need. i you ask nice, they might be willing to provide you with drawings for all the critical pockets. And just so you know, acrylic guitars are really heavy, and don't have the best tone if you run clean.

[pete from TN]

Maybe I will not make it from MDF but maybe some maple or something so I can do this....


[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMsY5XPWRTA&feature=related"]YouTube - How to swirl paint a guitar[/nomedia]


Never thought it was that easy to make a wicked paint job like that.. peace