I just received some parts today for this project so I'm about ready to get started. From the pic you can probably get an idea where I'll be heading with this. Anyways, as I work on it I'll dig up this thread and give you some updates. Wish me luck!

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/radiusParts1.jpg

Good Luck! :bassist:

The ol grizzly like sledabob correct?

The ol grizzly like sledabob correct?

Yeah, that's the idea. I actually had the Grizzly one on order and they said it would be 8 weeks, then after 8 weeks I emailed them and they said it would be another 8 weeks :p So I canceled that and bought the Jet. Found a supplier for t-slot extruded aluminum bars and components and it'll be a bit of work, but extruded aluminum should make a nice rigid system.

I was wondering what happened with the Grizzly - sorry to hear that you got put on eternal backorder

all the best,

R

Ok, so dredging up this old thread. I'm finally against the wall on a build where I really need to radius a fingerboard so that's got me going on this project. Here's some pics from day before yesterday...

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/cuttingbars1.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/cuttingbars2.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/bars2.jpg

I sorta wish I knew what was going on here.

I sorta wish I knew what was going on here.

Ha! Don't worry, the next pics will make it more clear :)

80/20, right?

So finally, bolted everything together and here's what I've got. First this shows the hinged piece up in position for attaching the fingerboard (double-stick tape).

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/serviceposition.jpg

Next, with the board attached.
http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/boardinstalled1.jpg

Now I've swung the arm down and adjusted the length and locked in place.
http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/runningposition1.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/runningposition4.jpg

I can't take a pic while I'm running it :(

But the idea is that after starting the sander I swing the arm back and forth, after about 30 seconds I have this result.
http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/done1.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/done2.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/done3.jpg

That is sick! Have you done any fingerboards yet?

Haa, you beat me by a minute. Looks awesome!

Here's another pic of the whole thing in the up position. Notice I have it bolted to the table at a slant so that it uses a wider portion of the belt. I guess I really should get a closeup of the area with the linear slide parts and the hinges. At this point it's set for fixed radius of 16". I can change it to 18" by moving one bar, but I ran out of bar stock for making it more adjustable.

It will cut my radiusing time from over an hour by hand down to about 10 minutes to setup, sand, and touch up by hand with higher grit on a radius block.
http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/operatorside1.jpg

are you or have you already attempted to make a neck? this is cool the way you set that radius up. where did you get the special belt sander to do this? I was told a shaper is used to make guitar necks, looks like a giant upside down router. fogbass

Thats a really neat way of raduissing fingerboards. Nice one, sir.

Looks great. Sheldon Dingwall has something similar in his shop. He can use it to do compound radiusing as well.

It looks fantastic and it's obvious this is going to be a tool that will last you for years to come.

How much did that set you back in 8020 extrusions? Looks like a couple of hundreds of bucks of Aluminium to me.

It looks fantastic and it's obvious this is going to be a tool that will last you for years to come.

How much did that set you back in 8020 extrusions? Looks like a couple of hundreds of bucks of Aluminium to me.

The entire order for parts was $250 and that included a bunch of fasteners that I didn't use. Plus the linear slide thingies were like $25 each (and needed to be heavily modified to even work at all) so I think it was about $150 for the bars. You can check though if you have a project in mind, I got all the stuff from faztek.com.

It's all 1x1" aluminium t-slot stock except some parts which are 1x2". The stuff is amazingly rigid.

I don't know what 8020 is, this is what Faztek calls:
6063-T6 T-Slotted Aluminum Extrusion Alloy F25: Aluminum, Magnesium, & Silicon

8020 is probably the leading seller of this type of extrusion in the US, and one of the originals. Lots of different companies make it, though. I'm partial to Bosch Rexroth.

Thanks for the info. I'm curious to know more about the hinge/slide thingy (black thing with red dot?). Is this thing freefloating? When you've got the radiusing bed laying on top of the jig, is that becaue you have locked or unlocked the hinge or the whole thing just slides up and dowm. I'm curious about the mechanism of that thing.

Wow, that is sweet. Now all you need to build is a robot to do the swinging for you.

lowsound

Here's some pics that show the hinge and linear motion attachment.

The purpose of the hinge is pretty clear. It's set so that the point of rotation is 16 inches above the belt. The linear thing allows me to adjust for different thickness fingerboards and also lets me adjust for a different radius. It's milled to fit the profile of the extruded aluminum and has a hole in the side for the "break" lever. That's the part that could not possibly work until I did some milling on the block to solve two serious design problems. But the idea is that it locks the bar in position.

In the last pic you might see a small pencil mark on the bottom piece. That's the point directly under the hinge so directly under that mark is where the center of the fingerboard needs to be lined up.

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/hinge1.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/hinge2.jpg

http://www.thorbass.com/images/radiusMachine/hinge3.jpg

So Phil, I just checked out the 8020 website. I kinda wish I'd seen them when I searched for a supplier. They have a much more complete line of components. But what I have works (after some modifications), so I can't complain too much.