For those who make pickups...

[slowburnaz]

What do you use for cutting the flatwork material to make the bobbins?

[Diogenes]

I've machined 1-piece bobbins from blocks of hardwood, used PC boards, layed fiberglass sheets and cut appropriately sized flatwork from it, used sheeting I find in surplus/warehouse stores of unknown composition... pretty much anything I can get my hands on that meets particular requirements.

[slowburnaz]

Originally Posted by Diogenes

I've machined 1-piece bobbins from blocks of hardwood, used PC boards, layed fiberglass sheets and cut appropriately sized flatwork from it, used sheeting I find in surplus/warehouse stores of unknown composition... pretty much anything I can get my hands on that meets particular requirements.

When you actually cut the materials (like PC board, fiberglass), what do you use to cut it?

I was thinking of picking up a small bandsaw, or maybe even trying to find a wood-cutting blade that will fit in my dry tile saw. Hell, maybe a scroll saw would be the best bet? The fiberboard that I have (the stuff you can get from stewmac.com) is much too hard to use something like an exacto knife on.

[Diogenes]

I usually use a scroll saw and then clean it up with files and/or sandpaper depending on the 'flatware'.

A 'tool' that I make which works really well for fine sanding is a sanding stick. It's basically a wooden paint stirring stick (you get them at paint or home improvement stores) with sandpaper adhered to it. I usually make them in batches... spray adhesive applied to the back of a sheet of sandpaper, lay a bunch of the stirrers onto the sandpaper side by side and once the adhesive is dry use a utility knife to cut between the sticks. Voila!... fine-toothed files.