need a source for 24 inch leveling beam

[bobdabilder]

Other than stewmac. 100 bux just seems a bit high (plus shipping).
I have a 19 inch beam but looking for a 24. Links if you have them. Searching for a couple of hours now.
Thanks all.

 

[dwizum]

How about just an actual level? Or even a piece of bar stock? Use your existing leveling beam to flatten it. I have a cheapo 24" aluminum level I got at a big box store, I ground one side flat, and I use it when I want something longer than my leveling files. I think it was like $9.

 

[wraub]

From this thread- Exquisite P-bass, Unboxing and Review - PART 2

Post #150

"The first thing you need is a dead flat Sanding Beam.

NOT a Radius Sanding Beam (because these bases have a Compound Radius. 12" radius at the nut, and 16" radius at the 20th fret). A Radius Sanding Beam would undo our valuable existing Compound Radius.

Q: Vid, should I buy an expensive Sanding Beam? I want to do it **right** !

A: Hell no.

Go to your local Harbor Freight (Canadian Tire for those with health care) and find this item #69242:

It's a heavy, SOLID 24" aluminum level. Not a hollow box level, or I-beam level.

Now the reason you want to go in person to HF, is so that you can make sure it's dead flat. Put 2 of the machined sides face to face, and hold them up to the light to make sure they are dead flat to each other. If you see ANY gap, try another until you find a perfect one.

It has been my experience that 99% of these are really well machined when tested against my $300 machinist's straightedge. Flatter than a slice of Corian or marble for sure.

One is all you need, but if you plan to do fretwork all the time, get 3 so you can have one for each grit sandpaper always ready.

For $13 after coupon, you are not going to find a better Leveling Beam."

No affiliation, just sayin...

 

[bobdabilder]

May try this. Definitely wanted something ground flat for fret work.

How about just an actual level? Or even a piece of bar stock? Use your existing leveling beam to flatten it. I have a cheapo 24" aluminum level I got at a big box store, I ground one side flat, and I use it when I want something longer than my leveling files. I think it was like $9.

 

[bobdabilder]

Perfect. Thanks.

From this thread- Exquisite P-bass, Unboxing and Review - PART 2

Post #150

"The first thing you need is a dead flat Sanding Beam.

NOT a Radius Sanding Beam (because these bases have a Compound Radius. 12" radius at the nut, and 16" radius at the 20th fret). A Radius Sanding Beam would undo our valuable existing Compound Radius.

Q: Vid, should I buy an expensive Sanding Beam? I want to do it **right** !

A: Hell no.

Go to your local Harbor Freight (Canadian Tire for those with health care) and find this item #69242:

It's a heavy, SOLID 24" aluminum level. Not a hollow box level, or I-beam level.

Now the reason you want to go in person to HF, is so that you can make sure it's dead flat. Put 2 of the machined sides face to face, and hold them up to the light to make sure they are dead flat to each other. If you see ANY gap, try another until you find a perfect one.

It has been my experience that 99% of these are really well machined when tested against my $300 machinist's straightedge. Flatter than a slice of Corian or marble for sure.

One is all you need, but if you plan to do fretwork all the time, get 3 so you can have one for each grit sandpaper always ready.

For $13 after coupon, you are not going to find a better Leveling Beam."

No affiliation, just sayin...

 

[Bruce Johnson]

As an alternate, you might want to make one of these:

Special Tools: Stone Bar For Leveling Frets

Last week, I helped my buddy Randy Robinson, down the hall, make up one of these stone bars for himself. He bought two sets of stones, 220 grit and 320 grit, and made his double sided. It works well, but having the second set of stones on the top side makes it less comfortable to use. Now that he's tried it, he thinks he should have just made them two separate beams.

On mine, I used a 1/2" x 2" aluminum bar, and used a milling machine to cut the one edge down to 3/8" thickness. We also used 1/2" bar for his, and I milled the one edge for the 320 stones. However, the 220 stones were a little wider than 1/2". He epoxied them on the back edge of the beam using some veneer shims to center the stone brackets on the beam. It worked fine. So, if I build another one of these, I'd probably use thinner bar stock and not bother having to mill it. 1/4" x 2" would work.

One other thing I found is that it's real easy to flatten the stone bars by rubbing two of them against each other. I clamped mine in a vise, stones up, and slid his along over the top of mine. It only took a couple of strokes to true the two against each other. Fast and easy. That's a good reason to make two of the bars for yourself. I may make myself a 220 bar, for occasional coarser cut jobs, and to use to keep the 320 bar true.

 

[bobdabilder]

Thanks Bruce. I don't do much machine work but I'll price it out and see if it's worthwhile for me to try it out.

As an alternate, you might want to make one of these:

Special Tools: Stone Bar For Leveling Frets

Last week, I helped my buddy Randy Robinson, down the hall, make up one of these stone bars for himself. He bought two sets of stones, 220 grit and 320 grit, and made his double sided. It works well, but having the second set of stones on the top side makes it less comfortable to use. Now that he's tried it, he thinks he should have just made them two separate beams.

On mine, I used a 1/2" x 2" aluminum bar, and used a milling machine to cut the one edge down to 3/8" thickness. We also used 1/2" bar for his, and I milled the one edge for the 320 stones. However, the 220 stones were a little wider than 1/2". He epoxied them on the back edge of the beam using some veneer shims to center the stone brackets on the beam. It worked fine. So, if I build another one of these, I'd probably use thinner bar stock and not bother having to mill it. 1/4" x 2" would work.

One other thing I found is that it's real easy to flatten the stone bars by rubbing two of them against each other. I clamped mine in a vise, stones up, and slid his along over the top of mine. It only took a couple of strokes to true the two against each other. Fast and easy. That's a good reason to make two of the bars for yourself. I may make myself a 220 bar, for occasional coarser cut jobs, and to use to keep the 320 bar true.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Thanks Bruce. I don't do much machine work but I'll price it out and see if it's worthwhile for me to try it out.

The stones I bought were like $7.50 for a set of three on Amazon. My stone bar was $20 of material total. If you use a narrower aluminum bar, you don't need to do the milling like I did.

 

[bobdabilder]

Right, just something flat enough where the stones will flatten out against each other.

The stones I bought were like $7.50 for a set of three on Amazon. My stone bar was $20 of material total. If you use a narrower aluminum bar, you don't need to do the milling like I did.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

When Randy made his the other day, he put a piece of waxed paper down on his tablesaw top, and epoxied the stones onto the bar with the stones down. That set them pretty darn close to flat. It only took a light touchup against my stone bar to true them up.

 

[dwizum]

Good point about the difference in hardness, I hadn't thought about that.

 

[rojo412]

For a number of project ideas, including the thought of getting some of this for a flat-level bar setup, I've long contemplated getting something from this place:
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I've read reviews and apparently, the stuff comes out very accurate. And you're paying by the length, so it ends up fairly cheap compared to some "tools" that claim to be built specifically for this purpose.

THAT said, I've been using an aluminum level for years that does fine work and I think it was less than $10 at Home Depot.