Copy Carvers and other Eli Whitney clones

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Copy Carvers and other Eli Whitney clones

A discussion of building or buying a carver machine to using Bondo as a pattern and other helpful tips.

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Latest Activity: Nov 29, 2015

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Comment by Jay D. Wyant on April 2, 2011 at 5:11am
I don't know why you couldn't use basically any style router bit in the copy carver, as long as the stylus was an exact match, and everything is set up properly. With everything aligned properly, the router bit can only go where the stylus goes.
All of the 3D carving I do on the CNC, is done with a ballnose bit, and bit size depends on how fine a detail the carving "needs". It seems to me the same would apply on the copy carver. In theory, the copy carver should be capable of an "exact" duplicate, subject to the operators diligence and patience to go over the pattern without missing anything. Sanding is a step that can never be avoided, regardless of the tools used, however the actually shaping of a "copy" should be able to be done solely with the router bit, IF everything is setup properly, and both pieces are firmly held in place.
Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 4:00am

As far as bit profiles, I have lots of router bits, but these are practically useless

on the copy carver router, because you can't use flat bottom or round nose bits

(don't know why..but I will find out).   What the fish carver and designer of the

copy carver is suggesting is using special bits/stylus that he sells through a

third party. I bought one set to find out what it's all about, since I'm green to

this copy carver world..but I'm learning fast.   In any case, I do have some

unique bits made by Kutzall which are carving burrs (not router bits) which

I can use..I just need to make my own accurate stylus(es) for them from

lead weights on a steel shaft.   There are two  grades of Kutzall..the gold

which is a fine cutter and the sliver series which is more aggressive.

The cutters have numerous tiny carbide teeth and not as prone to loading up,

but when they do..I just put them in boiling water to clear the wood particles

out of the teeth and I'm good to go.

Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 3:52am

Jay, I've built some of my "custom" Les Paul types and after the first one,

I deviated to a neck through semil-hollow body.. because I play acoustic and

electric jazz guitars (Epiphone currently..can't afford a Gibson as they say)..

but I found that for each one, I preferred to custom carve the "one-off" neck

and the next one was slightly different because I wanted it that way.

Now if you are doing more than one (neck) then a copy carver can save a lot of

time.   At first I was buying Gibson scale FB from Stew_Mac, but now that

I've come up with my own FB duplicator..I don't need to  order preslotted FB

from S_M any more. I can machine my own blanks and slot them.

 

I've been using Guitar Fetish p_ups in all of my guitars because they are much

cheaper and actually sound not half bad..at least some of the models I've used.

As far as inlays, I do my own on my customs,  but I use my handheld micromotor with a special cutter bit (from S-M) to make the depression for the

MOP (Mother of Pearl) shapes.

Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 3:46am

   5 axis Bob?  "Splain please.

Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 3:44am

Yes Bob, Crafts "people" is exactly what the factory workers are. While the factory

probably has a couple of luthiers to do the finished areas. these are production

models "ES" types from the ES-175 hollowbody jazz model to the thinline

ES-335 series.   The custom shop, of course has their highest level luthiers that

can create a customized model of your choosing..for a fancy price of course.

Comment by Jay D. Wyant on April 2, 2011 at 3:08am

Yeah, that is the issue with cnc, software. designing and cutting a neck in 3d, takes a lot of time, the neck I made was done 2d, with different profile bits, which makes it relatively quick to cut, but you are limeted to the profile of the bits. The inlays on my fret board were actually cut on my laser engraver, and that is really sweet for that process, because there is no issue with "holding" parts.

 

I really like your pickups by the way. If you look at my most recent build, the "Cymbitar", I was thinking it might be cool to have one of yours for a neck pickup. Got any cool ideas that would go with the theme?

Comment by Jay D. Wyant on April 2, 2011 at 2:37am
Well 30 minutes isn't bad.........I really like the idea of a homemade tool, I may have to give it a try. I have a ShopBot CNC, and have done one finished guitar from scratch so far(Second Draw Guitar in my album), but I like the idea of the copy carver. Especially because it can be 5 axis.
Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 2:10am

Bob; when I visited Gibson (Memphis) in 2007, I went on a tour of the prodiction

facilities for the guitar models they make there and very interested in the way

they did their necks. I saw a QUAD neck copier that will carve up to 4 neck blanks

at a time down to roughly 90% as this is Gibson afterall and production time is

worth a lot of money..anyway, I was told that after the necks were machine

carved, they were picked up by skillled production craftspeople (not luthiers),

and finished carved/sanded by hand to their satisfaction and quality control

before being glued onto the bodies.

Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 2:02am

I've completed my copy carver and for the time being pleased with it.

Today, I'm adding a wooden knob to the stylus so I have more precision control

of the stylus as the swing box tends to get a bit "swingy" if you know what I mean.

I like the idea, but so far it has cost me about 3 times what he mentioned in his

plans, but this is Canada after all, and we are used to paying more for everything.

 

My current challenge is to come up with a spiffy indexing mount for both

the blank and the cast.  I'm sure that routing the excess wood won't take more

than 4-5 minutes per 90 degree quadrant.   So it shouldn't take more than

20 minutes to come up with a rough carving not including setup time (mounting)

and indexing.

Comment by carverman on April 2, 2011 at 1:57am

I can't seem to edit the typos in my last comment.

 

carver should read carve

35000 should read 35,000 rpm

These are dentist style handheld electric precision motors that allow very fine

detail, similar to the air operated dentist drill that allows for very fine cavity

drilling.   As a matter of fact, I just got my first micromotor rebuilt with new

bearings after many years of use by a "handpiece center" that overhauls this

89,000 rpm dental drills as well.

 

 

 

 

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