You need a edge sander and a jig to hold it flat and square . If you dont have those, its not gonna be easy . lotsa hand sanding .
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| Cracked my fretboard http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=35480 |
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| Author: | Mike Lindstrom [ Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Cracked my fretboard |
So I was gluing my fretboard onto the neck yesterday, and this morning I took off the clamps and the fretboard was split nearly end to end. After removing it, I discovered that I did not have the neck flat. It was crowned across the short way. In addition to my own idiocy, I am finding the other problem is the carbon rods in the neck are keeping me from leveling the neck effectively. Next time, I will probably bury the CF a bit deeper so I only have to level the wood. Any suggestions for my current efforts or future prevention would be appreciated. Mike |
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| Author: | WudWerkr [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:59 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
You need a edge sander and a jig to hold it flat and square . If you dont have those, its not gonna be easy . lotsa hand sanding .
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| Author: | MikeyV [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:56 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
An edge sander and a jig??? I'd just go with a plane and maybe a scraper, but that's just me. But seriously, I try to true up my neck blanks before cutting into them, then pick a face for the fingerboard, and don't touch it until you glue the fingerboard on. |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Mike Lindstrom wrote: So I was gluing my fretboard onto the neck yesterday, and this morning I took off the clamps and the fretboard was split nearly end to end. After removing it, I discovered that I did not have the neck flat. It was crowned across the short way. In addition to my own idiocy, I am finding the other problem is the carbon rods in the neck are keeping me from leveling the neck effectively. Next time, I will probably bury the CF a bit deeper so I only have to level the wood. Any suggestions for my current efforts or future prevention would be appreciated. Mike After fabricating neck blanks (I like laminated necks) I pass the blanks (in "board" form - maybe 3" wide) through my drum sander on both sides. This provides a flat edge to which I can glue my fretboard (also flattened in the same fashion on the edge to be glued). (then I cut the blank into the appropirate pieces for the scarf joint and stacked heel.) I tried to flatten with a plane once, and quickly realized I was chasing high points all over the neck. With this method, it's "one and done". If you're using one-piece necks, you can do the same thing, but if your drum sander can be raised high enough and you pass it through before cutting the neck shapes out of the blank. |
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| Author: | Clay S. [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:47 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Assuming you are gluing the fret board on with epoxy, a "work around" for this neck would be to slightly hollow out the underside of the fret board where necessary, so the edges will make contact with the sides of the neck. This might be easier than trying to level the CF rods in the neck. The epoxy will fill the gaps under the fretboard. |
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| Author: | Clinchriver [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
You do not want to touch the CR with your nice sharp plane. 
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| Author: | WudWerkr [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 4:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
MikeyV wrote: An edge sander and a jig??? I'd just go with a plane and maybe a scraper, but that's just me. But seriously, I try to true up my neck blanks before cutting into them, then pick a face for the fingerboard, and don't touch it until you glue the fingerboard on. Planeing carbon fibre ... hmmmmmmm how well does that work btw. |
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| Author: | Rick Davis [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
"Planeing carbon fibre ... hmmmmmmm how well does that work btw." Not well. It chews up scrapers, too. And bandsaw blades also don't like CF. I use a hacksaw to cut off the excess and a long, flat sanding block to level the top of the neck shaft. But burying the CF makes a lot of sense; putting them deep in the neck increases their effectiveness as well as making leveling easier -- as long as you don't expose them when you shape the neck! |
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| Author: | windsurfer [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Cured carbon laminates actually scrape quite nicely - it works better than sanding it because sanding requires a lubricant to prevent the epoxy from clogging the paper. The problem is that the scraper setups you use for scraping wood are different that what you want for Carbon. For Carbon, you want to use fully hardened tool steel with no burr. One easy way to get this is to grind an old plane iron to 90 degrees and use that. Another alternative is to use carbide machining inserts. Since there is no burr, you get dust and not shavings, so good dust protection is needed. Carbon dust is bad for you. -jd |
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| Author: | Mike Lindstrom [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I can tell you that planing CF with a small squirrel-tail plane will shoot CF splinters into your hand. I have a 6x48 belt sander, but it seemed to be exaggerating the crowning. I've been going at it with a narrow block and some sand paper. I'm not sure how I ended up here, but I'm pretty close now. I'll make sure to avoid it in the future. Mike |
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| Author: | MikeyV [ Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Jeeze guys, tough crowd. Of course, I was not suggesting planing Carbon Fiber. |
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| Author: | Mike Lindstrom [ Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:00 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Clay S. wrote: Assuming you are gluing the fret board on with epoxy, a "work around" for this neck would be to slightly hollow out the underside of the fret board where necessary, so the edges will make contact with the sides of the neck. This might be easier than trying to level the CF rods in the neck. The epoxy will fill the gaps under the fretboard. I thought about this, as well as gluing a layer or two of veneer in to then level. tT got me to wondering. Does the soft spot created by installing the truss rod make the center of the fretboard dead? I've not noticed it myself, but could imagine it. I always try to keep my truss rod as shallow as possible so I don't need to worry about it when shaping the neck, but maybe I should put it deeper and cap it with wood to give the fretboard uniform solid support??? Mike |
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| Author: | Corky Long [ Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:14 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
Mike Lindstrom wrote: Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I can tell you that planing CF with a small squirrel-tail plane will shoot CF splinters into your hand. I have a 6x48 belt sander, but it seemed to be exaggerating the crowning. I've been going at it with a narrow block and some sand paper. I'm not sure how I ended up here, but I'm pretty close now. I'll make sure to avoid it in the future. Mike Hmm - that's interesting. Perhaps the carbon fiber is in the middle and the sandpaper is having a tougher time with it than the adjacent wood? Caveat is that I've never built with carbon fiber, so I really don't know. |
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| Author: | Mike Lindstrom [ Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Cracked my fretboard |
On the plus side, I called LMI on Tuesday afternoon and today (Thursday) they had new blanks sitting on my front porch! Thanks LMI!!! Mike |
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