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Has anyone seen plans or even a picture of such a thing?

No plans, but here's how one notable did it.

My own view? If you think you need it motorised, you're doing something wrong!

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Not sure you'll find plans, but searching will yield pics of various approaches. Here's my knock down arrangement for a flat disk (which I use to flatten the back before carving). The motor is normally a buffer for ebony, that resides under my tablesaw... the drive wheel is a hockey puck.

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Dave
Milton, ON

I have a coupld of old motors off of pottery wheels. They run at 60rpm. I attach a pully to the bottom of the dish with screws and then attach the pulley to the motor- so it is a direct drive system. Works great. I don't think I would want it to be much faster than 60rpm. Maybe that's just me.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
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Nice canadian touch, Dave!

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

These pictures are exactly what I was hoping for!

Thanks, Guys

Manual motor

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Nope.. not doing anything wrong.. I just really like making tools!

Thanks for the link

That's brilliant!

Thanks

One of my students is also building a guitar with another luthier out west .. she travels alot !!!! His motorized disk runs off his drill press .... he has a long piece of plywood with a lazy susan on it, upon which the sading dish sits. The drive is the drill press with a small sanding drum in it, rubbing against the side of the dish ... works great she says.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Trevor, I never "need" a beer, but when I get it I enjoy it! In the case of a motorized rim sander, my shoulders and arms are the one that enjoy it the most (or rather "will" enjoy it as soon as I take the time to make one...).


Greg Nelson (www.nelsonsguitars.com) had a video of that exact same setting. It was somewhere on the web but I can't find it anymore. Maybe it took it off.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Indeed. I've had a helper for about two and a half months now, and one of the first things he said was 'You want me to what? Really? Why is this not motorized?'...
Helpers...

I know, right..?

FWIW, using one for the more typical dressing the edges of a side assembly for example, I'd probably prefer that it was NOT powered ... more control. But for flattening backs, I need power.

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Dave
Milton, ON

I'm thinking about building one vertically. I could bolt it to the wall at lower chest height. I think that would give me the best control and I wouldn't loose valuable counter space.

Thoughts?

From what I remember, that's how I saw somogyi does it. Has has a picture of it in his books. I almost want to do that with mine.

I have three dishes, a flat one and two curved, each for back and top. It is connected to an electronic speed control and can turn from 0 to 60 turns per minute, the Motor is way overpowered, but better too much then too less. It has 3kw 3phase with a gearing down from 2800 turns to 60 turns which gives a torque from about 400 N/m...one of my buisiest machines for sure...

Now that's the way, if space is no problem & you really want to gear up & have your work stations ready when needed. Be nice, but can't.
Michael, off the top I think the engineering (ie large stresses on a horizontal cantilevered shaft) would be a huge problem and not worth the aggravation over a knock down tabletop version. The dishes are heavy. If, on the other hand, you mean to mount a stationary disk to the wall to use manually as needed, seems very sensible to me.

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Dave
Milton, ON

What else would a Canuck use.......................!!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

here is mine.

What is that motor assembly from? One of those would make my wall mounted idea too easy!

Well, I scribe around the rims of the guitar using a pencil and rider on the dish, plane to the line (block plane or spoke shave) clip in the linings, dress flush with a plane, putting a bit of bevel angle on, then dress with the sanding dish. The "dishing" part takes about as long as the YouTube vid with the manual winding handle. So, at most about 2 minutes of sanding per guitar. To beat that time I'd have to have a permanently set-up arrangement, which I don't have room for. If I had a permanent set-up, one unit, I'd have a dish change to do every guitar, because the tops and backs are different radii. Chances are the dish change would take longer than the manual sanding.

That's for "flat tops". Can't say for arch tops/backs, but likely makes more sense if that type of shaping is part of your modus operandi.

However, if you like building tools...

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I also scribe for a one-off. If it's a standard model, I make a pattern of the side and pre-cut before bending. Saves me a bunch of time.

and I do love to make tools!!

Michael

Trevor, I'm not convinced who's method is the more efficient. By the time you start planing, I'd be done with it if I had a motorised dish sander. Currently, it takes me about 5 to 10 minutes when sanding by hands (mostly because of my hefty neck blocks). Probably 2 to 3 minutes would be sufficient if it were motorised. (I do profile the sides prior to bending, which helps a lot).

Oh, and I lied a bit about never needing a beer. Once my mother in law spent the week at our place...

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Ill get a better shot of it when I get home. It's just a low speed motor with a 90 deg on it. I should mount it to the wall.