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Learning to use my 6040 cnc , and always wanted a handheld jig for cutting channel so borrowing several ideas I came up with this...

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MK5acoustics.com

Nicely done!
Should maybe have a handle/grip built into the "bit plastic holding the bearings which line up on the sides" whatistsname?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

thought about a handle but , easy to grab like it is , and the smaller the better IMO

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MK5acoustics.com

Pretty slick...

I like the measurement markers, makes it pretty simple to get accurate channels.

I just made one very similar but didn't have the CNC machine so I made it out of expanded PVC. I omitted the bearings on mine since I didn't think they were really needed because the PVC is pretty slick and will slide along wood really well.

You may want to consider putting a grip of some sort on the front so you have something to hold on to when using it.

Something like this. It gives you a bit more control when cutting the channels.



Cheers,
Bob

that handle is a good idea

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MK5acoustics.com

Wes,
that fine adjustment looks like it should work great. The CNC must be a fun addition to play with.

Slick! The bearing spacing almost looks a little wide for an archtop but I'm guessing it's OK. Let us know how it works.

One question, with this approach say you rout your channels and install the binding on one side doesn't the tape prevent you from doing the other side at the same sitting?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

The cnc has been "challenging" to say the least. but has been a fun learning experience..I have used a couple of different binding channel cutters , using a sled to level the body. and another that was table mounted and it always seemed to be such a pain to get things trued up...and after routing off a top I realized I could get just as close using a trimmer with a bearing guided bit...which is another pain, changing out bearings trying to get close to the proper depth of cut , so this type of jig seemed to be a no brainer , truing to the rims with a infinitely adjustable depth plus I always like to take shallow cuts to start with to avoid tearout ..

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MK5acoustics.com

Wes,

One thing I noticed looking back over your jig. I see you put the angle on the front underside of the base plate but I don't see that it is angled from side to side. It may not make any difference on a large body guitar but on a small body like a parlor you will need a slight angle on the sides to accommodate the radius at the waist since the radius gets sharper in that area. If you look at the pic I posted of mine I had to put that side to side angle after I checked it on my parlor that I am working on. I found that with the small waist the bit would not fully cut the channel until I put that angle on the base.

As I said, I don't think it will make much difference on a larger body so this point may be mute.

Just thought I would point that out.

I would still love to see some shots of your CNC machine. Are you able to carve a neck on it? If so I can imagine it would be a real time saver there as well as for a slotted headstock.

Lucky guy...

Bob