Official Luthiers Forum!

    Switched to Firefox from Safari on my MacBook and want to give these one more try.
















Continued.....

...Here are the final tutorial pics...








   Thanks for looking and sorry for the broad strokes, but this process can be adjusted to suit individual preferences and tooling.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

    It's possible to get good results using a wood lathe and steady rest, but the taper and diameters are important and accuracy is necessary to provide a good fit and solid integration between the pins and the bridge.

   For that reason, a machine lather with cross feed are the best choice.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Thank you Kevin. I have been wondering about this very thing. Turning pins out of woods that match the body binding etc has been a goal of mine and I could not decide what kind of lathe to buy.

I am curious about the specially ground head cutter. Did you do that or did you have it done?

Do you have the model number of that Grizzley lathe?

John

Very nice job Kevin!

Thanks Kevin. I appreciate the time you just invested. Many happy reaps & returns!

Outstanding Kevin...thanks greatly for all the time it takes to put things like this together.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas for you and yours!

_________________
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

My thanks too, Kevin.

And thanks for everything you do here.

I'd like to try that someday, so this is going into my library.

Happy Holidays

_________________
Horton, MI

Thanks, Kevin, very educational.

_________________
now known around here as Pat Foster
_________________
http://www.patfosterguitars.com

That was neat Kevin, thanks.

Nice Tutorial Kevin. It looks like we posted within a day of each other but it's great to see different approaches to the same job.

Now, do you have a pic of the Monarch? (drool?!)

Louis

_________________
- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

Thanks for taking a look to those who have. My intial post attempt seems
to have gotten more looks than this successful one, but this one is a little
more fun to look at than all those funny little question marks.

   I apologize again that it wasn't nearly as detailed as it could have been,
but we could post photos all day long about pretty much anything we do
in our shops.


JohnK,
I just cut those specialty cutters out of high speed steel cutter blanks. I
cut this one just for the tutorial, but i have about a dozen that give me
different crown and collar dimensions and radii.

I also have a one pass cutter that cuts the entire pin from cap to tip in
one operation. I have only use it a few times since it really pulls on the
small diameter piece. Results are good with it, but i've found that I have
to chase the taper to true it up after using it anyway so I just use a
method close to what is pictured here.

That little Grizzly is nice and small. The model number is G8688 7" x
12" Mini Metal Lathe. It's nice and solid and the cross slide and steady
rest are true and fully adjustable as far as gib and nuts go. The turret
post works well, too.

   The only accessories that I'd recommend picking up right away are the
drill chuck with an MT#2 taper for drill on center from the tailstock and a
nice slection of 5/16" HSS cutter blanks and precut cutters.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

For purposes of tool cutting, what clearances are needed for wood cutting tools.  Do they differ from metal cutting angles?  i.e., what is the tip angle to the wood for optimal effect, and how much of an angle on the bottom edge under the cutting edge? 

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Wow, very cool Kevin.
Terry

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

Thanks Kevin.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Nice Kevin. This is something I've been meaning to take up for some time
now, and I'll be sure to bookmark this for reference when I do.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

many thanks Kevin. I appreciate the tips and the lathe info.

John

Excellent Kevin.

Super Tutorial, good enough to hang six steel strings on anytime!

I think Kevin just treated us to another OLF BAR-RAISING.   

I'm beginning to think next we'll see someone making tuners in the next Tutorial.....

_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Great tutorial! thanks a lot. I would like to make some violin pegs and that looks like it would translate.

Louis,
   My Monarch has been in storage since I moved into the shop i'm
currently in. I just don't have the room for it since it does have a big
footprint. It's a 1970 EE 10"X20" Toolmakers Lathe and I had to run a
static convertor to keep it running with the stock motor in my old shop.

   I remember the day that the truck pulled into my Grandfather's machine
shop to deliver it...brand new and coated with more Kosnolene than i'd
ever seen smeared on anyhting. Cleaning machines on the shop floor was
one of my small jobs in his shop, but i also got to remove this messy rust
inhibitor from any new machines that came in. I probably put 3000 hours
on this little beauty while it was in his tool room.

   My Grandfather died just two years later when I was only twelve and his
shop stayed in business with my uncles running (or destroying) it for the
next 6 years or so. When they were closing the shop when i was 20,
knowing how much i loved running that little Monarch, they called to offer
it to me for $2000.00, but my Grandmother made them give it to me for
free since she was still the actual owner of the business.

    I also grabbed three Bridgeport mills, an EDM unit, a Cinncinati Radial
Drill Press and a pair of Hardinge HLV-H model lathes since I had an
empty truck with me and the permission of Grandma to take whatever I
wanted before the new tenants took over the shop building. The Hardinge
pieces were slightly more accurate than the Monarch, but not quite as
heavily built. I added a Sony Magnascale two axis readout to it and am
actually thinking about pulling it off to retrofit it to my little Grizzly.

   Anyway, I still own all of these machines except the Cinncinati drill
press and have stored them for most of the past 15 years, with the
exception of the Bridgeports and the Monarch. I keep a small 1 hp in my
shop and used to keep a #1 and #2 Versi-head out in my old shop. All
have been reworked to run wood or metal and all have at least one axis
covered by some sort of digital readout.

   I'm hoping to move into a much larger shop again in the future, but
with the year long layoff caused by the injury to my shoulder last year, it
will be quite some time. Maybe when it's time for me to be retiring, I'll
finally have the shop I want.

   I don't get down to where they are all stored in New Jersey very often,
but will snap a photo or two next time I do. Once i'm able to pull them
out again, I'll experienced some fond memories of days in Grandpa's shop
as I start to wipe the Kosmolene off of them to fire them up again.

   I like your Hardinge unit and am sure it really works well for you.

Thanks,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

    

Kevin--As an old machinist, I'm drooling over all the machinery you describe even without seeing it. I have a little Grizzly 9X24 bench lathe that I would be lost without. Would love to have digital readouts on it.
Life is way too short to not have every tool possible to enjoy.
Nelson

Nelson,

    You know, it's funny that no matter how many tools or machines we
have, our list of tools and machines that we want never gets shorter.....My
wide comments on this phemomenon every time I set my sights on
getting an addition to my shop or auto machanic tools.

    I still have boxes and boxes of unopened cutters of HSS and Carbide
and all sorts of insert holders and inserts for them in that storage bin
with my machines. A family friend has a huge storage area in New Jersey
and has allowed me to have a 15 ft. X 40 ft. slice of it for years at no
charge or i would have sold all of these machines to save the storage
costs.

    Steel benches, shelves and things were the only pieces remaining in my
Grandpa's shop when the new folks moved in. I was able to grab a few
that I have in my shop to this day. They had stacked tham out by the
street back then with big "FREE" signs on them. I was also able to
confiscate all of the shop measuring tools like outside, inside and depth
micrometers and all of the vernier calipers from 6 inch all the way up to
48 inch. They're all Starrett tools sinc emy Grandfather wasn't buying the
new Mititoyo tools that were flooding the market back in the 70s. He was
old school.

   I don't do much actual machinist work anymore, but still love the
machines and tools from those days. They are treasures that I fear my
sons will never truly apreciate the value of. You never know, though, my
16 year old just finished his first guitar and it is a beautiful piece. He
wants to build behind me.

    If I ever sell any machines I'll be sure to let you know, but at 3000
pounds, even that "little" Monarch EE is a bear to move.

Thanks and regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

I'm jealous of your getting to grow up in a machine shop. When I was in high school, I had the stigma of being labeled as college-bound, which meant that I took all academic electives instead of machine shop. It has handicapped me to this day as I play catch up trying to teach myself machine skills.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I wish I had paid more attention when I was growing up.  I know enough to be dangerous.  I sold my dad's South Bend 9" swiing lathe when I had to clean out the house.  I kept the little Craftsman (Atlas) 6" swing, because he had given it to me, and it is older than I am.  It is a nice little lathe, but is the old style, and not as heavy as some of these newer machines.  I do have a milling attachment for it though, so maybe I can put it to use, if I can ever figure out how to use everything.  I know enough to do basic machining stuff, but not cutting threads, and such.  It has automatic feed, but I can't say I've used that feature either. I need to look at it to see if it will do tapers.  I'm sure it will.  I have just never known how, until now.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Kevin,

Thanks for sharing that wonderful piece of family history with us. My dad's dad was a sculpted and art teacher in his day and while he passed before I reached my teens I do remember spending a summer or two in his studio in southern California learning to do relief carving. Years later my grandmother sent me all his chisels and carving tools, many of which still see use in my shop carving arch plates and such.

I hear what the old timers say about Monarch's over on the PM forum, so I had to ask. The Heavier the better in terms of surface finish, just don't ask me to move it!

Cheers,

Louis

_________________
- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!