...not sure this warrants a tutorial, but I was making some so I thought I'd record it.
I did a kitplane airframe some years ago & was left with a bunch of used #30 twist drills.
I kept the best for drilling into the fingerboard edge.
The rest I dipped in a drop of CA & glued to shards of MOP left over from my peghead logo cutout.
Attachment:
dots1.jpg
Against the drumsander in the drillpress, I spin the bit in my fingers to rough it down (watch the gap).
You're aiming for close (about .020" oversized) and approx. round, so it doesn't spin like a square wheel during the next step.
Attachment:
dots2.jpg
This show a bunch rough sanded.... the middle one is stil too big.
Attachment:
dot3.jpg
I shape to final dia. by chucking in the drillpress & using a sanding block to lightly reduce to bit size.
I like to finish by tapering 2 or 3 thou. to ease installation.
Attachment:
dots4.jpg
Pop 'em off & you're done. The green dots indicate the larger dia. surface.
Attachment:
dots5.jpg
With enough bits, you can make a guitars worth in under an hour..... not a "production" rate but ok for me.
If you get a hoot out building everything when you build a guitar
(or have a beautiful material you think would look great as side dots) give it a try.
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