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@kencierp,



It doesn't show in the picture I posted but the base has a radius up to about 1" from the bit. I just finished a parlor with a 15' radius on the back and my binding fit pretty square with no gaps.

Here I think these shows it better:

Bob

If anyone is interested in checking out this material it works great for jigs and is pretty tough stuff. It can be sanded smooth and glued with CA. In a stress test it will break the plastic before the joint and because it is expanded it is pretty light weight and very strong.
I have no affiliation with the company but it is great stuff especially for mock ups and working jigs. It can be worked just like wood but it can also be bent with heat as well.

http://tri-dee.com/sintra_plastic_pvc.htm

Thanks Rus -- that makes more sense. You did a good job -- that's a fairly complicated base surface, good for you!

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Thanks Ken,

I see you have a lot of jigs and fixtures on your site. You really should have a look at Sintra, It is pretty amazing material. What I like about it is it has very little friction and slides across other materials quite smoothly and when you put 2 pieces of it together such as on my jig where the adjustable depth piece is it almost acts as though they have bearings or have been lubed. Very low friction. As for that complex shape on the underside, it was really easy to do with a rasp to cut it down and sandpaper to smooth it off.

I think you would like how it works, and it comes in colors. (Geesh! I sound like a salesman...)

Cheers,
Bob

Nothing wrong with getting excited about a product you really like. Of course part of the popularity of our products is due to the fact that they are accurate, durable and maybe most importantly cost effective. Thanks for the suggestion, it does seem like a nice material -- maybe not consistence with our pricing window? And I do have a concern regarding waste material, safety with our CNC machines (fire hazard) and of course a different line of tool bits may be required -- but as time permits I will take a look at the possibilities, thanks again.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I think you're talking about this one?



I have the older non-adjustable version, and used it on my early projects. It works pretty well, but it hasn't been sold by Stewmac for years. Look up Siminoff binding attachment and you'll find it. Does only .060 or .090" binding ledges. Works best with a basic #115 cutter bit. The current stewmac attachment looks suspect to me. I wouldn't use it. There's no way to get positive registration, and the adjuster looks like it would slip/creep.

Regardless, this tool won't work for purflings unless it's a simple .030" line.

I have the stewmac dremel router base and binding attachment, but I've never used it for bindings, only inlay. Laminate trimmer + bearing bits is much easier, faster and more foolproof.

A local builder asked me to update the binding tool they had been using for the last 25 years. They had been having a lot of inaccuracy in the size of the channel due to misalignment. For a small builder, no problem, but when you are making 15 guitars a week with several employees a crappy binding channel leads to a lot of scrap, and delays in deliveries. The tool is made to be mounted on the wall of a box with the router sitting inside and the plate mounted on the outside. They have been using the first fixture for the last couple of months. This is the 2nd I am getting ready to take over to them with secondary cartridges to cut the purfling channels on the top and back. The cartridges locate on dowel pins and screw down. The wheels are made to size and pressed onto high quality bearings. Shop foreman informed me that it took 2 minutes to cut the top ledge, only because they went around 2x.

I am getting ready to switch over to this from the tower and cradle I have been using for the last 8 years. Admittedly not for everyone but should last my lifetime and somebody else' too.

I have this little thing in the pic from StewMac. I tried it on a piece of scrap and put it away, never used it again. The slightest tilt in/out/back/forward and oooops, oh no!

That's really cool, Tim! I'd love to see a video of it in operation!
Any way to make it adjustable with a slider?

And, Glen H, that's exactly my feeling! Very dodgy.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. This "improvement" makes no sense. The old one actually worked pretty well. I got it originally cuz I was making an arch backed contraption with some serious recurve, and there's no way a router would have worked.

Here's the old one. You can see how it can be held tight against the sides. Kathy Matsushita posted this picture a few months back.


I agree it wouldn't be great if you were making 15 guitars a week...

Here's the Gene Larrivee version of variable bearing design -- I like yours -- very cool

http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com/pr ... inding-jig

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Any way to make it adjustable with a slider

There is no adjustable slider. Maybe I'm not clear on your question though.
I made this for a Company that makes way more guitars than I. At my speed, which is the speed of a slug racing to the millennium, I should be binding sometime around Independence Day. I plan on doing a video then. I would feel much better about doing that in my shop on my guitar than interfering in their operation. If I can get decent pictures I will try to post them then.

Thanks Ken. What these guys were using before is similar to the one shown in your link, although locally made. They have had 3 of them in use, 1 for each size, for the last 25years. There are some similarities. I have been using my custom bearings on my binding cutter for the last 8 years and that concentricity it is what was important to me. In that respect I would say it is more similar to the one that Hesh shows. The cartridges that I show in the pictures will go on different plates and be dedicated to the 2 different sizes of purfling and the 1size of binding they use. They can be switched over fairly quickly which us what I will do making 1guitar at a time. Hope that makes sense.

Tim

No worries, Tim, I understand why you'd rather not bother them for a vid.

By slider, I meant something like this...



... which is my horrifically ugly attempt at one of Ken's binding machines. It eliminates the need for any bearings or other accessories. When I saw your pic, I wondered if it might be a nice alteration to mount a variation of Ken's design on a "wall" in the way you do yours.

Nick, No no slider.
My objective was, using the sides as a reference, make sure the cutter makes the same depth of cut regardless of how or from which direction it is fed from. With your slider the depth of the cut would change as you change the feed angle. In other words your maximum depth would be at 90 degrees to the cutter and progressively decrease if you were to move the box off that angle. Try cutting a piece of wood straight on, another cut at 45 and another at 30. You should have different depths. That is what I meant by the concentricity being the most important thing to me and is also the problem I was trying to correct.

Tim

I get it now! Very neat! I have had to make a few extra passes to make sure I was holding it at 90 degrees everywhere and cutting the full depth. Great design, Tim!