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Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?
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Author:  Pmaj7 [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 12:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

I'm thinking to make a multi-radi horizontal sliding thing for the sander with changeable "holsters" with vacuum for each size block. Am I over thinking this? It doesn't take too long to do freehand, but ya-know....

Author:  J De Rocher [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 2:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

I've seen a couple nice designs of jigs for that task. I think a couple of them can be found on this forum. I've not bothered though because freehanding it on the belt sander is so fast and works fine.

Author:  kencierp [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Yes we have both -- fashioned the contours with Bondo attached adhesive backed abrasive, very simple works great. We actually make our J185 and J200 tail blocks on our CNC machines --- stacked laminated glue ups.

Author:  Colin North [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 2:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Mine's a bit clumsy but works- T shaped board clamped to the linisher (belt sander) table, swinging arm with a bolt locating various radius points.
Vertical plate on the end off the swinging arm gets required block screwed to it.
Start linisher, swing arm with block.
But sometimes I just mark the radius from the mold on it, use a block plane and finesse it in the mold with abrasive, less hassle than setting it up if it's just one at a time.

Author:  Pmaj7 [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 2:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

kencierp wrote:
Yes we have both -- fashioned the contours with Bondo attached adhesive backed abrasive, very simple works great. We actually make our J185 and J200 tail blocks on our CNC machines --- stacked laminated glue ups.

Ken, are you talking about a sanding block like a fret board sanding block?

Colin North wrote:
Mine's a bit clumsy but works- T shaped board clamped to the linisher (belt sander) table, swinging arm with a bolt locating various radius points.
Vertical plate on the end off the swinging arm gets required block screwed to it.
Start linisher, swing arm with block.
But sometimes I just mark the radius from the mold on it, use a block plane and finesse it in the mold with abrasive, less hassle than setting it up if it's just one at a time.

Screws?! But that would be so much easier than rigging up a vacuum setup! err...why didn't i think of that?!

I just found this where TK uses a pattern sander setup. Hmm....less space! viewtopic.php?f=10101&p=274515#p274515

Author:  Terence Kennedy [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 3:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Timely thread. I just revised mine so I can radius a headblock with the fretboard suport attached. I also put a spline down the center to keep the two pieces aligned.

Clamping setup works but is not elegant. Vacuum would be ideal.

The jig seems to work fine as did it's predecessor.

Image

Image

Image

Author:  kencierp [ Wed Dec 09, 2015 4:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Quote:
Ken, are you talking about a sanding block like a fret board sanding block?


Yep -- upside down with rails, not in the shop now but I can take and post a picture if you'd like

Author:  Pmaj7 [ Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Terence Kennedy wrote:
Timely thread. I just revised mine so I can radius a headblock with the fretboard suport attached. I also put a spline down the center to keep the two pieces aligned.

Nice upgrade!

I am leaning toward the pattern fence on the sander because it's smaller. Plus I'm sure I could come up with a few other ways to use that. Just have to make a new bottom plate for every radius.

Author:  kencierp [ Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Here's our Martin block contouring station (tail and neck) -- pretty simple. I use Bondo to form the contours. I count strokes and change the edge in an effort to keep them symmetrical -- about a minute or so. I make the more rounded tail block on the CNC machines.

Image

Image

Author:  kencierp [ Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Just curious -- how did the expression "head block" become synonymous with "neck block" and "heel block" the latter two in my view being self explanatory?

Author:  J De Rocher [ Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

As opposed to tail block, I suppose.

Author:  kencierp [ Thu Dec 10, 2015 11:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Quote:
As opposed to tail block, I suppose.


That makes sense --- but again, the term I learned was "end block"

Author:  Pmaj7 [ Thu Dec 10, 2015 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

I make up my own terms sometimes!

Author:  J De Rocher [ Sat Dec 12, 2015 3:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

kencierp wrote:
Quote:
As opposed to tail block, I suppose.


That makes sense --- but again, the term I learned was "end block"


You got me wondering about this because the origins of terms interest me. It turns out I got tail block from Sloane's book on classical guitar construction and head block from Cumpiano's book, which also uses the term tail block.

Author:  Joe Beaver [ Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Ok, I can see radiusing an end block, which I free hand on a belt sander. I can see where the jig would be a step up, But I always thought a neck block should be flat were the neck meets the sides. Am I wrong? (again)

Author:  J De Rocher [ Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

The neck block doesn't have to be flat in the neck/body joint. It depends on the design of the body shape. The curvature of the upper bout sides can be continued through the neck joint, although that's certainly not the case for most guitars.

Author:  GregG [ Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone made a head/tail block radius jig?

Joe Beaver wrote:
Ok, I can see radiusing an end block, which I free hand on a belt sander. I can see where the jig would be a step up, But I always thought a neck block should be flat were the neck meets the sides. Am I wrong? (again)


My SJ has a radiused neck & tail block, I was reminded of this today as I free-handed them on the drum sander. I have built jigs for everything else, probably time to make one for this operation as well.

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