Official Luthiers Forum!

Hesh,I think the best way for you to go is the vacumn hold-down that Lance posted.That would solve your problem so you could use the binding jig and not have to sell it. Just my 2 pennies worth. I'm going to get one from LMI eventually.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Hesh, you can build a really simple guitar clamp. Check out Kathy M's site. She has a picture of her's. Its really no more than two pony clamps, but instead of using the bottom of the clamp, the pipe screws into the mount on the front of a work bench. Two thin pieces of plywood are lined with cork and span the two pipes to actually hold the guitar body. I'm borrowing a laptop or use I would link the picture.

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Aoibeann

Hesh,
have you tried securing the router to your bench with the cutter/binding
attachment facing up? That way, you have both hands free to hold and
guide the guitar body. Some mount the router horizontally, with the
cutter portion hanging out over the edge of the bench. Either way works
just fine.
Craig S.

I talked to Don Williams and Craig Holden last night. While Craig takes a break working on another project I will be making the williams jig. Once craig gets back to jigging he will take it back. This way you guys will have your jigs you need.
   John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars
   

Way to go, John! I know for a fact the quality will remain. I just ordered the plans, so I'm committed to doing it myself. If anyone has built from these plans I'd be interested to know if any modifications (improvements) were required.

Hesh...check out Sylvan's guitar holder jig in the jigs and techniques section. I believe that this may be what Lillian's referring to. I built one (very simple) and use it all the time.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I guess I don't really understand the problem here. Just putting the guitar on some carpet and pressing down while you route the guitar is plenty good enough to route with this tool. I've seen it done many times in Robbie's class where he just uses a laminate trimmer with an angle base. This to me is a step up from that!

I understand about wanting the guitar to not move at all, but if you try it, I'm sure you will find that the it works very well. With the hand pressing down on the base that is riding on the top of the guitar, and the other hand pushing the bearings against the side, there really is no way for this to move. I've done it 3 times like this, and never had a problem. So that is where I'm lost. But if you either one of you want to get rid of yours, I'll buy it! To me the benefit of not having to use a rabbet bit and bearings offsets this cost many times over. Using a straight downcut or upcut bit is the way to go for this operation in my book. Just my .02, as I run and duck
Tracy

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

[QUOTE=LuthierSupplier] Using a straight downcut or upcut bit is the way to go for this operation in my book. Just my .02, as I run and duck
Tracy [/QUOTE]

This is one of the main reasons I opted for this jig.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I'm not giving it up just yet, but I did try it without the guitar completely clamped down (I clamped it against my bench at the tail end with a caul and some cork. It worked mostly well till I got near the neck end and the body started moving and the jig tipped up so the bottom bearing wasn't contacting the sides... So it looks like my top purfling is going to be b/w/b/w/b instead of b/w/b.

I do think it'll work well once I get a guitar holding fixture in place. I think for the time being I can clamp it in my dish and do one side at a time. That vacuum setup at LMI is awfully tempting, and would be useful for a lot of different things.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] I was just looking at it and I have a question. Will it fit on a 2' X 4' bench? [/QUOTE]

When I was trying to decide which to build, Ribbecke or F/W, I realized that with my limited space F/W would be a problem. I built a Ribbecke, seems to work fine.

Hesh, my simple home made binding jig is based on this jig among others. I feel I have better control of the operation with the jig clamped in a vise, feeding the guitar to the jig than the other way around. Have you tried this method?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

JJ,I've built two of these from the same plans.
One thing I found was that the Lazy susan bearings were a little sloppy. To fix this I center drilled the 12x12plates and ran a countersunk bolt with a bushing and thrust washer then put a lock nut on and set the tension so that it turned smoothly but had no wobble. This way only one side of the LS bearing (also centered)should be secured.
Make sure the surfaces that you mount the drawer slides to are very flat or the slides will bind.
On the parallel-o- gram instead of allowing the side plates to be separate I glued cross blocks between them so that they would stay solidly aligned.
The hardest part for me was making the parallelogram as it needs to be very accurate and drilling parallel and straigt on my sears drill press was a challenge.
I ended up making the whole thing on my table saw using slots with fitted plug strips to capture the cross bolts instead of holes. That worked great and now every thing is near perfect.
BTW I love how it works and I am retiring my Ribbecke style in favor of the F/W. Though I never had a problem using the R style I like the feel of control that I get from the F/W.

Thanks, Keith. I'll save this as a reminder once I begin building the jig.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

For those of you who have built the F/W jig, is there an on-line source for the UHMW donut (or similar profile) that is mounted under the router carriage?

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

Doug,

I think most people build their own donuts from purchased UHMW, Lee Valley has a nice package of that stuff.

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] The jig and a PC 310 are a heafty combo and at least for me two hands are required. [/QUOTE]
You know what? The only people that shouldn't be using two hands on their router or lam. trimmer are those that gave the other one to the saw gods. Sorry to be blunt, but one-handed routing is an accident that WILL happen. Why would anyone take that chance?

BTW, all the routing tutorials that I've read say to never use your hand-held router sidways. Some here seem to be recommending that, and it's very unstable. Especially on a surface that isn't flat--like a guitar.

Sorry, guys--had to say it.

How does one build a UHMW donut? Is a lathe required?

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

     I can make them for those that want them. I have to make them anyway. contact me
john hall

[QUOTE=CarltonM]
BTW, all the routing tutorials that I've read say to never use your hand-held router sidways. Some here seem to be recommending that, and it's very unstable. Especially on a surface that isn't flat--like a guitar.
[/QUOTE]

Carlton, are you referring to my method of clamping the jig in a vise (sidewise), and feeding the instrument to the tool? How is it dangerous?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] What is UHMW?

Carlton thanks for the very wise warning! [/QUOTE]

Ultra High Material Weight Plastic

You can get it at a plastics supplier or Woodcraft sells bags of cut offs for about $10

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

[QUOTE=dmills] For those of you who have built the F/W jig, is there an on-line source for the UHMW donut (or similar profile) that is mounted under the router carriage? [/QUOTE]

McMaster Carr sells plastic flanges those will work (particularly on a flat top). I think Don William mentioned this once.

I bought 3 of them. They are nice, but I wish the lip on the top of the flange was a little thicker.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

[QUOTE=Arnt] Carlton, are you referring to my method of clamping the jig in a vise (sidewise), and feeding the instrument to the tool? [/QUOTE]
No, only if the router is hand-held. There are horizontal router tables, too, but there again, the router is secured, as in your jig.