Official Luthiers Forum!

I was looking at the Cochran circle cutting jig/base sold by Allied for the Dremel 395. Is the Dremel tool really powerful enough to cut soundholes and rosettes. Not only in the spruce top, but other hardwoods as well that I would use as the rosettes themselves. I don't want to buy another $150.00 router to use the other base they offer, I would rather buy the Micro-Fence in that case and use my P.C. 7310 router.

What bit are you guys using in the Dremel tool for this type of work and where did you get yours.


Thanks,
Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Greg, I've read a lot of people here using Dremel tools for rosettes. They must have better built Dremels than mine because mine has a lot of runout and I wouldn't beging to take it to a spruce top for a rosette (or soundhole in my case)
I use a micro jig with a PC 310 on it. LOVE IT!

Paul, is that a home made jig?

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

No, it's an extremely accurate system. Check it out here

Some use the Black & Decker RTX instead of the Dremel. Better made, more power, and fits the StewMac jig. Martin Guitar sells a fly cutter for less than $20.crowduck38767.8800115741

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

I've used dremel on about sixteen triple rosettes. Using the StewMac base was an improvement, but I won't stop there.

Getting ready to use the dremel on the OLF SJ to install purfling and red heart abalone rosette. The dedicated flycutters are what I intend to try next, mainly because they are inexpensive and use a bushing in the deck to hopefully keep the cutter aligned to great degree.

As you can see, there are many ways to do the very same thing. Collings website or Frank's Frets.com shows their flycutting dedicated setups. Really cool and lends itself to folks with machining skills. Good luck with your selection of method.Bruce Dickey38767.8816782407

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I gave up on dremels and changed to die grinders. Higher speeds , smoother cuts and longer life on bits. also the runout on the cutter on a dremel is often .015 the die grinders are under .005.
   John Hall

I have the SM jig and use it with my dremel. While I usually love everything about SM and their tools, I am just kind of so / so on this one. I use it. It works, but there is a big opportunity for improvement. My primary dislike is the dremel, and secondarily is the lack of a micro adjustment.

I also have a Cochran base for my PC 310 trimmer. I have to say... that thing is da bomb. It is probably the best built tool I own. However.... It is a smidge too big to cut sound holes and make small rosettes with it. I haven't looked seriously at the dremel version of the tool, but I am sure it is great (too bad it uses a dremel).

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

Brock, you might check out the micro fence system. Link in my last post above.

Paul, I thought that Micro-Fence was supposed to come out with a setup especially for luthiers. I looked through their site and don't see it yet. Could you tell us what parts you purchased to set yours up? I have a PC310 that I'd like to dedicate to such a setup. TIA.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

I googled a PC310 and came up with a Canon copier What brand is the PC310,I'm looking for a better solution than my Dremel 420 or something. I was going to try to cut my rosette this week, by the way it sounds, I should wait and a replacement. Clinton

I use a dremel with the Stew Mac attachenet for circle cuting, inlaying and bindings. Power is ok but sometimes I wish I had the Fordham.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

PC-- Porter Cable

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

The only thing that the Micro-Fence system does not do is plunge which the Cochran does well and the SM does okay. Supposedly they are coming out with one but I heard it will be pricey so I may add a cochran to my micro-fence. To use tbe Micro-fence with a PC 7310 you need the basic kit and then the radius jig that reduces the radius down to 2 inches.

Once I was turned onto the micro-fence system by someone on this forum (I think Paul Woolson was the first to mention) I keep a PC 7310 dedicated to it for rosettes. The bars that set the radius have stops you can set so I keep one set for the inside of the rosette and one for the outside of the rosette and it works quickly and very accurate.

Don A, sorry I don't know exactly what the part is. Give them a call and tell them that your looking to make between 4-6" circles, they should know what you need.
crich, PC310 is a Porter Cable laminate trimmer. Not to be confused with other laminate trimmers, this one has guts and precision to spare.
Shawn, you are correct. Plunging would make it perfect. But with a 310 you can loosen the adjustment nut "just a little" and dial it down. I do this at the neck exension area because loosening the nut will cause more runout. when I get the depth I need, I tighten it back up and continue around. But yes, I'd love to have plunge capabilities with it.

So you can use the PC 7310 with the Micro Fence and get down to 2" radius circle? That's perfect, what is the approx. cost of the set-up. And it's just the basic fence and the circle jig add-on? Is there a seperate base for the PC 7310, and is it purchased seperate?

Thanks,Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

I made a custom flywheel cutter. It was cheap, and relatively easy to make.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don, any pictures?

Paul. Ditto what Greg asked. From looking at the pictues, it doesn't look like it goes down to a small enough circle. Do you have to take part of the rails off to get down that small?

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

I made my own aluminum base for the flexshaft of dremel. It does not have the rubber bushings that are appearantly present in the dremel itself. You can see my base version here.

It works very well for me and I can adjust using my digital calipers referenced off the bottom of the base. I cut all of the aluminum on the table saw and bandsaw and smoothed the edges with files and sandpaper, fun to build and works very well!

The rosette in the avitar was put in with this jig.

ShaneShane Neifer38768.5359722222

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Canada

Greg and Scott, I'm pretty sure they make a smaller circle jig. I can't remember what I ordered. Drop them a line and see what they offer. I'm thinking mine was in the $175 range but again, I'm kind of hazy on that too.

I spoke to Micro-Fence today. You can make circles from 1/2" - 12" with a few attachments, cost is approx. $250. That is using, in my case, a P.C. 7310 laminate trimmer. The plunge base is very expensive $500 plus dollars, didn't think I needed it anyway. This makes sense for me so I'm going to go for it.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Greg,
Do you have part #'s for the attachments and circle cutter? THANKS!

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

The micro fence attachment for the PC 310 will work however it sets the
router in the air a 1/4" or so off the top. Probably fine until you try to use
1/16" bits and I believe they will break in a heartbeat. I made a new base for
the PC 310 that accepts the micro jig and keeps the 310 on the ground and
usable with 1/16" bits. I thought I had posted a photo before but I'll try to
find a photo again and post it for everyone. It is the absolute Rolls Royce of
circle cutters for guitars for the reasons Paul spoke of earlier.

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

Here is the photo.

Sylvan38768.7275694444

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com