Koicaster guitar

[maier54]

Hey Shopbotters,

Here is my first guitar that I routed on my Shopbot. The guitar plays great and I have had pros and really good noodlers play it and they have told me it is a really good axe. My problem is that I have sold my full size PRT and now am wanting to buy a more compact unit since my wife and I will soon be traveling more. I was looking at the Desktop unit and was wanting some feedback on whether this will do the job routing my designs in guitar bodies. I am into detail and thought a SBot with the spindle would be the best setup for me. Or....should I be looking at another model?

Specs on guitar are: poplar wood body, bolt-on Warmoth neck with stainless steel frets, TV Jones Filtertron Classic PUPs, lighter than a Telecaster and sounds more Gretshesque, Fender locking tuners
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/album.php?u=7099

[bleeth]

The only issue with the desktop for this is making sure that the 24" cutting limit will work for you. As long as it does you will get a tighter resolution than you will with any other SB. If you decide to start making your own necks you are out of luck for sure.
BTW: Gorgeous guitar!

[scottp55]

Like Dave said, If you can use the 24" X, then a 120 pound 1 piece unit like the Desktop would be great. We've had Kirks Desktop all this week running at a "Wood Week" 250 miles from his home. He just put's it in his "Maker Crate"(shipping crate Shopbot uses for their trade shows) and uses it as a work surface while he's cutting. He uses the mini-enclosure so people(Kids especially) can get really close. Once he got the Desktop and the Fein DC on separate circuits(15 A breakers where he is set up-and he kept tripping them) no problems. Spindle is the way to go IMHO, but Max does GORGEOUS work with the Desktop and router.
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16979&highlight=mandolins

[Ajcoholic]

I bought some 1/16" ball end mills when I was at the McGrew's camp. I recently did some fine 3D routing and am amazed at the detail my Alpha Buddy BT48 can get.

Just a thought if the Desktop is a little small, the stock 48" by 24" of the Buddy could be the next option...

[kevin]

I know some times its about the money .The guitar looks great you have a handle on the machine
I know its hard to make a living with a shopbot but a desktop I think {not to give advise } will out grow fast
There are full machine the odd one at 10 feet used get a alfa will cost maybe twice and much as a desktop also you could do live edge tables

I'm using my machine to plane 2 inch thick table tops what took me so long it work amazing

[scottp55]

Tom, You said "Since my wife and I will soon be traveling more". Thinking about RV'ing and bringing it with you? I Traveled the country a while back and took my cabachon machine(DiamondPacific"Pixie") with me in a Roadtrek 210 for a year and a half(126,000 miles) and it was one of the best moves I ever made. Desktop not THAT much larger if you are thinking a "real" RV. Even make a little money as other RV'rs pay big money for "custom" stuff.:)

[maier54]

Hey Scott,

I am so glad to hear that you think taking it on the road is not crazy. Yes, my wife and I are both artists and sculptors wanting to take the Desktop on the road with us.

I am already thinking ahead and was wondering if I will have to take the gantry bridge off or do some type of disassembling every time I want to "bounce down the road" though. I thought maybe I will run the risk of damaging the tracks on the machine while getting jostled on some poorly paved roads during our journey.

Thanks for the encouraging info and if you think of any "gotchas" for traveling with the Desktop/Spindle please let us know.

Some of our work can be seen here:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6ctn3yfkoz4NWRJWW9kbW9Va3c&usp=sharing

Thanks,
Tom and Judy Maier

[bleeth]

When the desktop was still new I hosted a camp at my shop in Ft. Lauderdale and Angus brought one down from up North in the trunk of a compact car. We took it out-plugged it in, and it was cutting in minutes.
It is very portable and small enough that no dis-assembly is necessary.
Nice to see the Gator standing out in the middle of all those Dawgs!! LOL

[scottp55]

Tom, Don't think it's crazy at all. Probably have to clamp leg levellers down somehow so it doesn't "walk" on washboard dirt roads and frost heaves. Like Dave said, we just take it out of the crate, double check connections and plugs, and are cutting in minutes. I'd definitely look into Mini-enclosure from Shopbot if you want it to move with the machine, or make a custom enclosure in a dedicated location. Definitely spindle, I think router would drive you out of your gourd in an RV or small trailer. Think about a Dust deputy and a HEPA vac. We use Fein II and for 1/8"BN and 1/8"60vbit the second power setting works quite well and very quiet.

[maier54]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for letting me know that I may be able to travel without breaking down the machine! Most of my guitar designs are no larger than 14" x 20". I am concentrating on the bodies for now and may consider a larger machine in the future if I am going to be routing necks.

We want to do a little traveling and see if there may be somewhere else other than Georgia that we may want to live. My wife and I are 60 and we are ready for some new scenery since we have been stuck where we are at for 20+ years.

Here is a link that shows some of our work:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6ctn3yfkoz4NWRJWW9kbW9Va3c&usp=sharing

If you are looking at the folders in the link we have done several projects that allowed us to incorporate use of a Shopbot. The Bulldog heads were a hybrid project that required slicing layers in the software and then gluing together. We then covered that foam prototype with modeling clay and sculpted more detail and undercuts that XYZ routing can't perform. We then made a silicone mold from that and were able to pour expanding foam filled plastic heads. I then painted them up in acrylic. I am left handed and my wife is right. We can sculpt on the same projects together.

Since my wife is the jeweler, I am hoping that her jewelry hardware can be incorporated in my guitars. The silver frog control knobs on the lily pads are her original design.

I hope I didn't ramble on too much. Thanks again for the Desktop/Spindle info. :)

[maier54]

Thanks for the info Scott. I guess if I have the time a trip to Durham to see the machine in action may be in order.

Thanks again,
Tom and Judy Maier

[scottp55]

Tom, Welcome to stop by if you're ever in the area as I cut Yowah,Black Gate,Koroit, and some Lightning Ridge opal here(as well as anything I get the urge to. Never got into the metal side and would love to pick your wife's brain.
Is your wife going to get to bring along her workbench?:)
Maybe start a thread with title more pertaining to travel with the machine will get more opinions?:)

[scottp55]

Dave, was it you that was cutting mold wax with the "Bot?

[maier54]

Hey Scott,

We will probably make a trip up that way but we have too many chores to handle for the next 6 months to a year before we can get on the road. Yes, my wife will be traveling with her jewelry setup also. We will definitely look you up when we go that way.....hopefully in the not so far off future.

Thanks,
Tom and Judy Maier

[maier54]

Thanks for the info Andrew.:)

[maier54]

Hey Kevin,

Thanks for the info. The Shopbot I had was full size PRT. I may get another big one when and if we decide where to settle down next. For the near future my home will have to be on wheels though.:)

Thanks,
Tom and Judy

[maier54]

Hey Dave,

I have drawn and sculpted the Gator and my wife has made him in silver and gold jewelry. We used to sell our stuff to the Hub bookstore on campus in Gainesville. Since I like anything that crawls with scales (snakes, turtles, lizards, gators and dragons) I had fun working on all of our Albert the Gator projects. Are you planning on doing another Shopbot Bootcamp anytime soon? My wife and I will be going down to Yankeetown, FL to finish up a house and put on the market. We may call Yankeetown our home until we get everything ready for the road and that may take us a year.

I am looking forward to another interesting season in the SEC. Of course, that school up the road from Yankeetown will probably want to try and win it all.....again.:)

[bleeth]

Scott:

I haven't cut wax with it but I believe Bill Y was doing some of that in early demo days.

Tom: Not sure about whether I'll be doing an SB camp again. The last one was at a more northern venue (they should move around occasionally in a state like Florida) and since Bill P was "asked" to retire SB has favored holding them at more educationally oriented venues like Fablabs.

Yankeetown, huh? I used to live in Brooksville for a while a long time ago and loved the area.