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I did a search but couldn't come up with a post on Go-Bar deck design. I did fin the tutorial showing Ron Wisdom's mobile go-bar deck.

I'm designing mine now. I bought 3/4" galvanized pipe to use at the corners and pipe flange at the bottom. I was surprised how expensive it was. Would sure like to see your designs before I start building. What do you like about yours and what would you do differently?

I noticed on Ron's mobile deck it appears he has (2) 3/4" plywood pieces on top and bottom of the deck. Is (1) 3/4" piece of plywood not strong enough? Never thought it wouldn't be till I seen Ron's deck.

Pics of your deck would be great!

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

What would I do differently? I DID it...ditched the iron pipe after a few builds and swapped in 1" pvc; plenty stiff enough. Also, to fight that flexing, install a 3" wide ply frame. on edge, set about 2" back from the edge of the bottom. You could do the same to the top, but I find that I can live with only the top plate flexing.

My shop is very small, and the go-deck lives hanging on the wall.

Dan

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Dan
http://www.acme-archtops.com

I just use bottom of my work bench. Your leg hurt from bending down for awhile but my knees are only 31 years young and I feel I can utilized this method for few more years or until I can get a work shop of my own.

Mine is built with 3/4" conduit as well but instead of flanges for the corners, I made little wooden corner blocks with a 3/4" hole and ran threaded rod through the centers of each pipe and threw a nut & washer on each end. You can crank those things down pretty darn tight and then there's no flex or movement or nothing. Funny thing is that now that I think about it, I just assumed that was the way to do it. I guess engineering school is good for something after all.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

I used 36 inch long 1/2"-13 allthread from ACE for the corner supports. This makes it adjustable.I have nuts and washers top and bottom of each platform. Double thickness 3/4" plywood for top and bottom platforms. I also made "feet" of plywood squares under the bottom to give clearance for the allthread below the bottom platform. The go-bars are from LMI. They give price break at 24pcs and I use them all.
Hope this helps.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

I use one sheet of 3/4 ply and an X brace of 2x3, and threadrod. Works great, but square the 2x3's real good, and make sure you have room to rotate a mold in the dish. (about same as above exept x braced)!

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

I've read 5-8 lb of pressure per go-bar is about ideal. If you used 24 at onece, that is 240 lb of pressure at 10lb per go-bar. Considerable, but it seems a single piece of 3/4" plywood should suffice to hold the weight......but wil it flex or bow and cause a problem?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Sky, consider using Stephan's (or similar) system with the top of your bench drilled for the posts. I'm taking my knees to the hospital Thursday and leaving them there - double replacement.

Dan

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Dan
http://www.acme-archtops.com

I have had no problems with at all with my design. I was worried that two sheets of ply might not be enough. You could make the deck with one sheet top and bottom and test it. It is easy enough to add more ply later with glue and screws if needed.

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http://www.booneguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-Boone-guitar-builder/488208541257210

my deck is exactly like mr boones save for the use of MDF instead of plywood. the ability to adjust the height is key. this allows you to glue braces to plates and also plates to rims. i have a small indoor shop where i do most of my non-dust producing work and the go bar deck easily breaks down to slide under a cabinet when not in use, saving on space. do yourself a favor and get your money back for the pipe and use all-thread instead.

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sweat the small stuff.

Go to Stewmac. They show planes. I did my first like this, but used 5/8" rod to beef it up and no support tube like Steve. I just made two permanent desks in my new place that are inverted. Basically take that neck (2 piece lam bottom instead of two) and screw it to your rafters, assuming your in a basement. Use your bench as the bottom. This gets the stupid rods out of the way. There always in the way when cleaning squeeze out.

I used 3/4 ply, 5/16 all-thread and I bought some sprinkler risers. For me it was a "what can I fit in my trunk?" decision. I had forgotten that I already had some electrical conduit here or I would have used that. I can't imagine that the amount of flex you would get with one 3/4 sheet would create a problem. I mean, unless all 24 of the go-bars are smack in the middle of the deck, the force will be dispersed all over it. Even so, how much is it going to deflect? On the bottom I have the radius dish, so in essence it's already thicker than 3/4. I use 24" 3/16" fiberglass rods. I also bought little rubber caps to cap off the allthread so I don't scratch the guitar as store it on top of the deck. I've also put some pipe insulation around the edges to I dont ding the top. (Not the top of the guitar, the top of my bald head)

Just recently I've put wheels on my homebuilt dust filtration unit and the deck sits on that, so I now have 360 degree access to the parts that I'm working on.

Darrin.

I've only built 3 instruments and this is my first acoustic build so my GoBar deck experience is limited. I also use doubled-up 3/4" ply for the top and bottom. At the moment it is at a fixed 24" height but I've learned that adjustable height will allow you to use one size of GoBars for everything and you can also tilt the top for glueing tops and backs. As a result I'm modifying mine to use some 5/8"-11 threaded rod so I can set it to whatever height I want, up to about 32". I'll put some plastic tubing over the bottom part of the threaded rod to protect my guitar parts (and knuckles) from dings. I have my GoBar deck on a 20"x20"x34" shop-made cart with casters so I can spin it around for easy access while glueing and cleaning squeeze out.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Regarding flex- you would think that one layer of 3/4" plywood would be enough, but it really is not. There is nothing more annoying than setting all of your go bars in, and then having most of them fall down because that last one you put in flexed the top up enough to loosen the rest. Overbuild it, or be sorry.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Here's my go-bar deck and OLFer Dean gave me the idea to use a television swivel/slide which worked really well. In my last shop I needed to put the go-bar deck in a corner which made it hard for me to use when cleaning up squeeze-out. With the slide this deck rotates 360 degrees and has a small spot light in it too.







Two layers of 3/4" ply seem to work well. Also, the 1/2 threaded rod that I used was $11.00 each.... at HD and $4.95 each at my local mom & pop hardware store......... Of course I found it at the local hardware store after buying it from HD....

My workshop is space-limited, so I built my Go-bar deck to double as overhead storage:

Glenn

Mine's exactly the same as Stephen's but I used what I had for the top and bottom. The bottom is an offcut of a kitchen worktop, 1 1/2" thick particle board faced with Formica. The top is 1 1/8" particle board also meant for worktops. Bars are 3/8" x 1/4" pine. I made it a couple of weeks ago for my current project. Yesterday I glued the back onto the sides. When I had nearly all the bars in place, some of the first ones started falling out. The 1 1/8" top was flexing under the force of my wussy 3/8 x 1/4 go-bars. (OK I did use about 40 of them, which I see now was probably overkill). I probably should have adjusted the deck for a bit more flex in the bars too.

I switched to the ceiling attached kind, no poles in the way and it is high enough so I don't bump my head anymore. Gobars are quartersawn oak with a curved end capped with gasket cork material.

Mine's a knock down. I used PVC pipe, 5/16 th threaded rod. The wood ends are held on with lock nuts, and washers in counter bored holes, and the thing is just held together with wing nuts and fender washers. The rods are pushing at about 8 lbs each. No bow. The only way you should have a bow issue is if you do not spread the load at the top. This is BORG plywood, not the good stuff.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I don't like things getting in the way when I work, so my deck has no uprights, but is attached to strong angle iron brackets rawl-bolted to the wall. And, oh yes two thicknesses of 3/4" ply for the top does make a difference.



Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Here's a few more ideas for your Go-Bar Deck. It is one of my favorite tools, and I first learned about it here on the forum. I can glue an entire back and most of the bracing for a top in one procedure, and I really can't imagine how I glued braces before I got it.

My Go-Bar Deck was going to stay up in my shop, so I decided to trim the sides and stain and finish all the wooden parts. I also bought the kit from Stew-Mac rather than shop for the individual parts, and I purchased a 20' and a 28' radius dish from them. I bought the big sanding disks from John Hall at Blues Creek.

I put four sheets of 3/4" plywood on the bottom and two on the top per the directions. I decided to trim the top and bottom edges with 3/4" pine to hide all the laminations, and the finish I used was Golden Pecan Min-wax polyurethane with the stain already in it. (Not a bad product but it runs like crazy) John Hall recommended putting polyurethane on the sanding dishes, as well, to ease removal of the sandpaper disk whenever needed...so I did that too.

I also made an 18" square frame(shown) out of 2"x6" lumber as a riser. and a couple of 1"x3" strips (shown) to raise the sanding dish slightly higher when glueing on thin braces. They are cut to fit inside the 18" frame when not in use.

One last thing...I saved the glossy backer off the sanding disk and I lay it over the sandpaper when glueing braces to protect a top or back. I also marked the back bracing plan on it, since when I glue on the bracing on the back plate, I can no longer see the pencil lines on the Rosewood. The brace location lines extending beyond the back plate insures that I'll get the braces in the right place.

P.S. You may also wish to buy one of those TV lazy susans that Hesh was talking about. I can't get behind mine currently, and he's right...trying to clean off the excess glue from the back side of the deck with all the bars in place is a real pain. That'll be one of my next purchases.

Good luck building yours. You're going to love it.

Ken Grunst

Mine is just like Colin's - but with a single layer of 3/4" ply, and a whole load of stuff stored on top to keep it from moving under Go-Bar pressure...

The bottom platform is the old kitchen table.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

Thanks for the ideas and pics!

I'm going to make a mobile go bar deck. I have a nice 24'x30' shop out back.......but it has no insulation and no heat or air. No way to control humidity out there so it looks like I will need to store my wood parts inside the house. I'm thinking of using the garage for glue-up to keep the smell and mess out of the house. After the wood has set for an hour or so, I will roll the go-bar deck inside the house. Will probably have storage on the bottom for the rest of the guitar wood so everything is in one place.

I've considered making the base larger than the top portion so I could use it as a work surface when the top go-bar deck is removed.

Thanks again for the ideas. I would never have guessed that plywood 3/4" thick wouldn't suffice.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Im a bit surprised not to see a deck with a 1/2" topdeck and elaborate bracing

Waddy, are your go-bars spring loaded? Would you describe them, please?

Thanks

Dan

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Dan
http://www.acme-archtops.com