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It's a good Jig. I like it. I have the regular pull saw, not the Japanese one. Has anyone noticed how the brass saw spine tends to get shaved by the bearings? I always see little brass shavings in the saw dust. Anyone else notice this? Seems to me this means over time my saw cut deeper. Is this an issue? Or is it so slow I'll never need worry about it?

I noticed the same shavings. I'm it sure about the depth of cut but seems like it wouldn't be enough to matter. I switched to the table saw method though. I'm lazy.


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I have the Japanese saw, so I don't have that issue. But aren't the heights of the bearings adjustable? Is it possible to adjust it so the bearings aren't contacting the spine?

Uh..., I think contacting the spine is the point. Right?

Why is the Japanese saw better in this case?

I'm ordering the Jap saw just to see. But with materials that contact each other under force and friction, the softer one loses. Clearly, the bearings are harder. Still, losing metal on spine means depth of cut is changing

Is the Japan saw that much better? Is the blade edge flat or tapered? If tapered, not want to deal with that setup

I have the older version of this miter box, the one where there are brass blocks instead of bearings. If we assume the depth of cut is changing a little over time because of the grinding of the saw's spline against the depth stops (bearings in your case, brass blocks in mine), it will happen slowly enough for you to keep on top of it. Probably nothing to worry about other than to check the depth before cutting each fingerboard.

I am switching to the table saw method, because the adjustment of the brass blocks on mine is a hassle, and I found a slightly used Stew Mac table saw blade for a decent price. I want to incorporate the table saw blade into some other operations anyway (custom purfling strip work), so I might as well cut fret slots with it and save some elbow grease.

Amen to that, changed recently to table saw slotting.

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Is it? I don't know if that saw setup is different than mine, or if I'm just doing it wrong. But the spine on my saw never comes into contact with the bearings




I too plan on switching to a tablesaw in the foreseeable future.

How do you regulate depth of cut?

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Pat

Fixed the second picture. It has an acrylic depth stop, I set the bottom of the teeth to the bottom of that. Once it gets to that depth the saw won't cut any lower.

Wow, item 5319 on SM. Didn't know that existed. Mike, that might be a cheap solution for your concern about the shavings!


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I'm massively confused. What is that? It didn't come my Jig. Also, video clearly talks about spine interaction with bearings.

I'm sorry, but that second picture is a mystery to me.

I'm switching too (to table saw) as soon as I understand template indexing.

Mike--

There is an accessory for your Stew Mac fret saw. It is a depth stop that screws to the saw itself, through those extra holes in the saw blade. Just go to the Stew Mac site, go to the page for your saw, and you will see it. The brass knurled nut you see in that second photo above is one of two that hold the depth stop to the saw.

I think what is going on in the second photo is that the bearings have been separated enough to allow for the extra width that the saw blade takes up with the depth stop attached to the saw. So, rather than pinching the saw blade, the bearings pinch the saw blade plus the depth stop.

I have to assume that the cutting travel on the saw is limited by the presence of the brass knurled nuts. So, you would have to limit the cutting action to just an inch or two of back and forth travel, instead of using the whole saw length.

That's what I was thinking too. Can't imagine only using that much of the stroke. Although I have the Western saw and people say the Japanese one is faster.

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Pat

doncaparker - That's pretty much it in a nutshell.



You do lose some stroke, It's not too bad honestly. Just a few seconds per fret. Though when I was cutting up some Cocobolo the other day, and the heat build up was causing a problem, I had to clear the blade after each stroke.

You could glue some wood on both sides of the blade just under the spine to stop the spine from wearing if you don't use the stop until you get the tablesaw set up.

Limiting to a 1"-2" stroke will wear the blade out much faster. Maybe put a couple of thin coats of epoxy on the brass spline.

Alex

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Never saw it before. Not in any videos. Etc. And as far as I can tell, it is not available. Even if it was, don't think I'd use it. Bearings are a positive stop. No slip. Going to switch to the table saw blade on next batch. Jig and saw for sale!! (and only because my arm is tired)

Edit: Appologies. I do see the plexi device.

The plexi-stop is great. I use mine every build as a final cut/check.

I cut my slots with the same radius as the board to leave as much beef as possible. And not too deep. I use the older LMI fret slot miter box which allows you to cut at a radius. Then at the end, right before fretting (or binding), I do a couple quick strokes with the blade and plexi-stop to confirm target depth.

There has been an argument that it's just as strong with a void under the middle of the fret because of the location of the void, but I cant help but to think that more material under the fret is better.

I used to do this before I discovered the LMI jig's ability by just starting with my target depth on the flat board, then after radiusing hitting it with the saw and plexi-stop. Much more work (and chance for error) but doable.

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Pat

Well, I bought one. Not sure I will dive deep with it. Still believe I'm going with table saw approach. How do indexed templates work with that?

I made a sled with a pin that is just a nail head. Then you set up the fretboard as usual jointing one edge and squaring one end. Then raise the blade in the saw and butt the square end against the blade. Put double sided tape on the board and notch the first slot of the template onto the pin pressing it down onto the fretboard and tape. Now your set to saw moving the template up after each cut. Is that what your asking?


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Here is a pic of mine if it helps. The sled can be any crosscut sled. The pin location isn't critical but should be placed an inch or so left of the blade and at the right height so that a typical fretboard thickness plus the thickness of the template aligns with the pin. Then just bounce the setup from one notch to the next as you cut.




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Doing it.

I do that as well. Which I guess means I could not use it when using the box, and just go down to a mark. But I'll cut them flat and square. After I radius the board, and am installing frets, I'll go back over them with just the fret saw and the depth attachment.

I would do that second step even if I had a tablesaw set up to cut the original slots. If I was binding the fingerboard, I would just go deep on the slots.

BCombs,

Did you purchase that acrylic template, or make it yourself?

That is from LMI. There are two scale lengths on each template. I have 3 or 4 with the scale lengths that I use. It's pretty handy to have and slotting a board takes literally a minute or two once you have the template stuck to the board. I don't get a lot of shop time and I'm unbelievably lazy, so the table saw method was a must for me.

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