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I'm planning to spend some time this weekend making a Wells Karol jig. I watched Chris P's videos, seems straight forward enough. I have an HDPE slab that I think will work. The rest is just hardware store goodies from what I can tell. Anyone build one recently and have any tips or things I should watch for?

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Made mine last year. Tapping threads into the HDPE lasted two tightenings before one stripped. Put in a steel threaded insert and all's well, again. Don't treat the thumbscrews like they're going into metal...

It's been used on three soundholes so far, quite happily. Price was right for the use I had for it.

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Peter Havriluk

I made a sound hole cutting jig using HDPE and I was not happy. The threads stripped immediately. I sort of solved that by then using a bigger thread screw but leaving the smaller hole. I think you should experiment on scraps of the HDPE first. You may find that the best way will be to NOT tap the hole, but just let the screw pull its way through and deform the HDPE as it goes. I haven't used it for a while, but my recollection is that there is no visibility advantage to HDPE, so you could use metal, e.g aluminum.

I've been using one for 3/4 years without any problems, just don't get heavy handed with the screws. They really don't need to be so tight to hold firm.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Mine is going on 5+ years. I'm gentle with the thumbscrews.

Ok, the threaded HDPE and issue with stripping described is the thumbscrew that locks onto the rail, correct? I would think that needs to be snug but the threaded rod is also doing something to help keep the base in place, right?


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Here's mine.
I put extra screws so one doesn't need to tighten so much.
The Telecaster knob is a nice touch as well!
Alan

Mine is 10+ years old, no issues. All threads are 1/4-20.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I’m happy with the one I built, but if I had to do it again I would likely just use wood or aluminum. The hype will strip and I don’t think it has any real advantage over any other material.

Delrin for our bases, and no issues after 15 years.

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We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

I used clear acrylic 13 years ago. It’s still in regular use. Dropped it about ten years ago and broke a chunk off of it; glued it back together with acrylic cement, still going.



I've since added thumbscrews to the threaded beam at the upper part of the photo,

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Hard maple cuts and holds threads surprising well. I have some 40 year old jigs that get used frequently that still have snug threads.

Absolutely love delrin. very stable. Teflon would be another good choice.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I was just using mine today. I'm very grateful to Chris for his tutorial!

I made mine out of Baltic birch (or some similar birch laminated wood). I thought of it as a prototype, and was going to make another one out of plastic after beta testing this one, but it has worked fine so I just keep using it. If I was going to use it every day I might take the trouble to put in threaded inserts.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

Time to start calling this a “Karol jig”. It was he who created it and kindly posted it. Just because someone drew up plans for Tony’s design shouldn’t give undeserved credit.

Has anyone used or considered using the cordless Dewalt laminate trimmer for this procedure?

Today I used the SM base and a Dremel. I started using a footswitch instead of turning the Dremel off and on because I was slightly tipping the base when turning the router off and on.

I’m thinking with this wider base that tipping won’t be an issue and I would LOVE to not have to battle a cord.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20-V ... /311387419

Brad


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In case anyone interested I have a Wells (made by him) Karol circle cutter listed in the classifieds.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Are the plans from Chris still available? If I have the StewMac thingy, will this be a big improvement? I find that one pretty easy to use.

Ed

Chris did a series of videos. It doesn't have 100% complete dimensions but there's enough there to figure the rest out.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oRqUK-CMIo

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eyR9sS5Swo

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g92K82cRiyU

Brad

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What happened to Chris? He hasn't been on here in a while and has no recent videos anymore.

Sylvan has the dimensions and instructions available on his site under the Premium Articles page if anyone is interested.

Here is what I ended up with. I made some modifications so that the jig would go down small enough to do Uke sound hole and rosettes. It can go 2 1/4” to 9” in size.

The 20V cordless router seems to work great. It stops on a dime!

The adapter collet from SM let’s me use the end mills I have been using with the dremel.

















Brad


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Very nice! Thanks for posting it.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

No problem. Here's a list of things I had to buy that I didn't have on-hand:

1) #7 Drill bit which is used to drill all the holes which are then tapped with 1/4-20 tap - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U ... UTF8&psc=1

2) F Drill bit which is used to drill the holes that the rails fit into. The bit is *just* oversized from 1/4" at .257. This lets the rail slide but little slop for the set screws to have to deal with - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U ... UTF8&psc=1

3) Tele knobs - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F ... UTF8&psc=1

4) 1/4 - 20 tap - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003A ... UTF8&psc=1

5) HDPE Sheet - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I ... UTF8&psc=1

The rest is the 1/4" rod, the 1/4-20 threaded rod, the set screws, knobs, 1/4" nuts (need 1 nylon lock nut) are all hardware store goodies.

Hope that helps.

Brad

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Brad, looking at your pics. above, I'll offer a little suggestion. Maybe put two locking knobs towards the router,
one on each rail and two set screws/grub screws towards the end as these don't need much adjustment in use.
The locking on both rails will heighten the precision of the jig a bit and prevent any movement due to racking.
Btw, nice job on the jig.