Official Luthiers Forum!

Anybody here using this? Uses a 1/4” down cut spiral bit. It would be cool to be able to change bits frequently to insure sharpness.

Search of the archives yielded a couple for sale and some discussion In the past but no critical reviews.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I hope you get some feedback. I’ve been pining over this thing. I’ve tried the handheld binding jig from LuthierTOOL, the jig Ensor sells, and three different tower setups. I’m using the LMI latest tower now. All have their pros and cons but I like the carrier that Chris at LuthierTOOL designed for this and the fact it uses a standard bit available at woodcraft or wherever. It’s a costly setup though. I’m hoping others who own it will maybe chime in.

Brad


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

There’s only 1 thing that’s prevented me from getting one - it doesn’t have a zero bar.

So I made my own, mounted to a tower style jig (mine is actually a parallelogram). It’s bulky as all hell because of the zero bar, but works just like the Luthier Tool one, almost (need to fine tune my prototype).

If the zero bar is not a show stopper, I’d blindly recommend getting it, especially if you use different size binding and purfling patterns and don’t want to be “limited” by bearing sizes. This is another reason why I like a bearing foot.

I have one, from when they first came out. I originally used it with OK results but over time the unit got a little bit of play that I could not tighten out between the base and the guide. It was really easy for that play to be reflected in the channel. I like Luthier Tools, it could be this is not an issue any more. Care must be taken to assure that the bit is perfectly centered on all of these jigs or you can get a variance in the channel depending on where the body is on the guide.

A jig like Ensor's has the advantage of always cutting square to the sides (as long as you keep the body properly on the guide!) The Luthier tool jig mounted on a tower or Fleischmann style binding machine still depends on having the sides square to the binding machine.

I went back to using a bit with a bearing on my Fleischmann style binding machine, as I was assured that there was 0 slop between the bearing and the cutting head and that the bearing was well centered; I have been happier with the channels. I also have an Ensor jig but I will not use it if the guitar has an attached neck, like a traditionally built classical, as the guitar with the neck is a bit unwieldy for me to safely keep on the guides.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Thanks John. That was exactly what I wanted to know. I have used mainly the tower jig with bearings the last 15 years but have the well thought out Ensor jig as well. The ability to frequently switch router bits without undue expense was the main attraction of the Luthier Tools device.
Seems like my LMI bit dulls fairly quickly after doing harder woods like Maple or Brazilian.

Interestingly I had a kid spend time in my shop who graduated from the Red Wing MN school and subsequently worked two years in the binding dept. at Santa Cruz.

They routed the binding channels with a jig very much like the Ensor device but did the purfling on a tower type jig with bearings as a slight tilt while routing (altering the channel) was not that big a deal on the binding as the purfling rout would even it. On the purfling it was a big deal so that was why they switched to the tower.

Makes sense as the purfling cut would not dull the router bit nearly as much insuring a much longer life for the more expensive bearing guided bit.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thank you! As I have both jigs I also can get the best of both worlds. Their process makes perfect sense.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com