Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been thinking about setting up a jig to shape the back of the headstock among other things. I have seen that what is typically used for this is a small stationary 4" X 36" belt sander with a jig made to rest the headstock on and feed it under the arm of the belt sander and bring it to the desired thickness and put in a nice scooped volute.

I understand the concept of the jig. A hinge is used as a pivot, but I'm not sure how to adjust the angle. How is this designed? It looks like some type of long bolt arrangement. Does anyone have a photo, plans, and/or can you describe how to adjust the height?

Also, do you have a recommendation for a 4" X 36" belt sander? It looks like most of the ones I've looked at (Harbour Freight, Rikon, etc. for about between $70 - $150) have some kind of complaint... but, I would guess for this light use it may not matter so much...
BTW - I've built 6 guitars (working on number 7) so I'm "small time".

Thanks,
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

If you have a drill press. you can easily mount a 3in sanding disk , with a wood fence mounted to do this .Most of the small sanding machines especially the 4 by 36 are IMHO crap, unless you can find a cheapie off craigslist or e-bay.Think china

I would also like to see the jig -

I am happy with my Porter Cable - it has an 8" disk and the 4x36 belt -
i would not say it is crap - it serves it's purpose well.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Here's mine. I'm sure there are better designs out there, but this just gives a picture of one idea. I used spring hinges to keep tension on the whole mess and barrel bolts because....well....because that's what I had on hand. I would actually like to redesign it at some point to make it a little more solid, but it works. Which, knowing me, means I'll probably redesign it when something breaks or I need to get a new sander.

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Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com

Here's a bad cell phone picture of mine.

Chris.

This is what I'm talking about... Those are some interesting designs. Chris, I was thinking that a turnbuckle could be used to adjust the height (thickness). Does anyone else have a design to share before I attempt to make one?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

You could do like Chris but use threaded rod. The rod would go into a thick block so you would have some travel and the rod would still be inside the block. Have two nuts, one to adjust height, the other to lock. Or one coupler nut with some blue lock tight or one of those lock nuts with the nylon inside.
L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I found an old picture of mine. I used 1/2" threaded rod. I'll see if I can find a better picture of the mechanism.

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

When I made the table height adjustment for my thickness sander (same principle) I used threaded rod and imbedded a coupling nut into the loser brace and put a hand wheel on the rod. If I had been thinking more clearly, I would have used a tee-nut instead of a coupling nut, I think that would have been much easier.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Mine works fine. Were I doing it over again I might fabricate a way to lock it in position. It's never moved, but I always worry it might.

Chris.