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Thats really nice. Could you give us a shot of whats inside the plates on each end of the articulating arms?

Essentially, sleeve bearings to keep from crushing and binding the square aluminum tubes, and a bearing post on the top square with a vertical tube for rotational purposes, similar to the one at the base, in a way. The spring is the key to balance. I believe he also made a few with an adjustable hydraulic option as well, but the spring works fine. The key was exceptional machining capability to make everything really square, and not bind under the weight of the router.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks, I have access to a very well equipped machine shop and the all knowing owner. Might have to make one of those.

Yes I was also lucky enough to get one of Garry's rigs, I do have a gas shock on mine as well as the spring. The gas shock pressure is adjusted with the trimmer mounted so that it just very slightly raises the trimmer if you let go. This makes it impossible to drop the trimmer onto the guitar, it also makes the trimmer feel virtually weightless and makes it very easy to control. I love this rig.

I also use my De Walt trimmer with a guide bearing attached and mounted on a small lazy Susan allowing the trimmer to rotate. This means that I can use a downcut spiral bit and can adjust the depth of cut very accurately to suit whatever binding/purfling scheme I'm using. I also don't have the risk of the bearing coming loose on the cutter, nor have the bearing bind and spin at the cutter rate, marking the sides, which happened to me once before I made the switch.

Colin

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

I can't recommend the luthier tool binding jig enough. In my opinion, you really need to use a vacuum holding fixture for this jig (I have one by LMI). It is also less fool proof than the Ribbecke based binding jigs - however, in my opinion, the results are absolutely better. The cut is much cleaner because you are using a 1/4" downcut spiral bit. The binding channel references off the sides which the other jigs don't do (you approximate a parallel setup with your guitar cradle but most guitars will have uneven sides to some degree) and that reduces cleanup time.

It does take a bit of practice - especially, the cutaway on the back side. You can mess up your binding channel if you allow it to tip forward. However, I took a shallow cut the first time using it and had the hang of the jig after routing one instrument.

I think the binding method is somewhat personal/subjective -- but the Luthier Tool jig works really well for me.

Waddy and Arnt, that is a killer rig. I didn't quite understand, did you make them yourselves or buy them?

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

Bought them on a special group buy. I was a lucky participant as I was on the waiting list and someone fell off!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Garry doesn´t sell that jig any more, if i understand it - right?

too bad, looks like da bomb (do kids even use this word nowadays?)

Arnt, your shop looks so clean and organised... how do you guys pull that up?

cheers,
migel.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Has anyone seen or used this system?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwxVHIfvJqw&feature=plcp





Website: http://kennethmichaelguitars.com/bindingmachine.html

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I have never used the stew mac true channel jig How stable is this? The mounting method for the router looks flimsy. Okay extruded aluminum channel is quite strong but the one triangular bracket to hold the thing to the table looks quite inadequate to me. Maybe I'm wrong....Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

I tried the StewMac binding channel. There is significant amount of play in the mechanism. Side to side play isn't that much of a concern but it can tip forward and backwards -- which is exactly what you don't want to happen. I emailed them and explained that I thought the design needed to be revised and mentioned a relatively easy design change that would eliminate the play. My personal advice is to not buy it unless they revise it. I do like the non-obtrusive nature of the router cradle -- this makes it easier to see what you are doing.

Here's a link to the one I made for about $50.00. I like it very much.

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=19236

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

There seems to be an awful lot of work/expense in some of these jigs to solve what is quite a simple problem. All that is needed is the parallelogram linkage to keep the router axis vertical and a carriage to hold the guitar whilst you move it beneath the router, as shown here. Use some decent hinges.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Paul, that looks a lot like a system I used to use for archtop mandolins. Mine was copied more or less from pictures I saw from Lynn Dudenbostel's shop, I'm sure there are other variations elsewhere.








Trevor, yes, hinges and plywood will work, as will a gramil and chisels. I've used that system as well as most others that have been mentioned here, and my I simply like my current system better. Why not?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Paul,

I have used the handheld version of the KMG binding cutter. It worked well.
http://kennethmichaelguitars.com/portattach.html

I don’t see why the system you are looking at wouldn’t work. I actually might try and adapt mine to work like that sometime in the future.

Yes I've also tried just about all of the types of jig available including the hand held Luthier Tool type, the Williams type, (really a major advance in the process). I've also used the style that Trevor advocates, the simple wall mounted parallelogram, this is the type I disliked the most, yes it keeps the trimmer vertical, but involves the instrument being moved round, I prefer moving the trimmer. The wall mounted parallelogram will work fine for a steel string, but if you also make Spanish Heel type classicals or set neck electrics then the attached neck makes this type of jig about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

I now, as I said above, use one of Garry Hallam's rigs, and like Arnt I've found that it gives me faultless channels on every type of instrument I make. I can't see me, or any of the people that were lucky enough to get one of Garry's rigs, changing the way that we cut the channels.

Colin

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

Sure, if you mount the parallelogram to a wall you have limited swing on a fixed neck instrument. However, if you mount the parallelogram on a post clamped to the end of your bench, as suggested, you have as much access as you have with a fully articulated router arm, i.e. you can get the follower bearing right up to the heel.

Swinging the guitar or swinging the router is a matter of personal preference, but there is no doubt that swinging the guitar makes for a smaller, simpler jig if you want to adopt the "vertical axis" approach. Well executed, these types of jig definitely have the stability required to cut a binding channel in one pass.

BTW, I have nothing against other methods. I use the "router on a ramped base" method to cut purfling channels. It's a much lighter cut, so much easier to hand-hold, you have infinite adjustment of depth of cut without a mass of bearings (useful for custom work) and you can use small diameter carbide spiral downcut bits which give a super-neat edge on top wood where you need it most.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

best

Colin, would you mind posting a pic of the guide and lazy Susan that allows you to use a down spiral bit? I'm not understanding and picturing that.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Darryl this method was devised by Dave White, I've used it on both my Williams/Fleishman rig and now on the Garry Hallam one, it means you can use a downcut spiral bit , rather than having to use one with interchangeable bearings. I can fine adjust both vertical and horizontal cuts to perfectly fit my binding/purfling schemes. It is far and away the best system I have used, and as I said I've used all of the ones mentioned in this thread over the years. It gives a great 'feel' when cutting the channels, something I completely missed when using a method where the guitar is moved rather than the trimmer.

Here's a few photos that should help.

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

Williams Jig here as well, and I hold the instrument using a Vacuum Clamp made by Vac-U-Clamp, got a pair of them for pretty cheap. It's a simple circular vacuum clamp that rotates and can tilt 90 degrees, meaning it can be adjusted for any body taper and/or wedge, and takes up almost no space at all on the bench. My shop is tiny, so I would like to 'upgrade' to something like the jig Arnt posted at some point, because the drawer slide Williams jig is bulkier. And due to poor storage (my fault, shed in house I didn't live in) doesn't run as smoothly because humidity control was, shall we say, poor.

It looks like I'm one of the few that still use the Ribbecke jig. I'm used to it and It does work fine for me. I would love to have one of
Garrys rigs though, but I didn't get in on the group buy!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I would like to have a unit with the articulating arm but for now my universal type works just fine.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ok, thanks Colin for those pics!

It looks like with that style that you still need to keep the router tangent to the curve else it won't cut to full depth, correct? I guess that is the benefit of using the bearings is that no matter how the router is rotated, it still cuts to the same depth (and the downside of that was discussed above......bearing could come loose, bearing could mark the side of the guitar, etc.).

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

How much did the Gerry jig cost? When did he make them? I think I pm'd him once but didn't hear back. Maybe we could lure him out of retirement with a group buy.

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Pat