I have a similar setup and I use a Router with a 90degree drive head and a small slitting saw (40mm x ?thick) Rotozip kit type thing. Good for fret slots and with a wider cutter for neck shaping.

To slot frets i do .012 pass depth, 24,000 rpm, feed rate 8.5 ipm, plunge rate 3.0 ipm, also i radius the finger board first, slot depth does not need to be cut as deep. v-carve lets you place the vectors on the 3d model so you can go around .07". consider buying .06 mm end mills not .023 " end mills. amazon has them. they are just as good as the $40 ones. Happy cncing. Alvin

I’m using Vectric Aspire. I use 1/32 bit for fret slots and inlay work. I go 15 passes at 4 inches per minute and haven’t broke a bit in awhile. Was using StewMac bits but I can’t afford to break those. The last I bought were 5 for $25 on Amazon and haven’t broke one of those yet.

I would love to have a shop like this. I wouldn't have a clue what to do with any of the equipment but I could just look at all the tools, pick them up and play make believe.

Amazing how your choise of woods is. I bet the fretboard will look gorgeous when polished.

Awesome as always

two-tone fretboard + unique inlays was a Great combination 💯👌

I had the same issue with breaking bits on fretboards with those tiny bits. After many bits I realized that the major problem is that I ran the bit in BOTH directions. The fact that your bits broke on the turning point encourage me to think that this was also your issue. After changing the CAM operation to move just one way the problem was gone. Sure.. it takes a bit longer but I managed to cut 5 fretboards with one bit and never had that issue again. Maybe that makes sense for you! All the best from Germany

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for the info I will definitely try!

@MOZOGuitars

Жыл бұрын

I would be very interested to see if this works for you Dave. Since it is a slotting toolpath, the bit is conventional cutting 50% of the time and climb cutting 50% of the time- so I wouldn't think the direction would affect it. However, there could be something at play here that I'm not thinking about. Also I have 2 hours of CNC experience lol.

Nice fretboard. Personally, I'd have had the light side of the wood on the treble side of the fretboard. It would have given a "lunar landscape with an impending storm cloud" type of vibe, just from the wood grain texture, when the guitar would be held in right handed playing orientation.

5in / min for both. Cut Ebony fretboards quite often.

The fret board looks great I don't have a clue about even running a CNC so no help there. too bad about breaking those bit. I can see why it would be easy to break them sense they are so tiny. Best of luck on the rest of the build.

Well I just finished cutting my blind fret slots in my Ebony fretboard. No issues. My gcode is setup to cut the slots using the Y axis. Pass depth .0121, rpm 18000, feed rate of 2.7" and 1" plunge rate. My issue is inlays. I've been trying to put a Celtic knot as my 12th fret marker. The problem I'm having is male always larger than the female. I'm using the inlay toolpath function with a straight cut.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

That’s awesome, I may need to slow down my feeds and speeds

Beautiful fretboard. Very impressive. I cut fret slots on my CNC machine. I use 0.6 mm end mills (24 thou) , sold for machining printed circuit boards. They are cheap as chips from ebay. I run them at 24000 rpm, depth of cut 0.5mm and feed 300mm/ min. I've had no breakages.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thank you I appreciate it very much!

When the bit is reversing direction in the middle of the wood it stresses the bit greatly. Cut in one direction only or cut passed the edges of the stock MM

@milesmanglos1583

Жыл бұрын

Beautiful wood and inlay idea btw

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

Great video as always David. FWIW, I know nothing about CNC other than it's a router and therefore the same logic may apply. Is it possible the feed rate is too slow and the bits are heating up too much? I know if a hand held router goes to slow it burns the wood. Excess heat?

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Dane I’ve had a few folks suggest I put an air line there to clear the dust and cool the bit. I’m going to give it a try. Thanks

I had some trouble with the .023 bit as well. I would radius the fretboard first so you're not cutting so deep into the fretboard. Also, I had some success with about 10 or 12 feed rate taking about .010 depth per pass at the most.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thank you

I landed on 10 Inches per minute at .005 inches DOC, 10k rpm. Takes me forever, but I stopped breaking bits lol

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. If you read some of the other comments you can see what others have done.

I think that cooling the bit may be the solution: if you were to mount a compressed air spout near the bit, it not only blows away the chips, but it also cools it. I suggest you buy a large syringe needle and attach it to your compressed air.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

That is an excellent idea! Thank you

Could the breakage of the tiny bits be a heat build up issue ? Maybe an air nozzle blowing on the bit as it moves through the cut to keep it cool and also would stop any dust from caking up in the slot . Just a thought

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Yes that is a very good thought thank you

What kind of inlay material was that that you cut in this video. Haven’t found anything that size. Pearl is in small pieces. Where do I find Pearl that big?

@eworcustomguitars

11 ай бұрын

The mother of pearl material I use is actually plastic it’s .08 thick and it looks really good. It’s almost like pick guard material. I think I bought it on Amazon. Yeah I finally think I got my fret cutting tool path figured out. And like you I started buying the cheap bits on Amazon and hey work great

Here are some sources of people that have mentioned feeds/speeds/RPMs with .023” bits: Chris Goode: 5000 rpm and 30 ipm for fret slots. uses a pass depth of 0.0115". These are the settings that Chris of Highline uses: 20 IPM, 10 IPM plunge rate, 0.01" DOC, and he said he runs 16000 RPM all the time.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Yes I used chrises speeds but for me it isn’t working. I’m wondering if there is some lateral movement in the machine just before the bit retracts that is causing the break. Until the bit breaks the cut looks to be going very well.

That is a bummer about the fret cutting bit. I found a source that sells 5 packs of .023” bits for $40. I doubt they’re as strong or sharp as those, but I figure they will be good for practicing as I try to get my feeds and speeds dialed in. If you want the link lmk!

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Yes please send the link it will be a cheaper option for learning

@MOZOGuitars

Жыл бұрын

@@eworcustomguitars Hey Dave, sorry I meant tried to post the link earlier this morning but it didn't go through. It's acually only $25 for a set of 5 so it's a great deal for practice bits. Here is the link:

@ANCAPVoluntaryist

Жыл бұрын

@MOZO Guitars It looks like KZread is censoring external web address. Maybe try and post it without the WWWs and type DOT instead of "." to hide it from the bots.

I know nothing about CNC. I was just intrigued that you suspected it usually breaks at the end of cutting a slot, just before moving to the next slot. 🤔 Maybe it's doing some very slight lateral movement toward the next slot before the bit has retracted fully out of the current slot? Unlikely. It makes sense that it breaks at max depth and up against the slot end. Max lateral load on the tiny bit shaft from a full depth vertical face on the slot end wall. Lots of heat. Maybe there are weird and exotic paths that avoid that contact - like starting with a full depth dot at each end, and the lateral runs can then stop a fraction of a mm short of the full depth sidewall contact. Worst case I guess you could just go super slow and go for lunch. I know nothing, but it was an interesting thought experiment! I hope you find a solution.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

I actually think the exact same thing, like there is some sloppiness in the code or the machine.

Where did you get the bits?

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

I buy them from Amanda tools. About $43 each

Maybe this could help kzread.info/dash/bejne/X6lnx7aMqKvFZtY.html, it's a video from Schecter where they show their fret slotting process. My bet would be on the fact they cut in one direction only and that the slot is a concave.

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Thanks just watched! I wish I had their equipment 😁

At $30 a bit, how much do you think this fretboard cost you? 😉

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

Way to much but eventually I’m gonna figure it out !

So my comments are getting removed?

@eworcustomguitars

Жыл бұрын

I don’t know what you mean? I’ve tried to reply on all comments

@SoleilGuitars

Жыл бұрын

@@eworcustomguitars I was trying to put a link that I found for the bits I use on eBay and paste it into the comment and it keeps removing it.

@ANCAPVoluntaryist

Жыл бұрын

@Soleil Guitars The KZread bots are censoring external links. Maybe try and retype the address without the www and instead of "." type "*" or "D O T"