Quote Originally Posted by Washout View Post
Hi bluesking

I can see why you want to go for larger cutters and for roughing I would agree, however there is another factor to maybe consider dependant on the guitar design/type you are looking to machine. I'm sure you're aware that most routed pockets on say a Les Paul or Telecaster are a. imperial, but b. also are designed for a set of cutters that have certain corner radii e.g. 1/8 inch which means using a 1/4 inch cutter for most humbuckers. So you may be able to rough out the pockets with an 8-12mm cutter, but will have to do a tool change and a clean up operation with a smaller cutter to clear out the corners.

Also I am using 70v nema 23 steppers on my machine and it easily goes to 15mm depth per pass and I could make that 20mm without too much if any additional tool wear - see here: https://youtu.be/WVf5J8XytSA

BTW if you want the CAD for a "normal" Tele I have that linked in video #9 of the series above. There's a thread on here somewhere as well, as it was a kind of community project.

Chris
Hi Chris,
In my experience, traditional LP and tele style guitars are designed to be cut using 1/2" diameter cutters - you can cut pickup cavities, neck pockets and control cavities all using a 1/2". This is also true for a basic Strat design too. It is certainly true for my own designs, which are my focus.

Good to know what sort of cutting performance you are achieving, the results look good. My biggest focus is on top carving - in fact I only went down the CNC path after deciding that I would build a duplicarver for this job alone - and realised that it would be crazy not to look into CNC. Do you have any example of top carves you've produced on your machine?

Thanks for the CAD link, can never have too much source material.