Banjo Progress 7/31

July 31st Update .. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

Cutting the neck with a 3 degree angle. we made this jig with a pivot 5.5" from the blade to cut a swinging angled arc on the end of the neck.

We added onto the other end of the same jig, dropped it over the spindle sander, added another 5.5" pivot, inverted the neck blank and sanded the bandsaw cut smooth. the 'same jig' innovation was Will's brainstorm.

We added a 3 degree inclined ramp to the neck to cut the rabbet where the neck intersects with the head tensioning ring.

This is where we were as of Thursday, ready to cut the fretboard and shape the neck

I'm cutting my fretboard with the pockets for the inlay on the cnc ... The peghead inlay is also ready to cut. The cnc is a luxury and this can be done by hand as long as you accurately layout the frets beforehand
7/19/09

OK ... We're making some progress on the first of two banjos Will and I are building (first post) ... (one to figure out the problems, kind of move it along and see what happens, and then the second one, hopefully, for really real). So far so good on #1. It's complex, but not mind boggling, and it helps that Will can really play the thing, knows what makes a good banjo and what makes a not so good banjo. So here we are, as of Thursday afternoon ... click the pictures to enlarge them ...

First thing after we turned the pot (see previous post) we had to figure out how to drill the holes for the hardware. The tensioning ring has slots in it (see photo at top) and a recess for the neck to attach and we traced the center points of those notches onto the plywood part of the lathe faceplate creating an index. We then removed the metal faceplate and drilled a hole through the center of the faceplate and then one in the table of the multi router, inserted the pivot center pin, set the bit height, backed up the holes on the inside of the pot with a piece of 2x4, figured out how to clamp it, and proceeded to plunge 27 holes through the wall of the pot. ... click the pics to enlarge them ...

Then we put it back onto the lathe, touched up the finish where we drilled, and parted it off the faceplate ... far out ,,, felt like a major accomplishment ... beer time !!

We had previously made some patterns for the neck, fingerboard and head stock veneer ..

and figured out the jig for cutting the angled arc on the end of the neck and now it's fingerboard time ....