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Post by andy3sheds on Nov 12, 2015 0:40:01 GMT
At long last a pal and myself want to convert our stashes of ancient tone wood into guitars
Has anyone got any thoughts of home building a sander for thicknessing timber? Also any suggestions as to where to go for tops?
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Post by scripsit on Nov 12, 2015 4:33:45 GMT
On luthier forum sites I've seen the sander below mentioned, and photographs of several builds and variations. The plans are free and it's almost all out of wood, too. woodgears.ca/sander/thickness.htmlKym |
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R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135 
My main instrument is: bandsaw
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Post by R the F on Nov 12, 2015 8:12:20 GMT
I made one of these a year or two ago from the plans on either that website or a very similar one. Here it is without its dust cowl:  I'm not sure how much more help I can give you but anything you want - photos, plans etc. - just ask. I do have plans that I drew up and I could email those to you (pdf? - they are actually drawn on Siemens Solid Edge 2D program, which is free but probably not worth learning to use just to look at my version of their plans!). I won't put them on here in case there any copyright problems but let me know how I can help. I remember I did make it slightly narrower than the original plans. Also my motor is slightly lacking in power, which is slightly problematic but possibly safer in the long run. To be honest, I tend to mainly plane and hand-sand my boards but the sander-thicknesser can come in handy from time to time. |
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Post by nkforster on Nov 12, 2015 10:38:31 GMT
I did have a smallish Jet sander for a while - they're not cheap, but they are crap. Slow, inaccurate and bad to extract. All these small machines are.
What I'd do is contact the local kitchen makers and ask if you can use their big machine - when I worked for Stefan he used a kitchen maker's in Newcastle for years till they changed hands, since then he's used Roger Bucknall's machine in Penrith. I use a couple of different machine shops in Newcastle. Now I'm in Leipzig I've already located a machine shop here for hogging down the backs and sides.
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garynava
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 460
My main instrument is: Stanley No.5
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Post by garynava on Nov 12, 2015 16:06:47 GMT
Of course, you don’t have to thickness wood by machine. I thicknessed the wood for my first 50 or so instruments entirely by hand; jack plane, cabinet scraper, and sanding. I bought my thickness sander when faced with two sets of African Blackwood to thickness!
Sure it’s hard work, but depending on your previous woodworking experience, you’ll get valuable practice sharpening and setting up tools and a good feel for the wood etc.
I wouldn’t faff about trying to make one, it would be a major undertaking to build it and take you away from what you really want to do. So, Nigel’s suggestion of tracking down someone to do it for you, is probably a good way to go for a few sets; personally I prefer to do everything myself. I’ll also add that I have a Jet thickness sander and have found it to be an excellent piece of kit, just set it up correctly and take your time.
As far as tops are concerned, if you’re buying them unseen, I would highly recommend Touchstone Tonewoods; they have never let me down.
Cheers Gary
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Jo whoever he is.
