The Hub

Anyone Else looking at the Makera Z1? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/makera-inc/makera-z1-entry-level-cnc-pro-level-power? Earlybird price is $799. Looks like it might be good for a newbie like me?

I've been building up my "2 car garage shop" for about 10 years preparing for retirement from health care. This spring I finally quit punching the time clock. Over the same time I've build 13 mandolins and 4 guitars. Now I pretty much have all my tools in place and enough wood stored to build for quite some time. My work benches are built with a heavy door for a top and base cabinets I scavenged from work. Lately I have toyed with the i…

Do you prefer the regular SM Fret Saw or the Japanese one they offer? Thx!

December Acoustic Classes Announced!

Here are some pictures that show the basic elements of a dome sander I made. Critical part is a lawn mower blade bearing/spindle. Cost $63. It is marked part # 607418 Blade spindle assembly. It has a tap for a .625-11 bolt on the side I put facing upward to bolt on the disk, and a shaft with a keyway on the bottom to attach to the big pulley. I used a 11” diameter and 2.5” diameter pulley combination. This gives just about the perf…

Like many of us, I work in a small space - a quarter basement with maybe 6 -1/2 feet of headroom. Sawdust is a problem. There’s no room for an extensive ductwork system or a blower setup. My shop tools (bandsaw, drill press, vertical belt sander, etc.) have a 1-1/2 inch connection for vacuum, but I have mostly been too lazy to use them. (note that I finally added a portable shop air cleaner with HEPA filters). When the most recent Wo…

These bins are even better when cut in two (the backing is polyethylene, so it’s easy to divide). I use one as a storage station for glasses, masks, earplugs, etc. and the other half is used for sharpening accessories. Well worth the $20 bill.

I think this could be of use for our messy drawers: https://www.tooltrace.ai As seen here:

Would anyone be able to 3D print these plastic pieces from this Fender switch kit? Unable to find them anyway anymore without paying 3 times as much as I did 2 years ago. They seem super simple https://www.stratcat.biz/225800-kit.shtml

I just got a link to this very detailed writeup on CNC milling fret slots, I figured it would be useful to have it here: https://www.precisebits.com/tutorials/fret-slotting

I'm looking for the name for the door curtain material that is heavy, thick, and clear. I've seen it in old industrial shops and high school wood shop circa 1970s. It can be seen in the Frank Frank Tour of Gryphon in the doorway to the tool room. My search terms don't seem effective. Tom

Hello! First time poster, long time lurker... I thought you guys might get a kick out of this. I got fed up of having to re-mount my workbench lid after pulling it off a particularly bumpy/cold/hot/anything truck ride and began searching for a mounting system that would hold everything up when the lid was open, but also crucially not fall off when it was closed after the show. I happened upon multiboard, which looked like it could do the…

Dear looth community/colleagues around the world, During 2023/24 I have developed a digital gauge to measure so-called longitudinal twist of (bass) guitar necks: the LTwist® gauge. Just to be clear, this is about the "cork screw" type of deviation along the length of a neck, not the bow of a neck. I think there is no need to explain how a too severe neck twist can make it difficult or even impossible to set up a stringed instrument (guita…