Dave1climber - Posted - 12/12/2011:  14:44:03

I know this is off topic however couldn't not comment on "sharp".  For me the test is if the sharp edge is aimed at a good light do I see a reflection from the "sharp" edge.  No reflection means its sharp.  The second test is to lower the edge on a finger nail held at a 45 degree angle to vertical and if the edge slides off, the edge is not sharp.  Neither of this tell if you have the correct angles on your tool.

Saves hair, so you manly men don't look "girly".

Edited by - Dave1climber on 12/12/2011 14:46:00

ken61 - Posted - 12/12/2011:  15:50:31

Whatever works as long as they are sharp.  If you sharpen EVERY 1.5 minutes there is hardly a reason to test.

I use the hair on the arm test for my skews.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 12/12/2011:  16:12:08

As usual, i need to stay ahead of the other guys so the shop is free for them to do their banjo work.  So, my neck is somewhat further along.

It is of highly figured maple--the ears are glued on--the peghead is cut and sanded to thickness and waiting for the veneer front and back--the truss rod slot is cut--and it is time to rough out the neck shape .

I made patterns of  a neck profile I like at four locations along the neck and cut these profiles in heavy plastic.  See pics.

Then it was time to begin the roughing.  I used a sanding drum (3 inch with course grit paper) in a drill press to shape the neck the last time.

This time it will be different and faster.

A die grinder from Harbor Freight nr,52847 $20  1/4 inch collett  25000 rpm at 90 psi pressure

Item Nr 4476  rasps for the die grinder   $3

Item 35453 rasps for the die grinder  $6

The rough shape you see in the pic took only several minutes to achieve.

Obviously, more work needs to be done and eventually some rotary sanding and hand sanding, but we are well on the way.

ken

Quickstep192 - Posted - 12/12/2011:  18:15:05

Ken,

Someone recently raised the idea of temp gluing two neck blanks face to face and turning the neck profile on a lathe. As a turner, do you think that would work?

Also wondering if you've tried the carbide turning tools like the E-Z rougher and E-Z finisher?

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/13/2011:  05:03:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by Quickstep192

Ken,



Someone recently raised the idea of temp gluing two neck blanks face to face and turning the neck profile on a lathe. As a turner, do you think that would work?



Also wondering if you've tried the carbide turning tools like the E-Z rougher and E-Z finisher?

---

 There is a guy in England that does ukulele necks like that, back to back, two at a time. I suppose the same could be done with a five string banjo neck but you would have to turn on two different centers.

These are some tables I made about ten years ago while living in Pennsylvania, the legs were made entirely on the lathe, turned on three centers. Anything can be done though it may require some careful calculation.

ken61 - Posted - 12/13/2011:  05:37:43

I did see the post regarding turning two necks together.  I am always amazes what people can do with a lathe.  I suppose it is "possible" to get a two sided blank.  You could use the old trick of gluing two pieces of wood together with brown paper bag between them so the easily split apart.

If you were not going to have the peghead on the turned blank , it would be much easier.  Then scarf the peghead on later.  You would , of course, need to do much cleanup .

Personally, I think it is easier to do it in the traditional way.  Night be nice to try it however.  As I think about it now, it would be possible to even do the peghead and the peghead profile.    This could become a project!  :)  :)

There have been carbide tools for a long time in woodturning.  They never caught on for several reasons.  Carbide cannot be gotten as sharp as steel.  It stays as sharp as you can get it longer, but steel can be made sharper.  Today's high speed steel is quite good and more than enough to cut wood, which is not hard to cut.

Now these new "carbide inserts" which were made for the metal cutting industry have been pressed into service as woodturning tools.  I  have no experience with these although I am aware of them.

I do know woodturners , in general , are not changing over to them.

Why not four necks at once on a lathe???  That is possible also.

ken

bordertownbrown - Posted - 12/13/2011:  05:55:28

Ken, Don't think you would have much luck with four necks at once.

Fathand - Posted - 12/13/2011:  06:13:50

I think I will stick to a spokeshave after a general roughing out with a bandsaw,

quote:

---

Originally posted by bordertownbrown

Ken, Don't think you would have much luck with four necks at once.

 

 

 

 

---

ken61 - Posted - 12/13/2011:  10:43:21

See, this is a perfect example of what I meant some many posts ago when I said I was always amazed by the ingenuity of people who want to do something.

This is just great!  Two necks at once.  I love it !

Thanks for the pictures, they are terrific !    :)  :)

ken

ken61 - Posted - 12/14/2011:  18:24:50

JUst a quick note on shaping the neck with the die grinder and the rasps from Harbor Freight. So far it is working out quite well.
It is not done yet, but the quick progress using this method and the profile gauges described above tells me it will be just fine and quite fast.

I temporarily attached a fretboard with binding to the neck for the carving . It is temporary just to give me an idea where things will go. I will remove it and attach the REAL fretboard for this neck when the neck is finished.

I will have pics soon and will post them.

Hope everyone has a nice Holiday Season.

ken

Quickstep192 - Posted - 12/14/2011:  19:13:40

Bordertown,

What speed was that rig spinning while you were turning the necks?

ken61 - Posted - 12/15/2011:  14:06:13

Well, the die grinder and the sanding drum in the drill press are working well.  There is surely no magic here , just brute force and time needed to shape the neck.

The profile cards help greatly.  The neck is rough shaped  (still a little fat) but coming nicely.

The pic is of a block of bubinga being glued to the heel.  It will be shaped accordingly.  The fretboard is just an old practice board which I duco cemented (very Lightly) to the neck to aid in the shaping.

It will be removed shortly when the shaping and sanding is complete.

So far , it looks like it will be awesome, if I may say so myself.

ken

Dave1climber - Posted - 12/15/2011:  16:08:11

Ken

Keep the pics coming, good progress.  

Dave

ken61 - Posted - 12/15/2011:  18:47:47

Ok, necks "R" US !  Not my favorite part of the process !    This is carving with sand paper and die grinder.

You can see the profile cards in the pictures.  I have one card for between the nut and first fret--one for between fourth and fifth fret--one  at the eighth fret

one between the 14 and 15 fret.    You could make as many as you wanted, but these seem to work well and are spaced just about right to get the whole

neck.

The neck next to the one in progress is from an Epiphone MB 250.  I placed masking tape around the neck at the above locations to protect the neck and used one of those profile gauges 

to transfer the profile to the plastic..  It is not pretty, but it works.

Everything except the heel is ALMOST done.  There will be more sanding to finer grits etc.   I am beginning to think about turning these things.  Ha  Ha  :) :)

The bubinga heel cap matches the top rim on the resonator.  I was going to place birdseye maple veneer on the peghead, but I am rethinking this and maybe it will be bubinga.

The bubinga makes a very nice and simple contrast to the figured maple..  Have to check my veneer stash for figured bubinga.

Oh Well!  There it is such as it is at this time.

ken

Fathand - Posted - 12/16/2011:  04:26:56

Good Idea , I have a broken MB 250 neck and could still use it to take profiles from.  Be careful if you add veneer to face of peghead, that you do not get to thick for the tuners.

Dave1climber - Posted - 12/16/2011:  06:57:00

Nice neck, gota love carving

ken61 - Posted - 12/21/2011:  07:48:48

Well, as you can see we have taken a break for the holiday season, but we will be back working on the four banjos after the holiday season.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 12/28/2011:  06:41:45

Hope everyone had a nice holiday.  The four banjo makers took a break for the holidays, but we will be back at it very soon.

If you are reading this sequence of posts , I will assume :) you did not get a new banjo for the holidays, but rather a box of

banjo parts from which you can follow  this thread and make a new banjo.  Wouldn't that be great.

The neck of the first banjo is now about 70 percent done.  The carving is 90 % done and I will post a pic today sometime.

The four of us  Peter, Dan, Rich , and I will be meeting again soon to continue.

ken

NCjones - Posted - 12/28/2011:  17:46:27

I was watching a documentary about violin builders in Germany or somewhere who build very expensive violins.  They don't sand thier instruments becuase Stradavarious didn't.  He claimed in clogged up the pores of the wood and thus affected the sound.  Instead they scrape them to shape with a tool that looks like a razor blade. 

Have you guys done any research as to whether there is any difference between sanded and undsanded pots?

ken61 - Posted - 12/28/2011:  18:59:03

First of all let me say I love playing the banjo and I love listening to a banjo being played, but "my ears are painted on" and I woud not be able to tell the difference between a sanded or a scraped banjo or violin.

As a woodworker, and woodturner, I can tell ou that a scraped finish (scraped with a cabinet scraper properly sharpened, will give a better finish than a sanding on most any wood surface.

As to how this may or may not effect the sound, I don't have a clue.  I would love to have those ears.

We are woodturners who are building these banjos and as woodturners, the skills needed to build a banjo is included in our woodturning skill s.  The neck is not woodturned, of course, but those skills are included in our woodworking skill bag of tricks. 

We are all three novice level banjo players just having a good time doing some woodturning.  I just wanted to share our experience with anyone who might contemplate doing the same.

The other banjos I have made sound pretty good to these painted on ears so I am happy with them, but someone else will need to do any research to quantify the sound as good or bad.

Actually , I am told they sound pretty good.

When we get finished, maybe we can post some sound clips for reference.  So, we better learn to play the things soon.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/02/2012:  06:18:20

Well, it has been some time since I posted about the building project.  Holidays and all made it difficult.

We are (three of us) planning to meet this coming week to begin again our project of building four banjos.  We are all four well underway and all are in different stages.

We have had some talking sessions so we still have a plan to follow.  I have made the first neck and it is ready for a fretboard and then final sanding.  The others will follow  shortly.  We have

Supplies to gather  and things like this.

One of our members is off this week to take a class on turning a wooden Cowboy hat from the Hatman Johannes Michaelson who lives nearby .  The rest of us will meet,

do some work and watch the John Boulding class in the BHO Chatroom .  This class is about the Mastertone banjo parts etc.  Hopefully we will learn what to do with the parts we are making  HA HA.

I am hoping we can record the session so as to use it for reference in the future.  I have been a big fan of John Boulding for some time and I expect his presentation will be of great value to us.

My neck is awaiting a piece of bubinga veneer for the peghead which I should have tomorrow.  Pics will be coming soon.  

Happy New Year Everyone.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/04/2012:  09:05:27

Well here is the next stage.



Veneer for the neck ! It was a tough decision to go with bubinga or maple. Only had one small piece of bubinga and the red of it did

not go too well with the rosewood fretboard.

At this moment, the decision was to go with figured maple---birdseye maple.

Pic one is of the neck

Pic two is of the birdseye maple veneer.

There are two pieces of veneer which have been sprayed with a water and glycerine solution and placed between sheets of brown paper

and then placed into a press to flatten them to make them ready in a few days for gluing onto the peghead front and back.



Pic three is of the caul which will be used to glue the veneer onto the bottom of the peghead. The masonite piece is flat and will be used to glue the

veneer to the top of the peghead.



The process will be peghead, glue, glue,veneer, wax paper, caul, clamps. First the top then the bottom. You need the wax paper to prevent the glue squeeze

out from sticking the veneer to the caul.





I will post a pic of the flattening rig soon. It is easily made.



ken

Edited by - ken61 on 01/04/2012 09:09:42

ken61 - Posted - 01/05/2012:  10:15:04

Here are some pics

Pic 1 of the flattening rig to flatten pieces of veneer for the peghead after they are sprayed with water glycerine solution 50 -50

Pic 2 is of the bottom of the rig

Pic 3 is of the veneer being clamped on the peghead top.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/06/2012:  05:53:39

Here are pics of the veneer on the peghead  ---It is birdseye maple!  The neck and resonator are curly maple . The heel of the neck is bubinga and the accent top of the

resonator is bubinga.    The fretboard is planned to be rosewood, but I may change it to ebony--maybe it could be bubinga --a really tough decision.

Anyway the pics are front and back of peghead and they came out just fine.  The cauls for gluing worked perfectly and the excess veneer and glue were removed with a dremel

and a sanding disk.

Final sanding and drilling for the tuners is next..

BTW:  the other three banjos in process will be worked on soon and picks of them in stages will be posted soon.

Each is different and quite unique--I believe they will all look great.

We hope these postings will encourage others to do the same either alone or in local groups.

ken

Dave1climber - Posted - 01/06/2012:  15:23:48

Ken

Looking good, I like the birdseye Maple.  What glue did you use?

Dave

ken61 - Posted - 01/06/2012:  16:57:25

Dave

Titebind II was used for everything !

Resonator

Rim

Neck

Veneer

heel

Ears on the neck

wonderful stuff.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/07/2012:  16:32:17

Although this is NOT one of the four banjos being built in my shop, but rather a rim made to replace an aluminum rim on a SAGA kit I built years ago, I thought it

would be nice to see.

It is a cherry rim block style with a bubinga tonering--the second Like it I have made.  It is still on the jam chuck tone ring end into the jam chuck.

I decided to play with putting two rings on the bottom edge of the rim .  These rings are of rosewood veneer standing on end and CA glued in place.

Woodturners use CA glue quite abit, so this is no big deal. 

SAFETY ISSUE:::::  If you use CA glue with your turning in any way, WEAR SAFETY GLASSES !!!!!!!!!!!!!

CA glue dissolves in ACETONE or Finger nail Polish remover.

However, in you eye is a trip to the hospital.

The rings came out OK , but I need to grind a parting tool just a little thinner to exactly match the veneer thickness.  This could be better.

The veneer was cut to 1/2 inch width, the mortise in the rim was cut to 1/4 inch deep.  The pieces of veneer were placed into the mortise, and flooded with CA glue--first thin , then medium and hit with accelerator.

then sanded

ken

Edited by - ken61 on 01/07/2012 16:34:19

ken61 - Posted - 01/09/2012:  09:28:21

Hello

Three of the four of us banjo builders were in the shop yeaterday for John Boulding's  Mastertone  disasembly and re assembly and tune up.

It was great .  I  did record it for the fourth in our group who could net be present.

Thanks to John Boulding for his willingness to share his knowledge!

ken

Edited by - ken61 on 01/09/2012 09:29:05

ken61 - Posted - 01/12/2012:  07:44:56

Here is the rim and resonator of one of the other fellows (Peter) who is in the building group.
The rim is on a faceplate with hot melt glue as described before. The tonering has been almost fitted and the rest is yet to be done.
The resonator is on the faceplate with hot glue and the inside is 95% finished. The back has been radiused, the wall is done, and the flange has been fitted. Some final sanding and it will be ready to be turned over into a jam chuck and the outside finished.

One other member of the group (Dan) has his rim finished and his pot is all hooked up with flange, tonering, etc. He begins work on his resonator this weekend.

Rich the third member, has his pot and resonator well started and it may be done this week.

Pretty soon, it will be NECKS "R" US.

Beyond the turning jigs which I have tried to show and explain, it is near time to begin using the other fixtures which are needed to bore holes in the rim for the resonator, radius the neck heel, then bore holes in the neck heel for the bolts.

My thought is to have pics of these as we use them, but when the entire project is over to take some time to show them in detail including how they are constructed.


The pics are of Peter's rim and Peter's resonator.

One note here: The three builders who are working on this project are not experienced woodturners. With due respect they are beginning woodturners. Having said this , they have done a terrific job of learning the few simple cuts which are required to do the rim and the resonator. This shows that it is possible to learn the few cuts necessary to do this. Special lathes are not needed. Not saying there is anything wrong with metal type lathe arrangements to do the job, but it is possible to do it the usual way.


jen

Dave1climber - Posted - 01/12/2012:  08:52:38

Ken

Keep the photos and information flowing.  Good stuff.

Dave

ken61 - Posted - 01/13/2012:  05:32:45

Well, I have a little time so let's show one of the fixtures to be used.

This fixture holds the banjo rim in a vertical position under the drill of the drill press in order to drill the two holes for the neck screws

and the rear hole for the coordinator rod--which is located way on the other side of the rim.

Basically it is a "V" block with a back to position the rim in a vertical plane.

I  place the rim in the jig, clamp the rim in lightly, then position the entire jig under the drill bit and drill away.

The item sticking straight up is a piece of wood which shows a DIAMETER of the rim under the bit,  it is removable.

I mark the location of the coordinator rod using this diameter as indicated by the stick (bottom of the stick is a "V" which sets in the "V" block.

Then I rotate the rim and bore the hole.

The fixture is made of plywood.  I use wedge shaped glue blocks for support and to get rigidity in the jig.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/15/2012:  14:39:53

Its 5:30PM here in NY and we are just finishing up. It was a long day from 9:30AM .

We finished another rim and got the resonator finished inside and ready to be jam chucked to do the outside. There was a little wood filler needed in this rim. and you can see it in the pics. It will sand to nearly invisible. This is a cherry rim and the resonator is curly maple with birch sides.

This rim is ready to have the holes drilled and be married to the rest of the pot.

The rim is shown in the pics
The resonator is shown and the jam chuck is waiting for the resonator.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/15/2012:  14:52:23

One other rim is done today.  We bored the holes for the neck bolts and got one out of place.  %(&#*^@% !!

We plugged the hole and re-drilled it perfectly.

The pot was assembled and the neck of an Epiphone mb250 was attached so Dan could take it home and play with it.

The pic shows this and the Epiphone mb250 resonator .  Dan's resonator is not yet complete.  He cut the back and rings today.  The rings will be glued up and everything will be married next week ready for turning.

A note regarding the tone rings acquired for two of these banjos.  They were bought on ebay for just over $100.  Ok, we know they are not pre war, but for the first time building we figured they would be just fine.

However, not the pic inside Dan's which shows the tonering not fitting tightly to the top of the rim in two places.

We noticed the other tonering , purchased from the same place had a dent in one side--considerable dent.

Neither of these tonerings had the 1/2 ground in them for the neck screws.

I did not purchase these, but when Dan tells me the ebay vendor, I will post it here.  I gave bought tonerings on ebay and been quite satisfied with them, not from this vendor before--or in the future.

We are not happy with this , but it will be corrected in the future.

Everything else is going well.  We will order the remainder of the hardware tomorrow and be ready for next week's session.

ken

pastor99 - Posted - 01/16/2012:  09:11:26

Great stuff! Thanks for this.

Fathand - Posted - 01/16/2012:  10:48:18

Is the lip of the tone ring flat? If not and you can't return them I would look at turning them or having them turned to flat. Might be possible in your lathe if you can slow it down and  mount a metal cutting bit in it somehow. Presumably the rings are brass of some sort so easier to turn than steel .

ken61 - Posted - 01/16/2012:  15:19:23

It could be returned, even on my lathe with standard woodturning (HSS) tools--Not a good thing to do !

It could easily be done in a machine shop and this is an option--although for a $129 tone ring it may not be worth it if you need to pay. 

Likely we will replace it with another.

The Ebay seller says it is brass!

We shall see.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/16/2012:  20:07:47

As the four banjos get closer to completion, we think of things like a logo inside the rim indicating who made the banjo, etc.



After all, Gibson placed a logo inside their banjos, so why not.

A custom decal, if you will.



As it turn out, there is a way to make custom decals on your home printer--inkjet or laser.



You can buy sheets of blank decal paper at art stores like Hobby Lobby etc.

You need a different paper for each laser or inkjet printer.  Don't mix the papers and printer types.



You simply design a logo etc, print it --soak in water for 20 secs and apply.



We are in the design stage  of our logo!  :)  :)

Fathand - Posted - 01/17/2012:  05:40:34

I have used decal paper before. The product I have is not as simple as soak and apply. First you print your design, then you spray on a layer or 2 of the clear finish you will be using. Once dry, you then soak and the finish with the design slides off for application. It is then advisable to put a clear finish over top the decal to protect it.

ken61 - Posted - 01/17/2012:  05:48:27

Thank You !  You are correct.

I forgot to include that step.  It was late and a long day.  The correction is appreciated.

These do seem to work quite nicely!

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/20/2012:  05:49:55

Well, we are gearing up for another session this weekend snow permitting.  Two more rims will be completed this weekend and these three will be assembled into pots.  Since they are ready for necks, we will bore the coordinator rod holes and they will await the necks.  Three more resonators should be completed this week.  This will leave only the necks to be finished.

I ordered the remaining hardware--tuners --arm rests--resonator hardware, etc.  It should arrive soon  maybe today.

Everything was ordered from FMQ and StewMAC.  I am interested to know if my prediction of $600 of hardware is close. 

I may have mentioned this before, but I did suggest it was possible to buy a $600 banjo (something like a used Epiphone MB 250) remove all the hardware and use it for your built banjo, then sell the other parts on the hangout or ebay to recover some $$$.

We need to get going on learning to cut pearl.

Anyone wish to trade some banjo woodturning  or segments for a rim for some pearl cutting?? 

We also need to make some bridges--without burning bridges.  I wonder if old bridge wood would be good for bridges. 

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/20/2012:  12:44:02

Ahhh!  The banjo parts arrived today.  Only some binding left to order from FQM.  Also ordered 24 sets of light strings from webstrings.  They have not arrived as of yet.  Maybe tomorrow.

We are good to go.  With the neck from my epiphone mb250 we will be able to assemble the pots and hear them play each until the necks are finished.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/22/2012:  05:24:52

Since we will all four meet today and since necks are on the horizon or our banjo project, I set up the neck heel sanding jig for the guys to see.

I have seen so many ingenius ways to sand a heel neck on the BHO that I am truly impressed with the abilities of the group. This is one more version which works for me. The pics show it.

It is composed of a platform of 3/4 inch plywood which sets on the level drill press table to which is screwed with one screw a rotating cradle to hold the banjo neck. The cradle pivots about the screw and passes the end of the neck along the business end of a rotating 3 inch diameter sanding drum.

The key is that the screw which holds the cradle down but allows it to pivot is located exactly 5.5 inches from the front of the sanding drum. Therefore the cradle pivots on a 5.5 inch radius and the drum sands an 11 inch radius arc on the heel of the banjo.

The cradle allows the neck to be raises and lowered by a wedge beneath it (see other pic) so the angle can be sanded onto the heel. By raising the drill press table, the offset in the heel can be sanded to the same radius so the fretboard meets the tension ring.

If you look carefully, you can see the wedge in one of the pics and if you look very carefully you can see a HINGE which allows the cradle to raise up pushed by the wedge. see first pic just below neck bolts.

The neck on the device has neck bolts in it , they would obviously not be present when this operation was performed.

You can see the pivot screw in one of the pics . The plywood is held on the drill press table by two clamps. see pic 2

By raising or lowering the drill press table, both areas of the neck heel can be sanded.

I have made modifications to the coordinator rod hole drilling jig which I pictured earlier. We will use that jig today and I will post pictures of the process.

ken

ken61 - Posted - 01/22/2012:  05:29:55

More pics

In the first pic you see a top view of the neck on the cradle--notice the neck is up against two dowels to the left side of the pic.  The neck is held against these to keep it aligned on the cradle.

Pic 2 is a view from under the end of the neck.  Notice the wedge riding between two rails  --pushing the wedge forward raises the cradle and increases the neck heel to fretboard angle.

lem

Dave1climber - Posted - 01/22/2012:  07:40:35

Ken

Looks like a simple effective set up.  

ken61 - Posted - 01/22/2012:  14:14:03

Well, it was a productive day in the shop.  We finished all rims and they are all in pots with all hardware attached.

Two resonators need the backs turned , and the final resonator is in the lathe gluing  to be turned next time.

We bored coordinator rod holes in the rims of two banjos.  The boring jig which was pictured earlier is shown in today's pics.  I made some mods to it.

!.  The two dowels with handles go through the base and into the drill press table to center the jig on the table.

2.  The second picture shows a piece of wood in the "V" chamber.  Several pieces of wood of various thicknesses are placed behind the rim to move it forward such that the drill bit is positioned properly on the tim from top to bottom.

3.  The clamp holds the rim against these pieces of wood and in a vertical position.

4.  The drill extension laying in front of the jig is used to drill the coordinator rod holes which either go through the rim at the rear or which go partially through the rim at the rear.

The drill is placed into the extender and the extender is fed through the tneck hole and the back tailpiece end hole is drilled from the inside of the rim.   Hope this is clear.

The only jig left is the one which holds the neck in the drillpress to drill the neck screw holes.  When we get to the necks , I will post the pics.of this jig.

Each rim which has been made has had an epiphone neck attached to it and the maker has been able to take the pot assembly with neck home to play for a week.  No resonator on , but each was happy to be playing a banjo in progress.

ken

pastor99 - Posted - 01/22/2012:  15:03:35

Having just completed my first attempt at building a banjo (I had decided early on that I was going to build this one all the way through as a test, mistakes and all, just to try to learn the process), I want to tell you how much I appreciate your descriptions and pictures. When I build my next one, my REAL one, the neck is surely going to fit much better after building a jig like yours.

Thank you, thank you!

John

ken61 - Posted - 01/22/2012:  17:01:06

John

I am glad you are finding the info useful.  This was my intention to make it easier for others to make a banjo.  I am always amazed at how many people want to do this and how many do it with few tools and little woodworking skill.  The ingenuity of people driven by desire can be amazing.  We have found this to be very rewarding. 

Thanks for your kind comments!

ken

Fathand - Posted - 01/23/2012:  04:04:19

Since the device pivots at 5.5", it could conceivably be adapted to turning rims or fitting them to tone rings?

quote: 

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Originally posted by ken61

The key is that the screw which holds the cradle down but allows it to pivot is located exactly 5.5 inches from the front of the sanding drum. Therefore the cradle pivots on a 5.5 inch radius and the drum sands an 11 inch radius arc on the heel of the banjo.

ken

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ken61 - Posted - 01/23/2012:  06:32:19

Well, I suppose.  I have seen many clever ways to make rims on the BHO.  If this device were made much more sturdier and a way devised to glue up a tim and cut it inside and outside close to final dimensions, and a way was devised to hold the rim in a fixed position, I could envision smoothing the tim with this type of device.  It would be slow and dusty, but what the heck --it might work.

I might suggest , however, if you can get a lathe or access to a lathe, the cuts required to make the rim are learn-able by almost anyone in a short period of time.  This is the fastest and most efficient way to do this.  And the skills learned will make you a resonator also. 

However , not everyone has a lathe or has the space for a lathe, so this may be worth consideration and study.

ken