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Ken LeVan - Posted - 06/14/2015: 16:38:35
I have switched over to Rudy rods exclusively, except in the case of historic restoration, so I thought it would be interesting to share some pics -obviously, these are from different banjos, so you have to use your imagination.
Step 1: get rid of the old dowel stick
Step 2: plug the hole in the rim. I use a tapered plug epoxied in.
Now the hole is plugged.
Step 3: drill new holes:
Step 4:
Make the new dowel stick with a hole in the middle:
Now you have the hollow dowel, you make the rod that goes through the center with threaded ends:
You have to anchor the bolt in the heel, which is done with a threaded round or square rod that goes in through the heel:
This becomes the anchor for the rods - you can see how it works.
and here are the ends of the bolts which thread into the anchor, which has been inserted into the heel.
I use a "washer plate" which the dowel stick tightens against:
Here you can see how it works:
You have to cut the heel accurately, which I do with a 3 degree sled and a spindle sander.
This is not rocket science, and WAY too much energy is expended on making crazy jigs to do this. It's not that big a deal.
Tight fit:
SO,the whole thing gets assembled:
rudy - Posted - 06/14/2015: 18:33:34
I usually make my channeled dowels rectangular and tapered. It's quite easy to create the circular channel by running the rectangular stock over a 5/16" core box bit in a table mounted router. You can use the opportunity to add a contrasting center lamination and even add purchased inlay strips over the center joint if you like.
Once the two halves have been passed over the core box bit I simply clamp them together over a length of all thread to hold them in alignment after glue is applied to the mating surfaces. As soon as the glue sets up a bit you can pull the rod out and push a bit of dampened paper towel through the "bore" to clean up any excess glue squeeze out inside the channeled dowel.
Edited by - rudy on 06/14/2015 18:35:51
Ken LeVan - Posted - 06/15/2015: 14:19:17
The reason I use the second attachment is NOT because of sideways rotation, it's because of up-and down rocking. I choose to stop that dead in it's tracks. I can insert a small slip of sandpaper as a shim, and easily shim the neck.
In my logic, two tightening points are twice as good as one, and very easy to do at the front end, extremely difficult to do thereafter. That's why I make anchors with two threaded holes - If I never need to use the second one - c'est la vie - I wasted 10 minutes drilling a hole and threading it . I am not a gambler and am an adherent of Murphy's Law.
Do I need to do this" maybe not? What if I do?(Murphy's law)
It's like an adjustable truss rod - costs $10 - I will probably never need to adjust the neck - what if I do?
Anyway, you cover up the anchor with a heel cap, and the threaded hole in the top of the anchor doubles is a way to pull it out if you ever need to.
That's my take FWIW, Gibson was smart to have two rods, and Vega did that later on. Build in redundant fixes.Triple redundancy is best, but double is twice as good as none.
jamesinkster - Posted - 06/15/2015: 17:01:27
Hey Ken,
In this photo it looks like you're using a round rim bracket shoe (i think that's what it's called -- the hook goes through it?!) on the end of your dowel rod...
Is this the case?
If so -- how do you snug it down? Ideally I'd like to do exactly this -- the bracket shoe could hold my no-knot tailpiece and look like the rest of the rim... But I can't seem to figure out how I'd secure it tightly like you can with an acorn nut (and still maintain vertical alignment for the hole).
Thoughts?!
Thanks :)
Ken LeVan - Posted - 06/15/2015: 17:23:34
quote:
Originally posted by jamesinkster
Hey Ken,
In this photo it looks like you're using a round rim bracket shoe (i think that's what it's called -- the hook goes through it?!) on the end of your dowel rod...
Is this the case?
If so -- how do you snug it down? Ideally I'd like to do exactly this -- the bracket shoe could hold my no-knot tailpiece and look like the rest of the rim... But I can't seem to figure out how I'd secure it tightly like you can with an acorn nut (and still maintain vertical alignment for the hole).
Thoughts?!
Thanks :)
That's right. It's a ball bracket shoe I got from Bill Rickard. I thread the tailpiece end of the tension rod just about 1/4", put flux on it, screw on the ball bracket tightly and sweat solder it with regular plumbing solder so it doesn't turn.
That way, I can use that bracket shoe-tension rod assembly to tighten the tension rod and it becomes the tailpiece lug -exactly like the ones used on Vega dowel sticks. Tighten it to the nearest half-turn that makes the hole line up properly, just like on the old Vega ones.
rudy - Posted - 06/16/2015: 11:37:56
quote:
Originally posted by jamesinksterLast (hopefully quick) question...
With your little spindle sander + sled setup you're using for the heel profile, how do you cut the notch for the tension hoop?
I was playing around with a similar setup last night with a drum sander on my drill press and started making a mess. I think I'm going to step back and try to profile it with a rasp and some files, instead... the tension hoop notch is the hard part though :(
If I may butt in...
I do use a different setup for sanding the heel profile than Ken uses and I cut the tension band notch separately.
I've found nothing better than the following setup I use with a foot-controlled momentary switch to control the rotary hobby tool.
It can quickly be configured to match any radius I wish, and I take 1/16" light cuts advancing the cutter downward after each pass with the drill press quill feed. The cutter is a carbide tipped straight 1/8" shank router bit. Before I knew any better I used the ubiquitous Dremel #115 burr, which is next to useless for anything approaching serious work.
For self explanatory reasons the FIRST STEP in this setup is to UNPLUG the drill press and drape the plug over the quill feed where it's obvious.
Edited by - rudy on 06/16/2015 11:46:28
Ken LeVan - Posted - 06/16/2015: 14:23:07
One of the most wonderful things about the Rudy rod is the ability to tweak the neck-to-rim relationship easily without a dowel stick of lag bolts in the way. That's what I love about the Rudy rod so much.
Part of my setup is to "dry-fit" the neck to the fully assembled pot, determine the centerline using a mason's line, and then get it exactly right
If this is off by a gazillionth of a degree, it's not right. With the simple 3 degree sled, I can tweak it in a heartbeat- a pencil line on the neck, and I sand it to that. Much easier than chisels and gouges, which I did for 40 years. - yes, it's ugly and requires skill, but it gets you there.
Nowadays use a Dremel to fine-tune the "gap" where the fingerboard almost meets the tension hoop. I have made a number of jigs to cut the concave radius in the heel - you want to have gap where you can slip a piece of paper.
If your heel angle below the fingerboard is off by a little, you have to to tweak it, which I can do easily with the sled -pencil line- spindle dander-dry fit, etc. WAY SO MUCH EASIER than chisels and gouges, and infinitely adjustable by your eye alone.
I have never been able to make some cutting device that whacks them out perfectly one after one inasmuch as all my necks are a little different.
rudy - Posted - 06/16/2015: 15:31:46
You can also temporarily bolt a neck to the rim to check the fit without the need to add the channeled dowel rod. Here's a shot of a replacement neck being fitted to an older rim, the neck fit can be adjusted easily by taking it off and on before committing to final assembly with a channeled dowel rod. in this case it can be removed and reinstalled in very short order with a 7/16" nut driver.
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