Has anyone gone to a wood workshop with design+wood and gotten a CNC'd body?

[Ki swordsman]

I'm thinking of taking a body design in autocad and a block of alder or something to a simple workshop that has a cnc and getting a body cut hopefully a lot cheaper than buying from a luthier(i'll buy the neck from a luthier)..

anybody tried it before?

i have a few questions about it if anyone knows..
is a .dwg autocad file good to take? what specifics in a design does a cnc machine need to be able to cut it?

if anyone's done it- how much did it cost?

and lastly, how close to finished product will it come out? is there lots of touch up/sanding work to be done afterwards?

Thanks all!

[Ki swordsman]

or anyone who works with cnc that cantell me what specs in the file it needs?

[Jaden]

a CAD drawing is only half the story, the CAM (machine toolpaths) need to be programmed as well in my experience and that is a job in itself....

I recommend you buy a body or submit a drawing to a machine shop where you will have to pay for programming time.

The body is far from finished when it emerges from the CNC, sanding, output jack, drill thru's for pickup wiring and others depending on body type.

depending on the software at the machine shop, sometimes a fully 3D drawing is enough... but I only have experience with one type of CNC software so cant really comment

[Ki swordsman]

thanks for the info. i don't mind the finishing work, i've done it before, refinishing and modding bodies.

i knew about the programming work but didn't know how much it might cost, could you estimate what the CAM and CNC work might cost for a body?

btw, how much sanding? i thought a decent CNC machine would be very accurate and so only need finish sanding for the finish coats, not any shape sanding etc right?

[Jaden]

it depends on how good their CNC is.
if they have a toolchanger etc then there will be a better finish.
a machine without a toolchanger will most likely use a 1/2" bit to do the trem, pickup, neck and electrical pockets as well as the arm and tummy contouring.
it also depends on how many passes are made across contours as to how high the steps are, this stepped appearance is easily sanded off - the accuracy remains good, it depends on what tool is used.

the tool is changed for the lions claw of course.... that needs a round nose bit.

the suface of the timber should already be pretty good off the planer - depending on the quality of the machine so surface sanding depending on finish required should be minimal.

[Ki swordsman]

brilliant, thanks for that, it's great info

[courtney2018]

The language of CNC machines is called G-Code. If you model your guitar in a package like Unigraphics or Pro-E it can generate the G-Code for the CNC machine. At that point it's just a matter of feeding the file from the modeling program to the CNC. The CNC does the rest.

The above points from other people are still valid.

As for the cost of modeling the body or creating the G-Code if you already have a model file, it can be pretty "high". I say it like that because if you're not in the industry you might consider it a steep price. If I were doing it I would charge you about $70/hour.

If you already have a file then export that to a .igs or .stp file. Give that to anyone and they'll be able to bring it up in their software and create the G-Code. A decent programmer should be able to get it done in about 2 or 3 hours. The machining time shouldn't take that long, but make sure you ask for a finishing pass so you don't have to deburr and/or do alot finish sanding.

[MadRyan]

I actually program CNC mills for a living. Your best bet is to find someplace that has a CNC router, or at least a nice vertical mill with enough travel in the X and Y to accommodate your body. If you take your AutoCAD drawing with the 2D geometry all complete and there are no line fragments or anything like that and you have a print that shows how deep all the pockets need to be then there shouldn't be more than an hour of programming involved.

You're going to save a bunch of money if you don't mind doing the contours like the comfort cuts and any edge beveling with hand tools. A die grinder works great for carving out the contours and a router table with a roundover bit will do the edges great.

I'm not up on CNC routers because the stuff we do is all metal and plastic machining with the 4 CNC mills we have at work as well as the two CNC lathes we have. The shop next door is a cabinet shop and we've had them quote some stuff on their router because the thing has ten times the travel that our biggest mill has and for them to do some pretty basic stuff they wanted a whole bunch more than we would have charged for the same sort of part had we had the X/Y travel to do it. Evidently their router isn't very fast compared to our Okuma HMC.

Count on at least 3-4 hours total if all your ducks are in a row. Figure programming time, machine setup, actual cutting time etc. You're going to pay at least $60 an hour minimum for a cabinet shop to do any sort of programming or machine setup. We bill out our two pallet changing mills at something like $115 an hour which includes programming which since they're both 5-axis can get a little involved.

[Ki swordsman]

cool ,thanks VERY much for all the info everyone , i'm finishing up a couple of custom guitars at the moment and the next one will either be me finding someone to cnc or a luthier built body..

[rbjammin]

Why not use your money to buy a small band saw and a router and do the work yourself? That is, if you have the shop space.

[Ki swordsman]

yknow, i hadn't really considered it but it's certainly possible, i have a router, but no templates/experience/ or bandsaw...

[Lefty Robb]

Thats why you buy a ton of really cheap wood to practice on (old wood forklift pallets are a great source!!). Bandsaws are really really easy to use.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Ki swordsman

yknow, i hadn't really considered it but it's certainly possible, i have a router, but no templates/experience/ or bandsaw...

http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.c...tricguitar.htm

enjoy...
I have a CNC but Im in the UK... oz is along way from here...

[courtney2018]

Originally Posted by whatisshredding

http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.c...tricguitar.htm

enjoy...
I have a CNC but Im in the UK... oz is along way from here...

I bought a set of those off of e.B.a.y. ....probably from the same guy.