Blender, Rhino, Aspire or Fusion 360 for guitar design and milling?

Have been working with Fusion 360 for about 6 months and have milled a few guitar bodies both semi-hollow and solid and pickguards, done a little engraving - but making necks is proving to be rather difficult. Just wondering if any of the other programs are a tad easier to learn? After all, not interested in rendering or making models but real world guitars.

I second that!!!

Lets, make them...........
I see there is trouble with the tele neck model. ?
I do neck surfacing on an older cad ( from last century ) ...
And have no idea about fusion and its surfacing capabilities.
.

I've been mucking about in Fusion360 trying to get a neck profiled. I've basically had some success, but lots of tweaks to do.

Fretman, Do you have the profile at zero fret defined ? and the nut width ? thickness ? width at the heel pocket ? a sketch of your headstock design ? Cad file of the scale length ?

it doesn't matter what system you have, it is a geometric procedure to follow.

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but making necks is proving to be rather difficult. Just wondering if any of the other programs are a tad easier to learn?

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A guitar neck is one of the most difficult things to model.

Generally, learning the methods and processes is more important than learning the software. Meaning that regardless of the software, you'd generally go about it in a similar method, but using different commands, depending on the software.

I would watch as many tutorials as possible, regardless of the software used, to see the approaches being used. You may find that there are much better methods to use, and learn things you normally would never think of on your own.

There are a lot of tutorials on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+neck+modeling

I would expect Rhino to have a similar learning curve to Fusion 360, but it would be a quite different learning curve, as Rhino is a lot different from Fusion 360.
But I would say that these two would be the best choice.

Blender would have a steeper learning curve, as it has a variety of different types of modelling tools to use. But it's free.

Personally, I would not recommend using Aspire as a 3D modeling tool. It's designed to model 3D reliefs, and is not a CAD or 3D modeler. I know that quite a few people use it as an all purpose modeler, but I don't think it's the best choice.

That young guy gives a good insight / explanation on Rhino based on the others I have seen I think it would be the way to go .Even if you got the c shaped neck profile done and hand finished the rest you will see most big shops hand finish anyway,just a few thoughts .

I do have a profile at zero fret, nut width and width at heel pocket. What I've done so far is to do a loft of profiles from about the 15th fret to the nut. Then I extruded the heel and peg head shapes, then lofted between the neck profiles and the peg head and heel shapes. That got me a basic 3D neck...below. It does not have the fretboard attached.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=388344&stc=1

Good start, this surfacing is tricky,
it is all about the boundary and control curves
I have had to teach this to many programmers,
Not easy over the forum.
I am using a year2000 software which can surface anything 100% control

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Originally Posted by ger21

A guitar neck is one of the most difficult things to model.

Generally, learning the methods and processes is more important than learning the software. Meaning that regardless of the software, you'd generally go about it in a similar method, but using different commands, depending on the software.

I would watch as many tutorials as possible, regardless of the software used, to see the approaches being used. You may find that there are much better methods to use, and learn things you normally would never think of on your own.

There are a lot of tutorials on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+neck+modeling

I would expect Rhino to have a similar learning curve to Fusion 360, but it would be a quite different learning curve, as Rhino is a lot different from Fusion 360.
But I would say that these two would be the best choice.

Blender would have a steeper learning curve, as it has a variety of different types of modelling tools to use. But it's free.

Personally, I would not recommend using Aspire as a 3D modeling tool. It's designed to model 3D reliefs, and is not a CAD or 3D modeler. I know that quite a few people use it as an all purpose modeler, but I don't think it's the best choice.

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Thanks much - been watching lots of youtube videos - very few good neck videos - only a couple really that are of a high enough quality to learn techniques from. That said, the best is a guy in England that makes a neck in Rhino - it looks much easier to do than in Fusion. Haven't see necks done in Fusion that are quite sleek enough IMO - nearly every one has a serious flaw or weird transition or loft. Not that it can't be done - just haven't seen one done with a nice gradual smooth transition between headstock and neck or neck and heel. Most of the gallery guitar photos are of models with fretboards, frets, side markers, nuts, fret markers, truss rods, etc. - all the stuff that isn't needed in milling a guitar with a CNC - I can prepare a fretboard in a fraction of the time it takes machine to mill - so really only need the neck contour, profile and truss rod channel. Apparently I'll just have to keep plugging away in Fusion. Rhino is too expensive for me currently.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=388572&stc=1 http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=388574&stc=1

This shows the semi-hollow body, f-hole and picguard in Fusion and then after milling. Hey, looks like Fretman_2 is on the right track with that neck - how many planes did you have to setup for this?

I guess it was only 4 planes if I'm understanding you correctly. Two profiles at the nut and 15th fret each, then the heel and peg head shapes respectively. I lofted the two profiles together, then extruded the heel and peg head shapes, then lofted the three parts together. Next I want to understand the settings for the rough passes, then the settings for fine passes so I can generate the gcode. I'm going to do a test on a piece of pine.

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Originally Posted by VGcustomsho
p;2160148

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=388572&stc=1 http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...d=388574&stc=1

This shows the semi-hollow body, f-hole and picguard in Fusion and then after milling. Hey, looks like Fretman_2 is on the right track with that neck - how many planes did you have to setup for this?

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Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't screen for competency. ;) If it did, there would be a lot less videos.

:D Yes there are some scary advice givers out there that's for sure .I have seen a guy build a guitar body with a couple of routing templates band saw and a belt sander in about 1/2 hour it's more practical for one offs .

Downloaded demos for Rhino, AC3D, MoI and BobCAD/CAM. After trying these and spending the last 6 months working with Fusion 360 it's fairly clear that guitar neck transitions and other similar models can be made on any of these programs. The key is which one is easiest to learn and has the fastest work flow - as spare time is rare. To be truly proficient at any of these programs requires time, training, patience and practice - there are no short cuts. So, will have to continue with Fusion until my skills are good enough to produce a neck that is worthy of milling. In the meantime bodies, pickguards, jigs and templates are easy to make with the machines. Hopefully will be able to model a neck I like in a year.

VG, let's just bang a model out and cut it. I am doing the LP neck today
you are correct most any software that can do surfaces can do necks.
How ? you nay want to know. PM me

Hi all! I have just ordered a laguna cnc with the rhino software for guitar building. I am brand new to cnc besides having my current guy cut my bodies on his cnc. He uses bobcad and aspire and has all my drawing in those programs. What format will Rhino take for me to be able to use those files?

Thanks,
Anthony
Moxy Guitars

Congratulations on your new endeavor! Heard great things about that machine and program.

Thanks very much for the advice - recently have been trying to find a program that I can actually own - BobCAD price was high but they agreed to give me the package for the hobby fee - so now I can dedicate my time to learning one program that isn't cloud based - at least that's the plan. Spend about 4 hours last night working on necks in Fusion and made some progress - did it by watching videos as you suggested. The best one was a BobCAD video that shows a great way to transition and loft neck areas . . . again many thanks for sharing your expertise!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ger21

A guitar neck is one of the most difficult things to model.

Generally, learning the methods and processes is more important than learning the software. Meaning that regardless of the software, you'd generally go about it in a similar method, but using different commands, depending on the software.

I would watch as many tutorials as possible, regardless of the software used, to see the approaches being used. You may find that there are much better methods to use, and learn things you normally would never think of on your own.

There are a lot of tutorials on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+neck+modeling

I would expect Rhino to have a similar learning curve to Fusion 360, but it would be a quite different learning curve, as Rhino is a lot different from Fusion 360.
But I would say that these two would be the best choice.

Blender would have a steeper learning curve, as it has a variety of different types of modelling tools to use. But it's free.

Personally, I would not recommend using Aspire as a 3D modeling tool. It's designed to model 3D reliefs, and is not a CAD or 3D modeler. I know that quite a few people use it as an all purpose modeler, but I don't think it's the best choice.

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Thanks very much for the advice - recently have been trying to find a program that I can actually own - BobCAD price was high but they agreed to give me the package for the hobby fee - so now I can dedicate my time to learning one program that isn't cloud based - at least that's the plan. Spend about 4 hours last night working on necks in Fusion and made some progress - did it by watching videos as you suggested. The best one was a BobCAD video that shows a great way to transition and loft neck areas . . . again many thanks for sharing your expertise!