[MrMDK]

I am thinking about buying a legacy 5 axis.
I am cuting guitar necks. I was hoping to one off a few proto types first.

Anyone in Southern Oregon?
Rouge valley?

My files are ready to go. cam needs to be done.

Mark

[mmoe]

I'm in Seattle, but you're free to do it here if you ever get up this way.

I would recommend sticking with a 3 axis if all you plan to do is guitar necks. I worked for Gibson for a number of years and built many guitars on my own as well (both flattops and electrics). There really isn't any need for 5 axis to make guitar necks (unless they are really unusual). You just fixture the machine differently than you are probably imagining. A 5 axis will just cost a lot more both for the machine and for the software. It will also likely be less rigid, unless you spend a fortune.

For 3 axis, you can still use multiaxis strategies for machining the neck which help produce a better cut. Look for a package with a "Between 2 Curves" morphing style toolpath, which drives the bit more evenly along the surface than a standard back and forth style strategy by following the surface in divided intervals rather than going in straight lines and finding where the lines intersect with the surface. You don't need a multi-axis machine to make use of this kind of strategy if you fixture a 3 axis properly. The strategy makes the bigger difference than the multi-axis machine in this case, since all parts of the neck can be reached properly with a 3 axis anyways. Just my 2 cents.

[MrMDK]

I am headed to seattle in a week or so....??!!

I have cut gun stalks on a 5 axis. It is so much easier to cut parts. It speeds things up quit a bit.
Yes Guitar necks are not Gun stalks but same principal.
the necks I have are a bit different but not by much.

The legacy systems are pretty nice. $15k for a 5 axis hybrid that will do exsactly what I am looking for.

give me a call if it would be ok to step in and cut a few parts.
541 291 8388
Mark

[ger21]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the legacy is not a 5 axis machine, but a 3 axis + rotary with a manually tilting spindle. For anything other than ornamental turnings, it's really just a standard rotary axis.

[MrMDK]

no you are right.... kinda....

they call it a hybrid.
Its not a true 5 axis... its more like a 4.25 axis.... For spindle work and gun stalks its perfect.
I am not a big fan of mack3.... matter of fact I hate it but no matter what its a very quality cnc for 15k.
It is hard to find a cnc that will do what they do for the price. UNLESS YOU CAN POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!!???

Mark

[ger21]

but no matter what its a very quality cnc for 15k.

That would depend on who you ask. Chances are that if something similar costs a lot more, there's a reason.

[mmoe]

I am headed to seattle in a week or so....??!!

I have cut gun stalks on a 5 axis. It is so much easier to cut parts. It speeds things up quit a bit.
Yes Guitar necks are not Gun stalks but same principal.
the necks I have are a bit different but not by much.

The legacy systems are pretty nice. $15k for a 5 axis hybrid that will do exsactly what I am looking for.

give me a call if it would be ok to step in and cut a few parts.
541 291 8388
Mark

A week or so would be fine. I'm going to be having a lot of company in early November, so as long as it's before the end of October or after the 15th of November it would work fine for me. My machine is a 3 axis, but we should be able to prototype the neck out anyways. It would probably be a good idea to send your files ahead of time so I can have them ready to cut. You can email me at moeshop at speakeasy (.) net. I can send my contact info when I get an email from you.

While we won't likely have time to fixture the machine properly (which also only makes sense if you're going to make quite a few of them), here's a look at how I'd set up a guitar neck on a 3 axis for production. A ball end which is more technically a "lollipop" cutter (ball is larger than the shaft) allows you to cut the entire profile of a neck all at once without changing the head angle, while the fixture keeps the headstock square to the machine for drilling the tuner holes and routing the square edge around the headstock. If you have an undercut to the neck heel, you just use a big enough ball to provide clearance. This setup provides a two step process for necks.

First (not shown), you machine the fretboard side of the neck including the trussrod slot and the angle to the headstock. You also drill indexing pin holes for lining the fretboard up with the neck later. Next, you flip the neck stock over and mount it (using the indexing pins for registration) to the fixture. This fixture allows the entire neck to be profiled and contoured, as well as drilled out for the tuners. One setup for the front, one setup the back and you're done. If you're efficient, you make the fixture hold a front and a back so that you can get one completed neck per cycle. I don't yet have a toolchanger, but if I were producing necks with any frequency, I'd be prioritizing a toolchanger over any kind of multiaxis motion. The multiaxis will not save you much if anything in terms of cycle times, but having a toolchanger vs. not having one will probably cut your time by 25% on guitar necks.

[mmoe]

If you go to about the 3 minute mark of this video, you'll see how they up the necks for 3d profiling. It doesn't show everything there, and if you want to see the first steps you should start with the "Part 1" video, but it does show what I mean about the lollipop cutter and cutting the neck on an angle as I showed. Keep in mind that if Gibson thought using 5 axis to cut these out was better, they'd do so as money was not a factor in their process engineering. It definitely would have been much more difficult, which is probably a factor in their decision since you couldn't just pop out a toolpath in an hour back then. If I remember correctly, they used to employ several engineers who worked on toolpathing the Fadal before you could do it as easily as you can now (I worked there in the early 90's). I didn't pay much attention at the time, but I do remember many 2d CAD drawings up in the engineering offices that were likely manual representations of the toolpaths needed to cut the parts, which were likely then translated to G-code manually as well since 3d contouring was not something easily automated in the late 80's/early 90's. I feel like I remember that it took a very long time to create a new neck profile/design (months) which you could now do in 3 or 4 days using solids/surfaces and modern CAM.

At any rate, I'd still recommend prioritizing a tool changer over having 5 axis of motion. My machine can toolchange between several heads, so it's able to cut a guitar neck without changing the tools out, but even with that I hope to upgrade to a toolchanging head next year (have one laying around, just need to get it installed. If you get up to Seattle, we can chat more about guitar specific machine designs/considerations then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp_P...aASmw&index=31