Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

Moderators: kiwigeo, Jeremy D

Post Reply
User avatar
ozziebluesman
Blackwood
Posts: 1529
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:12 am
Location: Townsville
Contact:

Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by ozziebluesman » Fri Apr 06, 2018 10:28 am

Sorry if this has been done before but I can't find much help on the net for modifying my old 3 inch, 6 inch rosette cutter so I can cut a 2 inch ukulele sound hole. As you see in the pic I have a piece of nice wood to make some guitar and ukulele rosette tiles out of. The old jig will do all channels but the channel I need to cut for the ukulele inner 55 mm rosette channel is not possible. I really only need it to be able to cut the 55 mm rosette measurement as I use Michaels brass manual cutter with great success. If there is a thread on here or someone knows where some good mod pics are available I would be most grateful. Cheers Alan
Attachments
rosette9.JPG
rosette9.JPG (54.42 KiB) Viewed 22228 times
rosette8.JPG
rosette8.JPG (44.44 KiB) Viewed 22228 times
"Play to express, not to impress"

Alan Hamley

http://www.hamleyfineguitars.com/

User avatar
graham mcdonald
Blackwood
Posts: 472
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:57 am
Location: Canberra
Contact:

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by graham mcdonald » Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:23 pm

A couple of ideas. Drill two more countersunk holes in the base plate further up towards the slidy bit and enlarge the wedge shape cutout so the Dremel holder part is closer to the slidy bit. Or if you just want something to cut the sound hole, get a piece of 3mm perspex, drill two countersunk to mount the dremel holder and another 3/16” hole far enough away so the right size hole is cut. I made one up with four holes for different sized uke soundholes. I am away from home over the weekend so I don’t have access to the photos, but I can post them on Monday if you want. I use cheap Chines downcut bits and worked the hole positions out for a 1.5mm bit.

Cheers
Graham McDonald
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com

User avatar
Allen
Blackwood
Posts: 5252
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:39 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia
Contact:

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by Allen » Sat Apr 07, 2018 3:26 pm

I did Grahams first suggestion to mine.
Allen R. McFarlen
https://www.brguitars.com
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

User avatar
ozziebluesman
Blackwood
Posts: 1529
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:12 am
Location: Townsville
Contact:

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by ozziebluesman » Sat Apr 07, 2018 7:11 pm

Thank you Graham and Allen for your suggestions.
I see Stew Mac have a new router dremel setup that will do what I want but I will do as you suggested.
Graham a pictures are always great so when your home I would like to see what you have designed.
Thank you
Alan
"Play to express, not to impress"

Alan Hamley

http://www.hamleyfineguitars.com/

blackalex1952
Blackwood
Posts: 776
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: North East Victoria

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by blackalex1952 » Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:32 am

Trevor Gore...Where do you get the precision aftermarket collets and bits? Ross
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

User avatar
Trevor Gore
Blackwood
Posts: 1605
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by Trevor Gore » Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:01 pm

blackalex1952 wrote:
Sun Apr 08, 2018 10:32 am
Trevor Gore...Where do you get the precision aftermarket collets and bits? Ross
Precise Bits

User avatar
graham mcdonald
Blackwood
Posts: 472
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:57 am
Location: Canberra
Contact:

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by graham mcdonald » Mon Apr 09, 2018 3:03 pm

Here are a couple of pics of the modified StewMac base.Should be self-explanatory.
dremel_mod_1.jpg
dremel_mod _2.jpg
And one of the very simple piece of perspex with four holes (of which only two are visible) to cut four sizes of uke soundhole. The other two holes are behind the Dremel base. Otherwise they would be too close together.
Soundhole cutter1.jpg
To have a really versatile jig, something like this one Beau Hannam had a friend with a CNC make would be the dogs dangly bits. I want one!
spiral routing jig.jpg
Cheers
Graham McDonald
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com

lauburu
Blackwood
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:25 am
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by lauburu » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:21 am

I've been absent for the last 12 months or so - renovating house, sell house, renovate shack, rent shack, try to retire but clients keep calling, move to beach, buy house.............and now about to build a proper workshop. Will advise of progress.

Anyway, one of my clients owed me a favour so I asked him to do a circle cutter for a Stewmac gizmo as shown above. This is what he came up with. Feel free to make a perspex version. I have it in dxf format but that file format is not supported so PM me if you want a copy.
Spiral Circle Cutter.pdf
(4.39 KiB) Downloaded 456 times

lauburu
Blackwood
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:25 am
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by lauburu » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:50 am

Mmmm. The PDF file only shows a segment of the template. Will try to rectify

lauburu
Blackwood
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:25 am
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by lauburu » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:30 pm

OK. This pdf shows what the base will look like. It's on an A3 sheet so I've got no way of knowing if it's to scale or not. However, the dxf file will be completely accurate. Happy to email dxf if you PM me.
Spiral Circle Cutter2.pdf
(8.58 KiB) Downloaded 546 times
Miguel

User avatar
kiwigeo
Admin
Posts: 10582
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 5:57 pm
Location: Adelaide, Sth Australia

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by kiwigeo » Sun Apr 15, 2018 7:50 pm

Hold your horses lads....it looks like Stewmac have just released their official version of the "dogs dangly bits:: http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Ty ... _Base.html
Martin

lauburu
Blackwood
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:25 am
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by lauburu » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:06 am

Note to self: 1. Win Lotto 2. Buy dog's dangly bits

Miguel

simso
Blackwood
Posts: 1768
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:36 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by simso » Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:06 am

You have to give them credit.

If they see a good idea, they will run with it and mass produce it.

Steve
Steve
Master of nothing,

Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

blackalex1952
Blackwood
Posts: 776
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: North East Victoria

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:06 pm

This one too if you need one? One use that comes to mind would be for a back slanted saddle pocket. In fact on further inspection of the link that is exactly what they demonstrate on the "learn" tab on the page. http://www.stewmac.com/SiteSearch/?sear ... ter%20base
Ross
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

User avatar
ozziebluesman
Blackwood
Posts: 1529
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:12 am
Location: Townsville
Contact:

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by ozziebluesman » Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:24 pm

Thanks everyone for your input.
Thanks for the pics Graham I eneded up doing the same modification and the jig will now cut all Ukulele soundholes and rosette channel sizes as well as the guitar work it was originally designed for.
Cheers
Alan
"Play to express, not to impress"

Alan Hamley

http://www.hamleyfineguitars.com/

User avatar
Mark McLean
Blackwood
Posts: 1084
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:03 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by Mark McLean » Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:51 pm

blackalex1952 wrote:
Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:06 pm
This one too if you need one? One use that comes to mind would be for a back slanted saddle pocket. In fact on further inspection of the link that is exactly what they demonstrate on the "learn" tab on the page. http://www.stewmac.com/SiteSearch/?sear ... ter%20base
Ross
$75 for a thing that will allow you to cut a slanted saddle slot?
I remember Bob Connor recommending that you put a paddle-pop stick under one edge of your router base to make a slot that is slanted about 5 degrees off vertical. That always struck me as one of the all time great cheap tricks to achieve a clever result.

User avatar
kiwigeo
Admin
Posts: 10582
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 5:57 pm
Location: Adelaide, Sth Australia

Re: Stewmac Rosette soundhole cutter jig

Post by kiwigeo » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:39 am

Mark McLean wrote:
Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:51 pm

I remember Bob Connor recommending that you put a paddle-pop stick under one edge of your router base to make a slot that is slanted about 5 degrees off vertical. That always struck me as one of the all time great cheap tricks to achieve a clever result.
Careful Mark, Stewmac monitors this forum. Expect to see a $75 paddle pop with a Stewmac logo on it appearing in their catalogue next week.
Martin

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 111 guests