Does anyone know where I can find DFX code for f holes?
Does anyone know where I can find DFX code for f holes?
Ok I’ll ask. What the heck is DFX Code?
I think this guy wants someone to give him an Autodesk (Autocad) file containing the drawing instructions for f-holes, for example, to cut these f-holes using a CNC mill. But he spelled it wrong! He wants a "DXF file", not a "DFX code." DXF means "drawing interchange format." DFX means nothing.
I’m looking for code to feed to a CNC laser cutter to make an f hole template out of stainless steel to lay into a carved top to trace outlines prior to cutting out the f holes
I think stainless (or any metal) would be too hart to conform to arching, cutting it out of thick paper or plastic sheet that is easy to hold against top with scalpel is by far easiest way.
If you have CNC laser why not cut the holes right into the top like Collings does?
Adrian
Indeed, no need to mess with a template if you have a laser cutter. Georgia Luthier Supply has CAD drawings of guitar and mandolin plans. They have F5 plans that contain 2D vectors. You could lift what you need an modify to suit your needs.
Is it just me or does it seem to others as though this is a case of using a technology that is far more "advanced" than is necessary? A case of; "the technology exists, gotta use it!"?
I have a plexiglass f-hole template that I made by hand over 20 years ago, and I have been using it ever since. Probably for just as long, I've been putting off making a pin router jig to cut f-holes faster...
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
I think so too John. It's really easy to get caught up in what technology could do for you. It can be a rabbit hole.
I also use a handmade plastic template to mark things. I like to leave the f-holes small and open them up when it's strung up anyway. I don't think I would want them the same size for every build.
Where I was an apprentice 40+ years ago, I worked on a cupola where my journeyman partner let me go off and make a nice pivoting jig for the bandsaw to cut curved rafters. Took me about 4 hours to make the jig. When I got done, he showed me he had laid out, bandsawed and sanded the parts already. Kept that lesson with me since.
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Yes, but what if you'd been making 100 cupolas?Where I was an apprentice 40+ years ago, I worked on a cupola where my journeyman partner let me go off and make a nice pivoting jig for the bandsaw to cut curved rafters. Took me about 4 hours to make the jig. When I got done, he showed me he had laid out, bandsawed and sanded the parts already. Kept that lesson with me since.
Bill
IM(NS)HO
I don't think using technology is bad or too advanced. My opinion is that one should use just the technology he is comfortable with. If you want to use CNC you should know how to maintain it, feed it and program it, otherwise it is more or less just outsourcing of your own work and call it hand-made by you.
I still use thick paper template I made years ago, the edges are already getting worn but it will serve for at least another dozen instruments.
Adrian
How about a fret saw and a Sharp knife?
If you are building a mandolin using a CNC machine, then it makes sense to put together code for as much of the process as you can. I don't use a CNC machine myself, so paper F hole templates work just fine. No need for plexi. Also, I might want the holes a different size or in a different place or a slightly different shape on each mandolin. But if I were setting up a factory, this might not be the best method.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
Agree, that's why I suggested cutting the actual f holes into the top with the laser and skip the template altogether.
To me it seems like these days lots of folks are getting "into business" by getting CNC, hiring someone to program it or download some code from internet, have lots of jigs and forms made and then finish the instruments from the parts generated. I couldn't put my name on such thing. But I'm old school, I want to be the one who is involved in each and every step between raw materials and finished instrument.
Adrian
I don't think that's happening. It's way too complicated to just download some gcode, that wouldn't even work for something simple like a Stratocaster.
And I don't know any luthier with enough money to pay someone to program everything for all his parts. It would be way more time than the cost of the CNC machine. Maybe some people have a brother-in-law or something who will work for free or cheap to help them get up to speed, but that can't be something that's happening at any kind of scale.
I've been using sheet metal templates for laying out f-holes ever since I can remember. They are sufficiently flexible to conform to a mandolin top and will not wear out in my lifetime. I cut them with a jeweler's saw and a thin wood backing. I don't know what gauge they are. I got the metal 40 years ago when I was working in a can manufacturing plant. They were body blanks for "tin" cans. Thin plastic or cardboard can work fine. Use what you have access to.
As for using CNC, I don't want to knock it but for me, I enjoy working with my own hands and feel that it gives me a closer connection to each instrument I build.
https://www.instagram.com/apitiusmandolins/What is good Phaedrus? and what is not good? need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
Didn't someone once ask Martin why their guitar headstocks were more rounded than they used to be? Turned out that the template they'd been using for however many years had worn down and nobody had noticed.
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