DIY Duplicating Rig

[BEJ]

Have been working on a neck/bridge duplicating machine for the past few weeks. First attempt was a POS and I lost interest but saw a better plan on Y Tube and resumed the project.
The 2nd effort uses a lot more roller bearings and runs a lot smoother almost with no resistance. Still somewhat of a kludge but less kludger(sp) that the 1st attempt.
I have to make a real clean and straight master neck to dup the next few days and then will do the 1st trial. Will also do a bridge. I have a 1/8" and 1/4" ball mill cutters, will try the 1/4" first and see how it goes. A few pics....

Bruce,

[BEJ]

A few more pics....I'm going to use it to mostly carve the neck, will do the head stock with bandsaw/spindle sander and the base with router and guide jig.

[TEETERFAN]

Looks good! You certainly are putting a lot of effort. Hopefully your work will produce a useful addition to your shop!

[BEJ]

So true, spent a lot of time getting the right # of washers to best center the bearing on the conduit and to track without any slop. Must have reworked every part of the set up at least 2-3 times before I was alright with it. Sometimes like making tools/jigs more than making the guitars.
Planning to use the set up to RO about 95% of the neck and fine tune the rest by hand. Will see how it goes.

Bruce,

[BEJ]

An update on this project. After the 1st attempt neck the surface was pretty rough and I was disappointed in the results. Thus I set the rig aside, but in the long run I couldn't give up on it. So out it came.

Since building the addition on the shop I have a lot most space in the primary shop so I thought if I build a cart/stand for the duper and give it a second chance.

I had the wheels, drawer slides, drawer handles and some plywood already so it was nice to use this stuff instead of collecting dust. Just had to add a few drawers, never have too many.

I think I will add an1/8" or so all the way around on the dup pattern and do more filing/sanding out for final finish. ...a few pics.

[Skarsaune]

I've got one of the old Duplicarvers in the corner of the shop.
My brother-in-law picked it up but never used it - went to a pretty big CNC for his stuff.
Now it sits in the corner of my shop, and I still do necks by hand, sometimes on my CNC.

I had the same idea - there are a couple necks that I love, and I wanted to reproduce them precisely.
What I do now is just keep carving and checking with a profile gage I made. Its' working ok.

[Bob Gleason]

I also had one of those Marlin Dupliccarvers. It did not turn out to be practical for necks. A time consuming carver. I sold it to a guy who uses it to carver cement yard ornaments. Probably a better use for it!