Home made luthier/shop tools

[Lightyear]

I solved my fret press dilema - being that I don't have one   I was thinking I coulp put the StewMac caul in my drill press to set fret and did a Google search and Voila!  Instant fret press!

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=3972

For the amount of fretting I'll be doing this should work just fine - I will make a cradle though.

[Highlander]

Very neat...

[dadagoboi]

My brother is a steamfitter and had 2 of these portabands.  I made a table out of some scrap and used the handle to hold it in place.  Works really well for cutting aluminum pup rings or pot metal bridges.

[Greg_M]

Shadow gave me a great idea.  Let's post pictures/descriptions of our home made tools we use in our building/rehabbing shops.  I'll kick things off with my home made fret press.  It's a $49 Harbor Freight arbor press and a Stew Mac fret caul set up.  Works great and I can use it to press other stuff as well.

I have the arbor press. Does the "fret caul" have a built in arc to it to match the fret board?
Or is it flat or how does that work?

[Dave W]

The fret caul is designed to accept brass inserts with different radii. You have to drill a hole in the arbor press ram to accept the shank of the caul.

[Greg_M]

So is it a flexible blade or something?

[drbassman]

The cauls and the bracket are available from Stew-Mac online.  The have a radius in various sizes, like 7.5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 20.  Check out their site, there's lots of good info on them.  Each fret board has a curve and you have to bend the frets to install them and either press or hammer them in.

[Dave W]

Stew Mac caul and inserts

They aren't flexible.

[drbassman]

Stew Mac caul and inserts

They aren't flexible.

I said "you have to bend the frets" not the cauls.  Meaning the fret wire, of course.

[Dave W]

I said "you have to bend the frets" not the cauls.  Meaning the fret wire, of course.

Right, but Greg asked if the inserts were flexible blades.

[drbassman]

Right, but Greg asked if the inserts were flexible blades.

That didn't sink in!  My mild dyslexia trips me up occasionally.

[Greg_M]

Just wondered how one tool could accommodate all the radii and the answer is it doesn't.
Nice kit, but a bit on the spendy side
I'm a bit surprised there are standards that all the various manufacturers adhere to.

[Dave W]

IMHO not really expensive for a specialty tool.

Some Stew-Mac stuff is quite high, depends on how much use you get out of it and how much time you can save if you're in the business of building or repairing. Some other stuff is reasonable when you consider it's small batch manufacturing or having to buy small numbers an existing tool and having it modified to their specs.

And if you're not in business and have more time than money, sometimes you can come up with a solution that doesn't require a lot of cash.

[drbassman]

Just wondered how one tool could accommodate all the radii and the answer is it doesn't.
Nice kit, but a bit on the spendy side
I'm a bit surprised there are standards that all the various manufacturers adhere to.

Actually, it can accommodate just about any common radius, unless you have something really unusual in mind.  I have 6 or 7 of the cauls and they work quite well.  As for standards, that'll never happen.  Everyone has their own idea of what's best for a particular instrument.

[Highlander]

Reckon it might be worth updating this with your new goodies, Bill...?

Carlo's bound to have a bit of input that's worthwhile too...