Things With Strings

I saw a piece of scrap offset in my bin that got me wondering about whether to try cutting some thin slices of wood and laminating curved sections. I tried to bend the piece of scrap around an 11" diameter MDF circle I'd made previously and I was quite surprised just how flexible the piece of scrap was. The scrap was varying in thickness, but one outer edge was about 0.15 inches. The photos show how easily it bent, and this was just dry, no steam or water involved. I might try laminating a few layers out of curiosity. scrap and 11"MDF disk test bend

I'm still experimenting with things really, and decided to try a different approach for the next segment layer. This time I thought I'd make a octagon using 45 degree scarf joints. There are a number of reasons why. I'd had difficulty with the mitred angles on the previous layer, and using scarf joints means half the number of angles to using equal angles each side of the block. Half the angles means the cumulative error is going to be less if anything is off (in theory). The wood I have is a not really as deep as I would like, and doing it this way means initially I only need to get one side and one face squared. The other face can be fixed after gluing the segments. I don't have to worry about the length or width of each segment providing they are above the minimum requirement. On the downside, the glue-up is tricker as I found out later. So here is how it works out in sketchup 11 inch segmented rim using 45 degree scarf joints First off, I trued up t...

I was a bit nervous about 14 shoes being able to handle the tension, so I decided to re-model the bracket band with 18 shoes. This time I left a larder space between two of them to accommodate the neck, then evenly spaced the shoes around the remainder of the circumference. new bracket band model with 18 shoes For comparison, here is the old model. No idea why the colours are reversed, there's probably a logical explanation somewhere. old bracket band model with 14 evenly spaced shoes

Things are moving a little quicker now due to being able to square-up the stock faster due primarily to a jig I made for that purpose, hence I managed to get two layers done for the banjolele this weekend. I'd planned to work on the banjo rim, but avoiding nail holes, knots etc. left me with insufficient pieces for an 11" rim, but plenty for an 8" rim. Each layer is quite different in density and cloud, but I'm hoping it will hold together and look decent. The layers were 1" deep, as opposed to the 3/4" of the first one I made. The first one was quite yellow in colour, and I think I'll use that as the middle layer. It will probably end up looking like a cheese sandwich. Two layers glued and clamped I'm now quite looking forward to the next steps which will involve ensuring each layer is flat and then gluing them together. I'm not sure yet whether I'll sand the layers flat or try to use the router, I'll have to sleep on it. Part 3 ...

I'm only a beginner at Sketchup modelling, but have found it really helps to visualise what parts are going to look like, and to ensure everything is going to fit together correctly. I designed a bracket band which I intent to make from a 3/4" x 1/8" brass bar and 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/8" brass angle stock. My skills in Sketchup don't run to  rounding-off corners yet which I plan to do on the actual build, but the picture gives good idea of what I'm aiming for. Sketchup model of bracket band I've calculated that evenly spacing 14 shoes will just about allow for the neck to fit between two of them. Edit : I re-modelled this  Bracket band Sketchup model #2

After a few practice attempts (aka false starts) at making rim segments last year, this weekend I had my first proper crack at it. The problems I'd run into previously were mainly due to starting off with non-squared stock material. This time I picked a ropey log from the pile of pallet wood I have (allegedly Mango, but could be anything) and squared it up. This particular piece was not the best, mainly consisting of knots, nail holes and worm holes and a little bit of wood holding everything together. I don't want to screw up on something that was too nice, but what started off as a fairly substantial piece only yielded enough wood to make one 12-segment layer for the banjolele. Anyway, once I'd squared up the stock, I needed to cut the segments at 15 degrees on the mitre saw. The calculation to get the correct angle to set the mitre saw for segmented is (360 / #segments) / 2 which is where the 15 degrees comes from in this case. First problem! My mitre saw had fix...

Before I get onto anything banjo related, I have to say how sad it was to hear of the death of David Bowie this morning. One of life's true originals, the world has lost one of it's most colourful characters. In part 1 I said I'd made a big mistake that would be revealed when I took the clamps off. When I cut the scarf joint, I somehow (goodness knows how) made a mis-calculation on where to start the cut. I think it's because I was trying to build in a margin for error, so didn't follow my drawing, and instead of a margin for error I just got an error. Pretty embarrassing for a guy with a degree in mathematics eh? Anyway, here is the unclamped piece, prior to clean-up. clamps removed Did you spot it? The headstock is too short (aaarrrggghhhh). Here is a close-up. the stubby headstock However, I realised after a few minutes of cursing, that it's actually not too bad at all, because correspondingly, the neck part is too long, and the headstoc...

Buoyed up by yesterdays scarf joint jig success and the cutting of the banjolele neck , I decided to start on the banjo neck. First off, I made an "improvement" to the scarf joint jig. A problem with the previous one was that because the part that was cut off was unclamped, there was a bit of tear out. So I adapted the jig in order that I could clamp the workpiece in two places. Like this... adapted scarf joint jig Yeah, I know what you are thinking, "he's going to cut his clamps in half". There is clearance though. clearance for the blade? However, I made two downright stupid errors! The first, and most stupid error was that I placed the clamp nearest the blade the wrong side of the cut. Duh! And the second was that I shouldn't have cut all the way through the fence, because I ended up having to place a wedge in it to prevent the clamp squeezing it shut. Anyway I did spot the second error before making the cut, but not the first one, ...

Continuing the banjolele neck I started yesterday (link here ) I couldn't wait 24 hours, so after 23 hours I took the clamps off. Actually, the reason was that I needed the clamps for my banjo neck, and I figured 24 hours was just an arbitrary number anyway and that if days were 23 hours instead of 24 it would have said 23. Anyway I digress. I hadn't got the clamping 100% right, because although the joint was good, the head was very slightly askew, so I cleaned it up on the table saw. I will sand the top level though before fixing the fingerboard. Here how it looks now. The scarf joint is very hard to see, it starts somewhere close to the fold on the cloth that the neck is laid on. I have to say that I'm fairly happy with it at this point. the neck after gluing the scarf joint

Delayed first by bird table, and then by the flu (not bird flu), I wanted to get back to some building. I took some measurements from one of my son's ukulele's and drew up some sketches for the banjolele in order to get the dimensions for the neck, and got to work on the build. First off, I cut off and cleaned up a piece of mahogany that I had. It's probably not real mahogany, just something in the same family. The piece I cut off was about 19" x 2.5" x 1.5" cleaned up neck blank Next, I made a jig for the table saw that would allow me to cut a scarf joint at a 15 degree angle for the headstock. I wanted this cut to be clean, so I put a decent Freud blade in the table saw. It actually turned out pretty good. 15 degree scarf joint jig Then it was time for the glue-up. This was a bit tricker than it looked, as it really wanted to move around when it was clamped, but I managed it in the end. neck and head clamped together Another 24 ...

I'm moving things forward very slowly on the banjo making front, but as long as I'm doing something that will contribute to the overall goal, that's OK. So I've been re-sawing some wood (with mixed success) and stuff, and I also made a planer jig for my router (didn't work out too good). Today I thought I'd have a go at cutting some circles in MDF with my router. At some point, I'm going to need these when getting the pot/rim circular, so I made a simple jig for my router. Basically, it's piece of plywood, to which the router is screwed, and there are holes drilled for pivot points into which I insert a nail. There are loads of videos of how to make much more professional versions of this type of jig on youtube, so there's not much point me going into further details.  The first problem I noticed was that on my el-cheapo router, you have to keep the trigger pressed with your finger whilst operating it, this meant some hand switching when turning ...

Yes, I know I'm not the first person to make one of these, and I certainly won't be the last. When I started making the banjo block rim the other week, I quickly realised that it would have been a whole lot easier if the wood was at least a little bit square to start with, so I figured that before I made any more it would be nice to have a table saw to square up the source material. Naturally I didn't really want to go out and buy one if I was only going to use it every blue moon so I decided to put my old circular saw and some scrap wood to good use and build my own. The picture below show the finished article, complete with fence. The stand is from a broken old workmate-a-like I had lying around, the top is from some kitchen cabinet material as is the fence. I added a safety NVR switch, because it's dangerous enough as it is, and I didn't want to add further risks. Anyway, enough of that, here are the pictures DIY table saw circular saw mounting ...

Following on from yesterdays woodpile , I thought I'd have a go at cutting some sections that can eventually be formed in to a banjo pot. The idea is to build the rim in circular layers with each layer initially being formed from sections of an octagon. To do this, in theory, you just set the mitre saw to 22.5 degrees and cut out sections of the desired length. In practice, it's never quite as easy as it sounds and it was not a complete success, mainly because my source material was not square, so getting a tight fit between segments was difficult, however, it was my first time, and I learned a few things in the process, and I've still got all ten digits remaining on my hands, so I'll just put it down to experience. Anyway, my plan is to build two banjos at the same time, or more precisely, a 5-string banjo for me, and a banjo ukulele (or banjo uke, ukulele banjo, banjolele or whatever) for my son. And since he's getting it for nothing, I figured I'd experimen...

A couple of years ago we had some paving done at home and the crates/pallets that the flags were delivered in looked to be made of some sort of hardwood, which one of the builders said he'd been told was mango wood. That sounded interesting, so I spent a few hours (many hours actually) disassembling the pallets and removing the nails, then I stacked the wood up in my garage and it's been there ever since. Well, today the weather was fine, and I decided to start planing some of it up to see if any of it could be of use to start building a banjo. So far it's been a bit hit and miss (mostly miss) and it's pretty poor stuff, but there is a lot of it, and I think I'll be able to find decent stuff in there. The planing came to an abrupt halt though when the drive belt on my electric planer bust, so I didn't get much done, although I did create a ton of wood shavings and a fair bit of firewood. A new drive belt has been ordered, so watch this space!