Below 265 SQ/FT Vertigo Cycles Frame Shop Fix Up

[Vertigo Cycles]

Hi Sean,

I got here by way of the Mid-Century Motto Mecca Makeover thread. Sakurma was right, you have talent! I especially like that you do it all in such a small garage. I can relate cuz mine is only 18’ by 18’. Like you, every time I add something I have to rearrange, get rid of something or both! How about some info on the guitar and amp you built?

Thanks!
Joe

Thanks and I'll start working on some updates. I had worked on a huge one a few months back and my browser froze when I posted it so it never made it into the thread.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Backing up a couple of years...

I had a bit of a crash while mountain biking and took on some damage. I broke my scapula, torn rotator cuff, separated shoulder and got a couple of bulging discs in my back. When I went back in six weeks later and got a new x-ray, the doc saw that I broke my humerus as well but it was missed due to the shoulder trauma. Because I have a small shop and have to reorient tools often, it was the better part of a year before I was strong enough to do something that's fairly common for me during the course of building a bike...like removing the vertical head on my mill or taking the rotary table off the mill table. Each one of those tools weighs ~90lb and it was just impossible. Anyhow, that's what led into the sanity projects like building guitars and guitar amps.

I've always wanted to build a guitar and I don't know how other people process undertaking a new endeavor, but I generally don't start something unless I can visualize every part of the process involved in building it. For guitars, it was making the neck, specifically, doing the fretwork. I've played enough sub-standard guitars to know that one funky fret ruins the whole experience. Luckily, at the time I lacked the imagination to even conceive that the most difficult part of the whole process had nothing to do with the neck...it was the finish work!

The part that I'm also going to gloss over is the fact that the whole point of building a guitar wasn't initially to build a guitar. It was a cover project to build my wife a ukulele or two. I needed a reason do explain all the wood work so I could keep the surprise. I'll fast forward a bit here and admit that I haven't finished a single uke, and now that everyone is home all the time, it's not going to happen anytime soon.

A telecaster style seemed like the simplest possible guitar to build so that's the direction I went. I'm pretty light on photos of making the body, but I downloaded a diagram, printed it out, glued it to some MDF and made a template using a buddy's bandsaw and then hours of sanding. Then I scrapped it because I wasn't happy with it and bought a new template from eBay.

I chose some roasted swamp ash for the body, made a shooting board and jointed the halves to glue them up.


IMG_1408 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

The board was a bit too thick, so I planed it down to the proper thickness. Let me tell you...this is hard work when you still can't even lift an arm to shoulder height. I could only do this for a few minutes at a time and it took a few days to plane it down about 1/8th of an inch.

IMG_1413 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I generally find telecasters to be uncomfortable. They're usually just a slab with fairly sharp edges. I wanted it to feel more like a strat with the soft contours. I'm also not a fan of the neck/body transition that's on most Fenders so I took a page from Suhr (and others) and added some comfortable curves. This shows an intermediate stage. The squiggle was an experiment with CA glue as a grain filler. That's a no-go on ash as it just ***** it right up before you can spread it around

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Once the body was decent enough, I was feeling comfortable to move on to the neck. Over the past 15 years of building bikes, I've machined enough moderately complex, multi-part fixtures and tools to have a cozy relationship with tolerance stack. It made sense to me to approach neck construction from the same perspective as a tooling project with dozens of individual parts.

Once I routed the outline of the neck, it made sense to do my best to make it as flat as possible and to make the back of the heel parallel to the front. I have a 24x36" grade A granite surface plate that a slapped some sticky-backed sandpaper down on and got to work.

A little advice...if you're going to buy sticky backed paper, do yourself a favor and just get the 3M Gold stuff. Every decent local store around here only sells Mirka. Mirka paper is ****...it loads up easily and gets little kernels all over the place the then muck up your work. the 3M isn't as wide, but it takes a lot of effort to load it up.

IMG_1507 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Once the front of the neck was sufficiently flat, I started to design a fixture that would allow me to cut the slots for the carbon fiber rods and truss rod...then I broke a rule and decided that it's easier, faster and more accurate to just do it on the milling machine. Don't tell Gregor.

IMG_1544 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Once the channels were cut, the corners were tuned up with a chisel and the carbon rods were epoxied in and the truss rod was set in place.

IMG_1549 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1551 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr


I wanted the 22nd fret and planned for a little bit of fretboard overhand, but needed to cut a little access for the truss rod

IMG_1603 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I'm at the stage in my life were even bifocals aren't enough to see tiny features. This little light lives in my pocket and it's so useful for so many things. Here it gives some contrast so I could see the layout marks for setting the fret marker dots.

IMG_1605 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Doing most of the radius work on just the fretboard taped down to the table with a couple of blocks taped on for guides.

IMG_1608 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

The photos of the clamping setup are missing, but the fretboard was expoxied to the neck (so as not to introduce moisture from hide or yellow glue) and then setup one more time for a final radius sanding. Also not shown was using a big indexed face mill to hog off all the extra thickness at the headstock and then sanding the transition to the fretboard.

IMG_1632 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

This might be out of order, but the side dots were laid out so they'd fall right on the glueline and then were glued in place with CA.

IMG_1633 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I did buy a fret cutting box from StewMac (as well as quite a few other tools) after fretting (ha!) about how I could do it with my milling machine. Having played a few guitars that have an annoying issue where the neck shrinks a little in the winter and exposes the fret ends (which are sharp!) I decided to nip the tangs and fill the ends of the slots with dust, which I saved when I was thicknessing the fretboard.

One of the many mistakes I made along the way was grinding down my good Knipex flush cutter to cut the fretwire. Stainless fretwire is tougher than a thin end nipper

IMG_1655 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Adjustments were made and some offcuts used to make new simple tools were a file could take care of nibbling the tangs.

IMG_1652 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1653 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1654 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1656 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1657 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Filling the slot ends

IMG_1686 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1687 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1688 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Another lesson learned. I had the whole fretboard taped up when filling the ends with thin CA glue. Predictably but not obvious to me at the time, the CA wicked under the tape and firmly adhered it to the fretboard. Many curse words were uttered and hours wasted trying to un-make the mess of the board I had treated so carefully.

Likely out of order again. I borrowed a spoke shave from a friend to to the bulk of the neck shaping and then started using a block of wood with 80 grit paper glued on to ensure a conical shape that wasn't wavey.

IMG_1678 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Since the board is stiff and flat, it takes down any high spots very quickly but when it makes full contact along the line of contact it doesn't remove material nearly as quickly. I saw this on Tom Sands Instagram page and thought it was very clever.

IMG_1679 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1676 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

I wanted to use inserts to hold on the neck but didn't realize until I tore a chunk out of it that the tool provided with the inserts had an oversized driver. Another lesson learned. It's hardened steel, but a carbide tool and 7hp lathe can handle it

IMG_1568 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

It took a few passes with dust and CA but this was eventually made whole

IMG_1563 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1569 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

All the string ferrules I saw for sale have a flange on them that sits proud of the back. Rather than take a little time to countersink for that flange, I took a lot of time to machine some simple ferrules from 6/4 drops that would sit flush and look nice. How often to you get to incorporate titanium into a guitar? Not often enough.

The numbers are how many thousanths need to be faced off for them all to match.

IMG_1693 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1697 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1690 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1691 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1698 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Lesson #743 - break the edge of the nitro before you press anything into the body or it'll deform.

IMG_1911 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I made a spreadsheet to calculate equal space in between the strings (rather than equal string spacing) and then used a gauge block, and my height gauge to scribe lines on the nut to make it easy to start a file.

IMG_1716 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

IMG_1720 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

As I mentioned earlier, finishing proved to be the most difficult skill to learn. I don't have many photos of doing the fretwork because I was so nervous about it and was super focused. It turns out that if you keep an eye on tolerance stack, have a few super accurate machine tools to use and just pay attention to what you're doing, fretwork isn't too terribly challenging. I had just one fret that was 0.002 high and other than that, everything was dead straight.

Finish work on the other hand, especially when you don't have a temperature controlled booth, is just a hot mess and hours upon hours of sanding.

Right off the bat I made a mistake and bought some sanding sealer at Ace hardware. It stayed sticky for a week and I spent hours with acetone trying to remove it or thin it out enough that it would dry. Ultimately I mixed up some shellac to seal it and grain filled with pumice and shellac for a while. The pumice is a bit thin to fill in the deep grain of the ash and I sprung for some heavy duty stuff, sprayed a few coats of nitro to hold it in and then some primer...lots of sanding, more primer, more sanding etc. Once the surface seemed good, I shot it with a can of silver nitro from ReRanch. It just did not work out. It doesn't look too bad in this photo, but I assure you that it was ****.

IMG_1735 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Back to ReRanch, I bought some type of white that I can't recall and decanted it into some big Atlas jars to offgas the propellant and shot it through a cheap gun from HF. I was able to add a little retarder so it didn't trap water from the air that is so prevalent in Portland in the spring. The result was much better. After ~15 coats of clear nitro, a bit of sanding and some luck, we end up here.

Another piece of advice...if you're shooting paint outside, don't do it in the spring in Portland. There's so much pollen and so many tiny insects that love nitrocellulose lacquer that you will spend a great deal of time picking things out of your finish.

IMG_1907 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

And then while installing a string tree, this happened

IMG_1912 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I happen to have an amazing screw extraction kit from Omega and with a lot of breath holding, I was able to get it out and make things right. After lots of little tweaks here and there, I'm comfortable saying that it's a decent first effort. I certainly learned a lot from it and hope I can remember all the ways I screwed up when I build the next ones.

IMG_1913 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[sakurama]

Yes, those would be perfect to show here where you can explain a bit more than the limited info the Instagram allows.

Gregor

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Yes, those would be perfect to show here where you can explain a bit more than the limited info the Instagram allows.

Gregor

The Omega extrator? I should have documented that, but I was in an anger/panic and just powered through.

This might be interesting to bike and/or fab people....

If you've been around bikes for any length of time, you're undoubtedly familiar with the CamelBak. It started as a way to carry your water and bloomed into a way to carry water AND every conceivable thing you might possibly want while on a ride. For a long time it was great, but there were some downsides. Every time you hit a jump or bunnyhop something, the pack bumps you in the back of the head. A few years ago the hip pack was brought back into vogue which also created the need to be more efficient with your space. This started a push to start cramming tools anywhere and everywhere there might be enough space to fit them.

The bottom line is that it feels really nice to be able to get out for a ride without carrying anything. For the past few years, I've done the majority of my mountain bike rides with one bottle, stash tools and a UV purifier that I keep in my pocket (when I'll have access to a stream or river)

My crank set has a big hole in it, and I initially thought I could fit my tire plug tool and my allen wrench kit into a block of plastic if I machined it just right. I sacrificed a plastic spacer from my frame fixture to try it out. It almost worked.

The plug kit takes up the majority of the available space

7197CDEF-A13F-49E5-B5CF-E54238E6E43F_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

The end of the 5mm allen was machined off after the test fit.

89A84A3E-E7AA-4DFF-B57E-D946C3232E3D_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

The individual bits fit, but there was nothing to keep them from rattling around inside the spindle or to keep them from falling on to the ground when it was removed.

DFE40B5C-55B9-4D1A-BF3A-D6CB6B42EF0F_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

But it did show me that it was possible to put the majority of these tools in the bottom bracket spindle.

84D341E4-791E-42D6-BCB6-973CEF92B84A_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

That particular prototype was never put to use, but served as a great starting point for something to come later.

While I refined the design, I moved on with this...a 6/4 titanium tool with an integrated 2mm allen in the handle (for derailleur limit screws) and broached for 1/4" bits. The idea being that the rider could choose any bits he or she needed for their bike.

The first pass. Turned to rough shape and allen machined into the end.

1E0A8C55-ED0E-4F9D-B036-3A304D3F5BB4_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

After knurling

FF70D4DF-CE01-4F19-842B-14460690D9C9_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Another view. I love the way a nice tool feels in your hand. This one was fun to roll around.

51BAAF6D-ED39-469B-BE20-E624AE26EEB2_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Broaching. If you've never seen a broach in action, it's pretty cool. The bit looks similar to a standard allen, but the end is hollow ground and the sides have a couple of degrees of draft to them. The tool holder has a bearing set into it with a weldon tool holder set into that to hold the broach with a set screw. The thing is, the bearing is set at a 1° angle and as the spindle rotates, it "walks" the broach down into the hole, nibbling the corners out as it plunges.

6/4 titanium can be very difficult to machine. It will work harden quickly and requires a lot of pressure to cut, so rigid work holding, rigid tools, coolant and full attention is required when doing this sort of thing manually. I should have drilled a little bigger than I did, but the broach eventually made it through.

4FC23A03-C9B6-4C4D-9E75-06107E09BA28_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I sent it off to Scotland where a good friend of mine would wring it out on his long back country rides in the Scottish Highlands. If anyone is going to discover a shortcoming in a piece of emergency gear, it's Jon. Unfortunately his bike, with the tool on it was stolen about a month after he received it.

EB72E41F-2D77-467D-97E8-B6614AD99A1E_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

While trying to work out the details of manufacturability for these little tools, I started on the next thing.

9935AE0A-B420-4ECB-808A-40989ECA1BE5_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

The video didn't work yesterday. Let see if this works.

IMG_2230 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

edit: bummer. you have to click it.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Following up on the hidden tools.

On practically all bicycles manufactured since around 1992, there is a type of headset installed that uses a standard 6x1mm bolt thread through a cap and into something called a star fangled nut. This was the invention of the threadless headset. Threaded headsets are still in use on very inexpensive bikes and on some high end custom bikes that are typically modeled after specific styles that were popular in the middle of the 20th century. In both cases, tightening the bolt, or a nuts of the headset compresses the bearings that allow your handlebar and fork to turn.

A few years back, a Canadian company called OneUP created a tiny multitool that could slip into the inside of the tube on top of the fork, called the steerer tube. In order to make it work, they had to do away with the star fangled nut and create a "new" way to compress the bearings...this is similar to the old way in that the steerer needs to be threaded. The result is that the steerer is now an open tube roughly 1" in diameter.

I bought one of their multi-tools and it turns out that it doesn't work for my specific needs but I noticed that my mini pump is practically a perfect slip fit for that steerer tube if it weren't for most of the pump . If I could design a new head, new handle and modify the shaft, I could potentially make something that worked.

The model above was the first go at it. When I started to machine it, I move a few things around but that's how it turned out for the most part.

The is the new head with the valve seal installed. The silver part is a little titanium disc I made with an o-ring groove that is the backup seal that prevents air from escaping back out of the assembly hole.

33CF00AE-6D74-40E4-8BC8-21F0ACD98DFC_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This brass piece is essentially a plug that keeps the whole assembly together. There wasn't enough room to make threads in the head, so I machined them to be a moderate press fit, and chose brass because I could make a little press to remove it if necessary. If I made it out of titanium or aluminum, they'd eventually become a permanent part of the head through galvanic corrosion.

780F95C4-9027-4693-8C51-509EDB3C0B75_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

The completed head

8721C0B2-1024-473B-81EB-D9230BF9ADAF_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This is how it fits into its new home

4354B68B-9A90-4C40-9F4C-CE5B31A12C72_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

but wait there's more!

The pump shaft itself is 12mm in diameter. That's a ton of space!

Some of the moto riders out there might be familiar with Dynaplugs. I first learned of them as a quick way to plug up tubeless tires on my motorbike. They're more expensive than the typical bacon strips, but they're quick and easy to use and take up less space.

I use a foam ring similar to a mousse on my bike to prevent rim damage which makes carrying a tube to fix a flat completely impractical and as a result, I'm dependent on these dynaplugs for when I do inevitably flat. They make a couple of sizes and it's convenient to have each size on either end of a double ended tool. I made a new one that could use their inserts and then made a new handle that threaded onto a stop spacer on the pump shaft that doubles as storage for the plugs.

I must have forgotten to documents the machining steps, but there were many.

The stop spacer is internally threaded to thread onto the shaft, and externally threaded for the storage handle.

EB0421C2-30CC-4829-AAA9-156BF6DC0D30_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

testing the thread fit (should be a video)

2E3D6823-C42E-4F01-8212-3B5DD574F0D1 by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

How it all goes together.

ADC4CC32-87AC-47F6-B9FA-C73FE2BBD9CC_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

5FD07660-4BC8-4329-A2F5-9F1E8688E02E_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

9BF3BFF4-66AF-4628-A042-1121D6F103DB_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

20C01188-18A0-4FF0-B0CD-4287992F0624_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

C4E8E0DA-8C8C-4CF9-9573-28B581E5DF73_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

and how it fits into the steerer (video)

725D37A0-9090-4723-9099-0C08CCC54D1F by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[sakurama]

You're quite handy.

I've never seen that style of plug - that I'm aware of. I'll have to look them up.

G

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow. These are some seriously gorgeous machined parts


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

About a year ago I bought an amplifier chassis with the idea that I'd make a copy of a Dumble amplifier. Only I knew practically nothing about electronics at the time and quickly got overwhelmed when sorting through the different known circuits of the OverDrive Special so it sat in a box. Then last December, for reasons I can't explain, I decided to make an entirely different copy of a Dumble amp, called the Steel String Singer, but would also need to fold up and drill my own chassis to make it work. My buddy Gregor (Sakurama) kindly agreed to let me use his brake to make the chassis, but Covid struck and I thought it was best to not pursue that any further. By then though, I had cut some G10, drilled it, stake the eyelets and populated it with components.

The cut and drilled G10. It drills easily enough, but my arms were itchy for several days.

F330880D-563C-4242-A58A-A1465592F7C9_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

All holes staked with eyelets

0B047C8E-6ACD-4A6F-886F-5A94F50D46B1_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This is the preamp board. You can just make out all the film capacitors and resistors on the other side. This side of the board is just to make connections between components. My automatic stripper does not like teflon wire and each of these wires was stripped using the junky coax stripper in the next photo.

F414A3A5-B12C-44B0-BE3B-4BC8B2DCBB90_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

The power filter board. These capacitors help smooth out the ripple current after the incoming AC power is rectified to DC

07F4267E-572E-4117-8BF4-B31BF0E1ED6E_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I got stuck at this stage for a few months but eventually someone decided to pick up the project and had a batch of chassis and printed circuit boards made. The downside was that I didn't get to make the chassis exactly how I wanted it, but the upside was that I didn't have to spend my time (and Gregors) learning how to use the brake well enough to get a satisfactory chassis...and I didn't have to do all the cutouts, which would have taken ages.

I went ahead and bought the PCB's along with the chassis because they're a hell of a lot neater and it's a bit easier to replace components if needed because you don't have to worry as much about the under-board leads slipping (they're bent over the top of the eyelets to prevent it from happening though.)

The chassis wasn't printed, so I took some measurements, made an Illustrator file and cut some paint masks on my vinyl plotter.

BE19E70D-832C-44A4-B628-6B68A4439B7E_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Which needed to be weeded. If you have kids with perfect eyesight and decent hand eye coordination, this is a good thing to keep them busy for an hour or so until they go cross-eyed

5F80F7FF-C353-41FB-BA53-1C9B74DF3956_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Use some Testors enamel

0C41A468-AE51-40B6-ABFF-1BD3153688AF_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Peel off the mask

7ABC81F5-4A50-4371-AB8C-494D5D7173B7_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Worked out pretty OK

44148460-2F13-485C-908C-42FC099F910B_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

These letters are about 0.040" tall and I lost a little detail, but still OK with me

6C74454A-25DE-4426-949C-892A2909EC91_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I should also note that Gregor was very kind to let me use his blasting cabinet a few months back. I had bought some of that canned 2K urethane and painted the chassis black at first. It didn't go well and after four or five hours of sanding, I'd had enough and called the guy with all the cool tools, who bailed me out. I got to unload some fresh media on him too which I hope was a win/win.

Laying down heater wires. These carry about 5V AC and they're twisted to the fields cancel out as much as possible.

55F95F0E-1FA6-43DE-9466-4D0007A8B6DF_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

These are the output tube sockets. The red wire carries ~440VDC to the screen grids and the blue and brown wires go to the output transformer

B92BE151-5553-4055-9EC6-3A7F4E0DB42F_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This is one of the 9-pin sockets. This particular amp has 7 of them. I tacked the wire in place with the chassis horizontal. You want the entire eye to be filled with solder. If I try to fill it with the chassis horizontal, I risk running solder down into the pin socket, so I tack them in place while I'm in a comfortable position, then set it up vertically to fill the eyes.

FD22AF73-081A-41E1-862E-D4CC5BA9AEFB_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

With the pre-amp board in place. I guessed on the lead length and will likely trim and strip all of these before setting them in place.

13A6F4E2-BC85-4BB9-AD85-BFC87CA39EB9_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

It's been in this state for the past couple of weeks. There's a FET circuit that I want on a foot switch. It isn't in the schematic so I have to add a transformer, make a power supply board, add a relay and figure out where I'm going to put it all in a pretty busy amp. In the mean time, the chassis has a punch out for an XLR jack, which I do not want, so I took some measurements to make something to convert the space to use a DIN plug (like I used in another amp)

A buddy of mine wants to learn to use a lathe, so he came over today and we went through all the processes required to make something relatively simple.

9B64438A-3BB9-4985-A888-77E6379FDE65_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This is where we landed. I still need to buy a #6 tap to drill and tap holes to fix it to the panel. When I took the measurements, I averaged the diameter but didn't compensate for the burr left by the water jet that did the cutout. It'll press fit into place when I'm ready, but I need to tap the holes first, so this photo doesn't show it flush with the outside of the panel.

2C115FE9-A4FC-4A9C-B438-5D643C93CA93_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I hope to have enough time this weekend to finish planning the FET switching and get the chassis drilled for everything that's needed for it...and maybe get the transformers installed and hooked up as well.

 

[Kent_B]

First class soldering, Sean.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

First class soldering, Sean.

Thank you!

After a quick trip to the Ace hardware

Using the bolt circle function on my DRO, all I had to do was to find the center of the adapter. Zero the probe to the back face of the jaw, move on the Y by the radius and I'm there.

Drill

20671461-4480-44E2-A277-8A8C8289613B_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Tap

A1A6203A-B478-480D-958D-F2FCBE06ED0F_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Done

2646E3D0-082C-4AC6-93B9-F0340C0C6364_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[wasfast]

Great stuff to see fully handmade. I have a couple buddies that got caught up in the 18W craze a while ago. Tube amps are their world and a Dumble is the end of the conversation.

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow. Where does the goodness end?


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[Vertigo Cycles]

Backing up a little bit into early spring...my kids were off for spring break, my M-I-L was supposed to visit and I usually get a week where no one is demanding anything so I use it to make shop improvements. In preparation, I started moving machines around. Space is always a challenge in a 10x20 shop and adding so many tools for building guitars put a lot of stress into the way the shop functions. The big part of the move was to get the lathe closer to the roll up door, so I could get longer tubes through the headstock. While I was moving machines, it was time to finally get my Deckel, which I bought almost a decade ago, off its pallet and onto the feet I bought for it...almost a decade ago.

EAD61281-FB5B-42CE-BBB2-89501624E914_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Unfortunately, not much to share as I did the majority of it by myself with an assist from my wife who lowered the mill while I positioned it to clear the rickety engine hoist I borrowed from a friend. You know it's going to be fun when the hoists arm is already bent. It got hung up on something while she lowered it and BOOMED when it touched down. We both had to change our shorts, but it ended up on the ground with feet installed.

4D661884-BA95-41E8-875F-27DBA439523D_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I went through a few design interations.

0CDA2FD1-E1DB-4256-AB48-222049667F52_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

and went to unwrap the 5x5 18mm baltic birch I stored next to the garage a few years back. I wrapped three layers of tarps on these, taped up the seams on each layer, and set it all up on stickers to keep it off the ground. Some oderous house ants found their way in and setup camp, farming on the lower part of the boards and then up in between each layer. There were thousands of ants and eggs when I pulled off the tarps and a significant amount of sheet was lost.

CC983EC4-E73B-4584-B2D0-6BF3383EC7C2_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

3852A254-B19A-42A8-AA8C-00CC99C395F8_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I ran out for a few sheets of 4x8 BB and with spring break over and no open school to go back to, my youngest helper kept me focused on getting some cabinets built. She loves hanging out in the shop and getting involved in making (and destroying) things so I was happy to have her helping out.

6BA574C0-E83C-4022-AD89-28A6AD6BBC0C_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

She's so much better at scribing accurate lines while doing a layout than I am. Not even with my bifocals can I see as clearly as she does.

2031481A-D95D-43D1-A3B8-CEA790CE4101_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Once we got rolling, I stopped taking photos, but here's the first cabinet we hung...sans doors.

FB2F8CD2-DFD9-45DD-8B70-97090C964278_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

We got some doors up. I went with melamine so I could use it as a white board

42AC5822-B05B-4F0F-840D-AEF5AC8D9B14_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

and then built another cabinet. These first two used what I could salvage from the 5ft sheets, so they're 60in wide. The little material storage shelf below the lathe was made with off cuts from the project.

26DDD85A-EDEC-4A01-8558-A9FD521A1713_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

After the over-lathe storage was done, we used a full sheet to make an 8ft long open cabinet over my messy workbench.

D90ADDA8-9254-4676-872D-0118804B5FE1_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I was cutting so much plywood and getting a little frustrated at how the corners at the ends of the cut were getting a little tearout. It wasn't bad, but it was enough that once panels were cut to width and needed to be trimmed for length, the corners needed a little love so they'd sit flush against the fence and the stop on my MFT. I started giving them a little squirt of thin CA glue and hitting it with accelerator before cutting. It was quicker than touching up the corners and gave a pretty clean cut.

E56FF9D8-28A6-44AB-BF0E-A0AE10691F37_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I used a mahogany offcut from a still in progress Les Paul project to make a hanger for these parallel guides.

6C55DF4F-B7E0-4F82-A458-25A8C3674562_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

and then put a couple of holes in the door to hang the square by the dogs

A1071954-DEB5-4172-80F9-AF4203FEDB6D_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I had another offcut that I had done some finishing tests on. It was so smooth that my daughter became obsessed with touching it so I cut a hunk off of it and we made a little hammer for here, again using another piece of scrap (walnut) for the handle.

339CEB36-56A1-4A60-8A60-FB3631C1B75D_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

She sanded it up to 1500 grit and loved the process so much that she wanted to make one for me. So we found some more scrap and made a slightly bigger version. Sadly, I didn't have any more walnut, so I had to make due with a maple handle on mine. But I got the cool flamed head!

61BAD1B4-7F94-4005-98B5-E2CBAB937975_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

A good friend of mine recently told me that he wants to learn to use a lathe. We normally go on mountain bike rides on Fridays, but as the wet that the PNW is known for sets in, and it gets hard to work up the motivation to go ride wet trails in the rain when it's ~40°, I suggested that he come over to learn some new things.

So yesterday he spent a few hours under my supervision making a head for a titanium/brass hammer. Those are two great materials to learn how easy and also insanely difficult they are to work. I fully intended to document each step, but I was stress-sweating while intently watching his every movement to make sure he was safe. Ultimately, he received lessons in facing, turning, forming, spotting, drilling, boring, reaming and tapping both materials as well as how to plan through to the end of the project for the back purging required when he has to weld the handle on next Friday (if it's raining)

On the brass face, he turned a step which mates with a 1/2" hole in a piston fit. There's a 3/8 16 thread holding it all together and once screwed tightly together, he did a finish pass on the OD to make it look seamless.

I was feeling a little envious so I went out to the shop last night and cranked one out for myself, but only so I can demonstrate the weld process since there's going to be a signifiant heat differential between the head and handle.

06994059-BAA3-425D-80C8-ABB7C0DF5BD2_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[sakurama]

Wait, what?

Just one photo? I think we need action shots, detail shots, wide shots... it looks awesome and hammers are the best so let's see some more.

Gregor

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

While the Steel String Singer is the first amplifier I started, this Overdrive Special is the first one I've "finished." It'll probably never be truly finished because now that I'm armed with a little bit of knowledge, there will always be something to tweak or improve.

It starts with wiring the lowest level. In this case, the power tube sockets and front panel controls. Once the transformers and circuit boards are in place, it's harder to access these components.

A301DB2E-15DC-4934-BFDF-73C34BFC7ECC_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

C38E0DFB-84DA-46CB-ABC3-6A0B6072988F_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Then the boards got their eyelets installed, all the connector wiring was done under the board and the components are all soldered in. I didn't know it at the time, but you're only supposed to bend the connector wires around the eyelets...I bent all the cap and resistor leads around the bottom...which would prove to be problematic later

2C2D2921-848B-43B0-8B02-591FD03B0045_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I took the time to flag some of the wiring so I wouldn't have to remember were it was supposed to go. I would sometimes go a few weeks between work sessions.

EF176357-8CD0-496B-8EC9-ADE0649D09FA_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I made the boards and followed the layouts I found on theampgarage.com to a T, but now that I have a little experience, I will be modifying the layouts and etching my own boards from now on. There are a few resistors that aren't reachable because they're hiding under those big film caps, and the surface mounted trimmer pots don't really fit into the eyelets, nor is there enough space for all the eyelets to share some connections.

94A84CC2-DC35-445C-9B3D-A9CC8F0F1C6C_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I tried to keep the wiring as tidy as possible. Working with the teflon coated stranded wire was a bit of a challenge but I'm learning as I go.

A9CFA0A8-6F57-489E-8BFD-47CA267F52D4_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Apologies for the dreadful photo. Did I mention that I'm not great with electricity? The stress from not knowing if I made a wiring mistake was high and potentially at risk were hundreds of dollars in transformers, tubes and possibly a fire. It seemed like the smart thing was to do it outside, with an extinguisher handy. The lightbulb is a current limiter that is supposed to help protect the transformers in case someone like me didn't wire them up correctly. The outlet in the box is modified so the bulb inserts itself in the circuit. If the power transformer pulls too much power, say because of a short, the bulb will blow, severing the circuit

I recorded all the pertinent voltages and when nothing smoked, exploded or burst into flames, I felt comfortable plugging a guitar into it for the first time, and I'll be honest...it didn't sound great.

D92624C3-5218-42AD-A865-4C81E374016E_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I had been using a layout that I made from an amalgamation of two different schematics and two different layouts because there were a few options I had wanted to pursue. It turns out that one of the layouts had a treble reduction circuit on the effects loop that was wired in such a way that with no plugs installed, the reduction circuit was in play. It sounded like someone had rolled the tone control on my guitar all the way back. I was discouraged for weeks until I installed an old rack effect and the amp came to life. After scratching my head for a bit, I realized what was happening and promptly removed that little circuit and my amp sounded great.

time to make the cabinet

D5BABC33-86F2-492D-86FB-D1E0BD2B3D65_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

DB1DAD28-7785-40D0-BC34-9C8D825D2C8D_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

A decade ago, I was unhappy with the seat on my KTM and was going to pull the cover, cut up the foam and wrap it with this blue Alcantara. Lucky for me, a saddle maker who is also a big mountain bike nerd reached out to me and offered to make me a saddle. So I had a yard of this obnoxious blue fabric rolled up and this was my opportunity to do something with it.

6F538DF1-E11E-45A1-9429-9AF00166DFC3_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

After about a month of waiting, the grill cloth finally showed up last week. I did the front panel on the amp first, since it was smallest and it went remarkably well and I was able to get all the triangles aligned to the stitch. Wrapping the baffle on the speaker cab (no photos of that being made) wasn't quite as good, but I'll have something to improve upon next time. I had too much tension in all directions and you can see that top right corner is drifting a little bit.

DD14A347-AC6E-45EF-9830-9E0DFC6F1048_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

It's still not quite done. There are some steel corners on the way, I'd like a logo on the front panel and the jack on the front is having a grounding problem so I need to replace it. While I have it out of the head shell, I'm going to put a half power switch in it as well

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Wait, what?

Just one photo? I think we need action shots, detail shots, wide shots... it looks awesome and hammers are the best so let's see some more.

Gregor

I know, I know. I was pretty stressed out for my buddy's safety and plain forgot to take photos while he was working. I'll try better to remember once we get to weld them up.

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow, that amp turned out really great! This thread is just about as bad as Sakuramas for making me want gear and projects


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[Vertigo Cycles]

Wow, that amp turned out really great! This thread is just about as bad as Sakuramas for making me want gear and projects


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! It's a pretty decent first effort and sounds pretty good too. I had a couple hours by myself in the house yesterday and got to make some noise for the first time in a few weeks.

 

[SW50th]

Cool stuff Sean!
The amp looks killer-

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Cool stuff Sean!
The amp looks killer-

Thanks Saul!

 

[nicholam77]

Wow, this thread rocks! That guitar is really something else. The precision work, the quality photos... consider me subscribed!

P.S. I might steal your parallel guide hanger idea... although mine will likely be plywood and not mahogany

 

[bdking]

Your lightbulb limiter is much tidier looking than mine!

Next time will you use stranded Teflon wire again? I’ve always used solid for amps and really like using the cloth covered stuff for speed.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

Your lightbulb limiter is much tidier looking than mine!

Next time will you use stranded Teflon wire again? I’ve always used solid for amps and really like using the cloth covered stuff for speed.

I’ll stick with Teflon just because by the time I’ve run out, I might be half decent at bending it to my will. I found some Klein strippers that I forgot I have and it does pretty well cutting the jacket, then I pull it off with my thumbnail to prevent the strands from potentially getting nipped off. At first, it was a little frustrating to work with, but I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed by trying to make it perfect.

Have you begun the Tweedle Dee yet?

 

[bdking]

I haven’t done anything on the Tweedle Dee. I already have an old 5E3 so it’s not a rush, more focused on a hidden bookcase door and getting started on a guitar build.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

I haven’t done anything on the Tweedle Dee. I already have an old 5E3 so it’s not a rush, more focused on a hidden bookcase door and getting started on a guitar build.

Are you documenting either of these projects, Ben? I'd love to see both of them.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

The corners for my amp showed up today after a long wait and they do not meet my expectations. They're supposed to be 1/2" radius for 3/4" total thickness. The panels on my head and speaker cab are 18mm and the alcantara I used as a cover is 0.025" thick, so a total thickness of 0.050" and if you excuse my mixed units, the total panel thickness is 0.759. IF the corners were made as advertised, they would perfectly squeeze the fabric for a beautifully tight fit.

D0554671-74A3-4B3E-B418-E5FEE50F9D50_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This will never look right.

A93FE435-977A-49D9-937B-156045CC1A72_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Plan B.

I've had some leather triangles from Mesa Boogie for a few months and didn't think I wanted to use them. But with these oversized stamped steel corners, it seems that I have a good opportunity to use the as a mold to shape the leather ones.

6ACA280C-1479-4F9C-8BF1-BF62AB48351B_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

They were soaked in a little hot water, dried off by squeezing in a towell and then placed inside the metal corner

0D659C68-4198-4028-959C-1A9F0A198F18_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I'm going to have to redo one or two since it looks like I didn't press into the corner quite enough.

EE0FD72B-91FF-4BBF-BBEC-1DE6E5530AC4_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

But the fit isn't too bad. With a little tension when I nail them in place, I think they'll be just fine.

857CB643-58FD-4A74-B71A-B4A4AFC5CC3C_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[Arclitgold]

Those corners are perfect for that head!


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[SW50th]

Yeah man, lose the chrome thangs. The molded leather looks quite elegant.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

It was absolutely pouring today so no mountain bike ride once again, but you know what that means...fabrication friday!

My buddy came over to finish up his hammer. I wasn't thinking about photos until we got to the welding phase, but I had him miter the tubing for the handle, which is just an 8" drop leftover from making chainstays for bikes.

We made the head 2 7/8" long so it would be easy to quickly fixture with a couple of 1-2-3- blocks to easily center the handle on the head. I set it up, punched the head where the tube meets.

The intention was to have him weld it on himself, but I don't have a spare welding hood, and we're being cautious because of covid. The lens was fogging with my mask on and he wouldn't have been able to watch the process due to not having a hood, so I went ahead and welded it up for him.

10624C0E-9D3B-477A-B1A6-E93FC1F0FE5A_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

I went at it pretty quickly and it's not great but it's plenty good enough.

50E827A2-A547-4899-A9AC-E8CE1145781A_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This may or may not be the long term grip

Adam's Hammer by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

 

[bdking]

Are you documenting either of these projects, Ben? I'd love to see both of them.

It hadn't occurred to me to document them but I'll make an effort. I inherited Gregor's AWD KTM thread when I bought that bike so documented the EFI conversion & engine rebuild there- as you know careful photography really slows the work but perhaps its worth it.

 

[Vertigo Cycles]

It hadn't occurred to me to document them but I'll make an effort. I inherited Gregor's AWD KTM thread when I bought that bike so documented the EFI conversion & engine rebuild there- as you know careful photography really slows the work but perhaps its worth it.

Careful photography...it's all I can do to remember to take photos. I always set out to take them carefully but it rarely works out that way.

Personally, I'd love to see how you process the guitar.