Builders - What are you using to mill parts?

Nick Anderson · Post by **Nick Anderson** » 18 Aug 2018 8:12 am

Asking to see what is being used.

Benchtop mills, large Brideports?

Thanks,
Nick

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 18 Aug 2018 11:18 am

Someone may use a bench mill, but I would bet most use knee mills or machining centers like Mullen and Sierra.

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 18 Aug 2018 11:51 am

You can see what I use for building Sierras here: https//goo.gl/Rfvcf5

I can't seem to make the link live....sorry but you'll have to cut and paste. Thanks Lane, but still no luck.

Search Ross Shafer, Sierra steel guitars, Makin' Chips on you tune and you'll get there.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 18 Aug 2018 12:35 pm

Ross Shafer wrote:You can see what I use for building Sierras here: https://goo.gl/Rfvcf5

I can't seem to make the link live....sorry but you'll have to cut and paste.

Are you sure that hyphen belongs there? I bet that's what is breaking the linkability (edit: it wasn't just the the hyphen, although the hyphen did break it)

FOUND IT! Ross, try using this version of your url
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC-EM4eno5E3EaJN4l9LF7sA

Apparently, the forum doesn't like *.gl as a top-level domain, so anything in Greenland isn't a valid url. I wonder if Google paid Greenland to become its own tld, as I always thought it's a Danish colony/outpost/protectorate. So Google's shortcodes get broken by the forum until someone at phpBB fixes that.

Nick Anderson · Post by **Nick Anderson** » 18 Aug 2018 1:34 pm

That's big equipment for big production! Awesome!

I'm thinking slightly smaller production.

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 18 Aug 2018 2:39 pm

Ross Shafer wrote:You can see what I use for building Sierras here: https//goo.gl/Rfvcf5

The URL is lacking the colon following the Â´httpsÂ´. Try this:

https://goo.gl/Rfvcf5

BTW, Nice stuff.

Ross Shafer · Post by **Ross Shafer** » 18 Aug 2018 5:18 pm

Thanks Lane and Michael.

Nick, find the videos of Ed Fulawka (R.I.P.) making steels. He used little more than some basic wood tools a router and some drill presses....and a whole lot of skill and determination.

Kevin Fix · Post by **Kevin Fix** » 18 Aug 2018 6:03 pm

I found Ed's videos of him on YouTube of him in his garage making those parts. Drill presses, routers. Nothing fancy. He sure built some nice guitars. They are in production again. I think the guy that is building them now may have worked for him.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 18 Aug 2018 6:45 pm

Michael Maddex wrote:
Ross Shafer wrote:You can see what I use for building Sierras here: https//goo.gl/Rfvcf5
The URL is lacking the colon following the Â´httpsÂ´. Try this:

https://goo.gl/Rfvcf5

BTW, Nice stuff.

How in the world did I miss that!?!?
Good catch

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 18 Aug 2018 10:35 pm

Ross Shafer wrote:You can see what I use for building Sierras here: https//goo.gl/Rfvcf5

I can't seem to make the link live....sorry but you'll have to cut and paste. Thanks Lane, but still no luck.

Search Ross Shafer, Sierra steel guitars, Makin' Chips on you tune and you'll get there.

Yeah for some reason using the URL feature on the forum for some links cancels the whole post unless you take off the url code. Thanks Lane for the colon tip.

Cool video on making pedals out of billet aluminum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPfhLrtI8BQ
Only head I saw was the one on the Pez dispenser.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 19 Aug 2018 11:40 am

Looks like an old Matsuura machining center. We had a couple of them where I worked, along with a ton of Fadals and old Bridgeports. Amazing, what those CNC machines can do.

Jim Eaton · Post by **Jim Eaton** » 19 Aug 2018 7:04 pm

Sierra used "the Gibbs System" and later upgraded to "Virtualgibbs" software to program their mills when Don
still owned the company.
JE:-)>

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 20 Aug 2018 7:31 am

Barry Thomas (Thomas Steel Guitars) had 4, or maybe 3, OLD Bridgeport CNC knee mills. Each one was set up for an operation. I worked for the Bridgeport distributor in the SF Bay Area, as service mgr., and we had one of the only technicians left that had knowledge, manuals, and parts for those old BOSS machines.