How to program CAM for guitar fretboards | Fusion 360 Tutorial

Today we dive deep in how to program CAM toolpaths for guitar fretboards in Autodesk Fusion 360. This is long overdue since about a year ago I produced CAM tutorials for every part of guitar building EXCEPT fretboards. And many of the viewers have not let me forget :)
We cover everything from stock setup, order of operations, simulations and even feeds and speeds for those tiny and delicate fret slotting endmills.
How to project fret lines to your fretboard surface:
• Fixing a mistake & add...
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Chapters:
0:00 Short Introduction
0:36 Disclaimer
1:01 Setup
3:33 Facing (Optional)
7:48 Choose your own adventure
9:05 Inlays
18:53 Contour
24:00 Radius
29:10 Simulation of progress
32:31 Fret slots
45:27 Feeds & Speeds for tiny end mills
51:50 Summary & Final thoughts
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Thank you!!
#Fusion360 #CAM #Guitars

[@MET3]

Thank you Austin! Just to make sure since you hinted at it. The easiest way to do curved blind fret slots would be to have a negative pass extension?

[@austinshaner]

I haven't actually tried that before, but if that works it's brilliant :) When I'm doing blind fret slots I create a separate sketch for the frets that include an offset from the fretboard edge, then project those to the surface and run a trace operation

[@austinshaner]

Oh my goodness dude, this totally works! Way better method :) Thank you!

[@MET3]

@@austinshaner Yeah, I tried it on your parametric fretboard shortly after posting this, and it worked surprisingly well! Even a broken clock is right twice a day :p

[@GTguitarworks]

what does it mean to have a negative pass extension? Thanks...

[@jasonchinchen569]

@@austinshaner IS there a video for this? I am stumped.

[@BonaventureGuitars]

thanks so much for making these great videos! I come back to them often when programming new models. A little thing I've found helpful with fretboards, especially with brittle woods like ebony, wenge, etc is to make a little L shaped pocket cut around the sharp corners at the nut end prior to cutting your outside contour. By cutting those first it almost completely eliminates the possibility that those brittle woods will blow out when the cutter switches grain direction at those corners.

[@vitalherbs8625]

Thanks Austin! This video helps me a lot!

[@jackcowardin5710]

Great video Austin. Thanks a lot. Working through this along with the video and it all starts to make some sense.

[@GTguitarworks]

Thank Austin for this video, So.. Thankful for this

[@acl427]

Love it!

[@bosticcustomguitars3249]

THANK YOU AUSTIN!!!

[@renk1233]

Thanks a lot! Saved my neck :)

[@difalkner]

Good video and lessons, Austin - thank you! Couple of questions - why do you not choose 'Smoothing' in the Passes tab (smooths out the facets on curves and makes smaller files with less lines of code), and, why do you have the Origin set such that when you look at the top the cube in the upper right says 'Front'? In your Parametric CAD model (thanks for that, btw!) when I click on 'Front' I see the fingerboard side and it's upside down. How do I get this oriented such that 'Top' is looking down on the fingerboard? Also, I have found finishing passes are much smoother cutting right (conventional) rather than left (climb); have you found that to be the case? I believe machining metal is the opposite of that but for wood this has worked out well for me and have heard that from others. Another question - have you cut the fingerboard profile lengthwise as opposed to across and, if so, how does this compare with cutting it the way you've shown? Your explanation and examples of the Feed per Tooth was very enlightening and I learned a lot from that, something I've needed rather than my typical 'seat of the pants' settings.

[@andrewhenderson6219]

Thanks for the Video Austin. What CNC Router and table set up do you use.

[@rylovengeance]

Hey Austin, Thank you SO MUCH for making this tutorial. I'm hitting a bit of a speed bump and I'm really hoping you can help. When creating the fretboard radius, Fusion keeps trying to cut down into my inlay and avoid my hidden fret slots. What can I do to avoid this?

[@helmutschumacher7866]

Thanks Austin. Can you provide links to sources for the fret slot bits?

[@kkmik5933]

Hey Austin, how deep are your fret slots?

[@escapedillinger]

Thank you VERY MUCH Austin, I followed this step by step with your parametric fretboard V3 and I have now a pretty multiscale fretboard waiting to be drilled ! I have a question: why do you set your origine on the top of your stock and not on the "floor level" ? How do you set your Z after a tool change with your method, as you don't have stock top remaining ? This question is probably stupid but I'm a newbie :)

[@JeremyTripp87]

I had the exact same question about resetting Z after tool changes.

[@escapedillinger]

@@JeremyTripp87 Austin answered, I'm surprised not to see his answer 🤔 Anyway, you just have to keep a piece of stock untouched and always set your Z0 at this location. As long as you have 10mm of extra stock it will do the job !

[@JeremyTripp87]

@@escapedillingerIn his video where he actually cut his Mehr fretboard, he uses his neck fixture as the base. Both methods will work fine though. For others coming across this, if you use the fixture, just make sure to accommodate that when originally selecting your setup orientation.

[@GTguitarworks]

Where / how did you lear fusion 360 so well?

[@Jimbojam]

why wouldnt you use a half inch ball end mill for doing the fingerboard radius?

[@austinshaner]

Perfectly valid way of doing this. My cnc struggles a lot with bits larger than 1/4", and I try to avoid tool changes whenever possible. The fb geometry is well suited for a flat endmill to get great results, so why changes bit 🤷‍♂️

[@patruddiman4228]

In light of trying to not look stupid but this is all greek to me. I bought a cnc to be able to machine the most critical parts of my guitar building process. Not only to be able to repeat processes but to have the utmost accuracy. I should have done a little more research before purchasing because the designing, writing tool paths and Gcodes is a little much for 63 year old retiree looking for a hobby.

[@elgarrab644]

Hi Pat - I'm almost in the same boat - 57 year old learning all this stuff - don't give up! If you haven't already get yourself Fusion 360 free for personal use and follow all of Austin's tutorials. You'll get there in the end. He's a great teacher and tells you all you need to know.

[@patruddiman4228]

@@elgarrab644 I don't plan on giving up. I have fusion 360. I will just have to wait till someone writes a post processor for next wave cnc machine to be able to use Fusion to its fullest capabilities.

[@patruddiman4228]

Thanks you for your great advice.