Hi everyone,
I've just spent two days trying to bind a side sound port. My design called for a b/w/b purfling then a 1.5mm ebony binding. The shape of the port is an oval roughly 45mm long and 38mm wide.
Cutting the hole itself was pretty straightforward, I made a routing jig and a template bearing bit. Then the real fun began...
I found in next to impossible to bend 1.5mm ebony to the radius I need. I can get close, but not close enough to get a even match with no gaps. Trying to get the ebony to take the side bend (to match the curvature of the upper bout) was completely impossible. The purfling was easy enough to shape, but again, the side bend threw everything off.
I ended up with a solution of laminating my purfling and binding around a "plug" form. Rather than trying to bend 1.5mm ebony, I laminated two .75 mm strips, roughly bent to shape. I handled the side bend by making my purfling\binding laminate 15mm tall. Rather than trying to bend in two axis, I glued in this taller assembly and filed it down to follow the curve of the upper bout.
Although my end result was good, I'm sure there must be a better way?
Thanks! Josh
I've just spent two days trying to bind a side sound port. My design called for a b/w/b purfling then a 1.5mm ebony binding. The shape of the port is an oval roughly 45mm long and 38mm wide.
Cutting the hole itself was pretty straightforward, I made a routing jig and a template bearing bit. Then the real fun began...
I found in next to impossible to bend 1.5mm ebony to the radius I need. I can get close, but not close enough to get a even match with no gaps. Trying to get the ebony to take the side bend (to match the curvature of the upper bout) was completely impossible. The purfling was easy enough to shape, but again, the side bend threw everything off.
I ended up with a solution of laminating my purfling and binding around a "plug" form. Rather than trying to bend 1.5mm ebony, I laminated two .75 mm strips, roughly bent to shape. I handled the side bend by making my purfling\binding laminate 15mm tall. Rather than trying to bend in two axis, I glued in this taller assembly and filed it down to follow the curve of the upper bout.
Although my end result was good, I'm sure there must be a better way?
Thanks! Josh