Since the laser cutter is down, I had to see if I could figure out how to reuse my existing brackets. Using the drill press, I made a series of small holes to accommodate the solenoid lead wires. Then I carefully pushed the wires through and put the solenoids in the masonite mounting board I had cut previously.
A couple of the holes broke.
I traced the old laser cut template onto another piece of masonite, and used the drill press to create another supporting board. As expected, being exact here is pretty important, and the holes for the carriage bolts aren’t good enough. Thankfullyu, I can just drill these better and use washers.
Sanding Sand paper bends one way better than the other. Used the band saw to cut lines to a circle that I drew with a compass.
Used .5″ dowel to make “pads” for the solenoids to strike the strings. Too thick. Since the mounting holes I drilled in them aren’t completely straight, some of them rubbed together. So, I switched to .375″ dowel. Much better.
The whole assembly is built, but getting it onto the guitar without messing up the instrument has proved pretty tricky. Turns out there is a metal rod that runs down the shaft of the neck — can’t screw directly through it, then. Cut and sanded wooden blocks to hold the guitar from the back, but I still need to have something on the top of the neck for the assembly to rest on. It needs to be exact, and without the laser cutter, that’s been hard. I made five cuts, and none of them really work. Time to head home for tonight. I’m disappointed that I didn’t finish the physical build today, so that I could do the circuits tomorrow.
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