Brian May Red Special Guitar Neck Full CNC Cut

This video illustrates the full CNC cut of my revised design Brian May Red Special guitar neck using my Stepcraft 2/840 CNC machine. The process was recorded over several sessions from 26 July 2021 to 21 August 2021 using my iPhone 11 Pro in full HD at 60 frames per second. All CAD design was done with TurboCAD 2016 Profession edition. Toolpaths were calculated in MeshCAM Version 8 for Windows. The machine control software is Stepcraft's proprietary utility "UCCNC" by Polgardi Design and has a similar control interface to the industry standard Mach 3.

The timber used was quarter sawn mahogany species tonewood (i.e. fully seasoned), dimensions 825 x 96 x 39.0 mm weighing 1,932 grams, density 0.623 g/cm3. This is a double-sided cut using a custom made "L"-shaped alignment bracket water-jet cut from 20 mm thick aluminium. Hold-down was achieved using cyanoacrylate superglue in each corner allowed to set for one hour prior to commencing the cut.

Cutters used are solid tungsten carbide 6.0 mm diameter 2 flute. Spindle speed: 10,000 rpm, XY feed rate 2,500 mm/min, Z plunge rate: 120 mm/min. 1 mm depth per pass on the roughing cuts, 0.5 mm stepover/stepdown on the finishing cuts.

The main sequences are listed below with time indexes for easy navigation. Every sequence is illustrated from several different camera angles and most are speeded up significantly for brevity:

00:05 – Start-up: control unit switch on and UCCNC control software screen
00:24 – Upper side roughing toolpath
02:53 – Upper side finishing toolpath
04:04 – Slot for the truss rod adjuster bolt plate (1.50 mm 2 flute long reach flat end mill, 0.25 mm steps)
04:21 – Main truss rod features (5 mm channel, tensioner bolt rebate, 5/16" retaining bolt head rebate)
05:17 – Manually drilling the machine head locating holes (10 mm diameter 4 flute flat end mill) using a mini drill press with an extended 19 mm plywood bed
05:55 – Manually drilling the 5/16" retaining bolt shaft hole using a mini drill press with an extended 19 mm plywood bed
06:12 – Manually drilling the tenon securing screw pilot holes and screw head countersinks
06:50 – Flipping over the stock in preparation for running the lower side toolpath
06:58 – Lower side roughing toolpath
09:55 – Lower side finishing toolpath
12:30 – Tenon underside feature: angled rebate to allow 5 mm diameter auger insertion

Please check out my other YouTube videos and visit my website, https://dsgb.net for further information, pictures and videos illustrating my three year long project to make an authentic Brian May Red Special replica guitar. dsgb.net also contains information on other Brian May related guitars and guitar modification projects.

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