How to program CAM for ANGLED guitar necks in Fusion 360 | Complete Tutorial

In this video we dive deep into CAM for angled guitar necks in Autodesk Fusion 360. We program the CAM for the neck on my guitar, from start to finish, including Setups, Stocks, Fixtures, 2D & 3D Toolpaths, and full simulations with detailed tips and tricks.

Angled necks are some of the most difficult parts to machine on a guitar. I believe this method I have developed should allow anyone with a CNC, even those with limited Z clearance, to produce good parts.

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Chapter:
0:00 Introduction
2:21 What makes angled necks difficult to machine (Accebility Analysis)
6:32 Game Plan (Animated Order of Operations)
9:51 Preparing your design for CAM
13:54 Setup 1 for Pre-Scarf Joint
15:12 2D Boring & Cleanup operations for dowel pins and tuner holes
18:54 2D Contour for Pre-Scarf Joint (stock preparation)
21:13 Setup 2 for Scarf Joint Surfacing
22:13 3D Scallops for Scarf Joint Surfacing
27:02 Setup 3 for Truss Slot / Top surfacing (Overhang)
28:47 2D Pockets and Contours for Truss Slot Sizing
35:36 Setup 4 for Neck Roughing & Finishing
37:05 2D Contour of Neck Profile
48:38 3D Adaptive Roughing for Neck Profile
1:00:10 2D Facing of Heel Surface
1:03:10 3D Parallel for finishing Neck Profile
1:08:02 Setup 5 for Headstock Contour and Cleanup.
1:09:22 2D Contour for Headstock Profile
1:13:18 3D Adaptive for Headstock Transition and Rear Face
1:20:00 3D Parallel for Finishing Headstock Rear Face
1:24:42 3D Parallel for Headstock Transition
1:33:27 Final Thoughts

Fusion 360 Tutorial | CAM Basics (Part 1)

Fusion 360 Tutorial | CAM Order of Operations (Part 2)

How to program CAM for guitar bodies in Fusion 360 | Complete Tutorial

How I modeled this guitar:

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#Fusion360 #CNC #CAM

[luisownerbr]

Thank you so much Austin, I can't tell you how grateful I am that you keep posting these videos. Hopefully I'll be building my designs in the near future and it's all thanks to you. When you decide it's time to build your design, please show us, I really want to see it in the real world.

[pierregoosen]

So many questions answered in one video. Thanks for sharing Austin!!!

[ImagePaint-InlaySoftware]

Austin, I did five test cuts and two real cuts running 200 in/min at 0.125 depth and did not need tabs. Double sided tapes were adequate. Also, I did not need the 3D printed part, I just insert a rectangle block under it with some double sided tape to hold it.
You can avoid retract height problem by splitting the model into three. When machining the head or the neck, use only 2 bodies. This effectively lower the stock thickness, yet will cover the area we want to machine. All this have been tested successfully on the CNC.

[zeke]

Austin, this is a great video. I can't tell you how appreciative I am for all the content you put out. Your an exceptional teacher and designer.

[romannumeral]

Amazing stuff Austin. I started using a CNC to build a guitar about 6 years ago. I had no experience using any CAD program and went with Fusion 360 as it was available for free to a hobbyist like myself. It certainly wasn't easy but with a lot of help from members on the forum I finally did it. The angled headstock really made it difficult to make the neck. I actually was able to make the neck from one solid piece of stock but there were areas that had to be finished off by hand because they couldn't be reached. Haven't built anything since the start of the pandemic but seeing how you did it using a scarf joint makes me want to give it another go. Thank you for the video and being willing to share your process.

[Vinyari]

your talent with this program amazes me, well done

[alexanderkartsonakis]

Thank you Austin. For taking the time to create such a professional video tutorial.

[DavidRavenMoon]

I don’t have a CNC yet, but this is pretty much how I build my scarf joint necks. Only all outline shaping is done with routers and templates. Also I position my scarf joint inside the headstock, not on the back of the neck.

If you think about building a neck without a CNC, and then think about what steps a CNC would be beneficial, it’s things like carving the neck shaft, and maybe the outline.

I see too many CNC luthiers wanting to not have to do any hand work. But when building guitars that just makes things take longer. Sometimes a band saw and router and template is many times faster.

I can drill my tuner holes on my drill press. I have a drill template. Carving the neck is the time consuming part.

[furoraguitars]

The amount of work you put into making this video is crazy :) it's amazing. The animations, stock, fixtures... Idea.
I make 10° angle to avoid breaking the headstock and make a headstock template for handrouter and drill. The Z clearence is the problem somethimes :)

[aristosuratman]

Many thanks for this great professional video, very helpful, detail and clear ...

[pvogt]

Another quality video, packed with great instruction, and great ideas. Well Done.

[applebutter]

Pretty cool approach to a challenging problem.

[robertturner]

Great video, thanks for creating these tutorials.

[OldSilkRoad]

Absolutely love your content! And I am in awe of your generosity. You’ll make a luthier out of me yet!

[oeiuujf]

I love your videos. They have been great in helping me wrap my head around and create an overview and methodology for applying CAM/CNC to guitar making. What material do you use for your fixtures? do you have any videos showing your machine setup? I'd love to see some of these parts being machined. a time lapse with narration would be awesome. Maybe you have and I just haven't seen it yet.

[tsunaminaut]

Thanks for sharing awesome video! I'll be using this with my shapeoko XL once I finish a ukulele design I'm happy with =)

[nukpruf]

Your videos are top notch. I have cut many things on my cnc and always wanted to start making guitars but after watching this video I only have one question: Were you you a rocket scientist at your last job?

[rrhett]

Very nice. I've been carving necks on my CNC since I built my first machine in 2008, and I still picked up a bunch of stuff from watching you set this up. That said, any chance you could video yourself actually milling this part? I know from hard experience that no matter how good the simulations, actual cutting of complex milling operations like this often need adjusting when you are cutting in the real world.

[larsdan]

Great stuff Austin! I really appreciate the time, effort, and attention to detail! Curious as to why you had the raw stock as 5 inches wide. I’m about to build your fixture, but all of my neck blanks are 4” wide, so I have to figure out how to change it.

[maybenexttime]

Hi! Thank you or all the informative videos! I have an idea when it comes to the tool path starting from the top surface of the stock's bounding box. If you were to start with a box shaped stock and carve out that glued neck blank shape from that as the first step in the same setup, would that help avoid the errors? Of course, in reality you wouldn't run that step but simply skip it instead.