Hi all, first time poster here.
I’m in the process of creating guitar fretboard templates. I’ve got everything I need for the machining part, but what I’d like to do before any cutting happens is have the machine scribe a pencil centerline with the Quick Draw pen holder (for reference in later steps of my builds). I can’t quite figure out how to draw with bitsetter off, then get the machining to align perfectly with what was just drawn for all the cutting that follows (since there’s the offset from spindle center to pen holder). Feel like I’m missing something obvious.
Thanks!
Can you scribe the centerline with a vee-bit?
If not, the easiest way would be to do this in 2 separate operations, where the pen & spindle get zeroed independently.
If you know the offset from the spindle to the pen, and it’s consistent, you could include that offset in your program.
To use the pen without the bitsetter you would have to edit and delete the toolchange (M6T___) from that operation. (I’m assuming you are using the bitsetter for the rest of the program.)
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Thanks Todd,
I was wondering about doing an offset, but worried that the possibilities of the pen moving a little due to the elastic bands holding it might cause an issue.
And yeah, definitely using the bitsetter for the rest. I’ll experiment with doing it as two operations zeroing independently. Time to 'speriment! 
Oh - and I -might- be able to do a vee-bit. I’d considered that but was trying to avoid a ‘permanent’ mark. I guess I could do a really light pass and that wouldn’t be too bad. Great idea!
You are over complicating this. Just draw a center line with a ruler and pencil. then use that for your zero on X and Y after you draw diagonal lines and find center of fret board. Then use center for origin.
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I might be missing something, but it might be easier to cut a separate jig to help mark the lines if you’re going to do a lot of these.
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Instead of a vee-bit I’d use a drag bit with low tension. With care this would give you a light enough line to sand off.
It’s unclear why you’re concerned about a permanent mark if it’s a template. Having made over 30 guitars I’m also unclear how you would use a template versus carrying all operations directly on your CNC machine. Sure wish I’d had one back in my luthier days.
I just tried doing the pencil lines first and it worked pretty well, I just have to finesse my setup to guarantee my stock is perfectly square to the gantry.
As to doing everything on the CNC, I actually like doing a lot of the building by hand (neck carving, body shaping, etc.), but doing fret slots - especially for our multiscale instruments - and pockets/cavities is something I’ll gladly do on the machine.
Regardless, this is all a blast!
Why not cut a pencil to the length of an endmill and make it fit in a 1/4" collet? No offset and depending on lead hardness you might be able to keep the bit setter active 
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