DATRON AG employee, Marc Reis, made a CNC guitar using a DATRON M8Cube high speed milling machine.  This CNC guitar is a Fender Stratocaster replica with body, neck, electronics pocketing, fret inlays and tuner through holes all milled on this high speed CNC milling machine made by DATRON AG in Germany.

Video of CNC Guitar Milling

For this CNC guitar milling project, Marc was able to leverage many of DATRON’s unique features such as vacuum table workholding used to hold the guitar body during machining. DATRON Vacuum tables are designed to swiftly and efficiently secure flat workpieces to the bed of a machining system. Thin stock, which could be secured only with great difficulty before, can be secured literally within seconds with this vacuum system. This includes plastic foils as thin as 0.001” up to heavier 0.250” aluminum sheets. This vacuum table features airflow-optimized ports, with recessed chambers, to provide superior vacuum distribution. A low cost, gas-permeable substrate serves as a sacrificial vacuum diffuser, allowing the cutter to machine through the workpiece, without cutting into the table.

Also, the ability to clamp long (or tall) parts to front of the cut-away in the M8Cube machine bed facilitated the drilling of a cavity in the guitar neck to accommodate the truss rod. (A guitar truss rod is used to stabilize and adjust the lengthwise forward curvature of the neck.)

CNC Guitar Photo

The DATRON M8Cube high speed milling machine features brushless, direct drives that provide faster acceleration, feed rates up to 866 inches per minute and shorter cycle times. A 3kW, 40,000 RPM, liquid-chilled spindle delivers greater horsepower for heavier machining, as well as the flexibility to mill a wide range of materials. To learn more about the DATRON M8Cube download the brochure by filling out the form below.