Michael Winston Dales Guitars: Fusion 360

A Week in the Shop

5 Aug 2023 - bass, design, fretwork, Fusion 360, grain filler, hästen, verkstaden

This week I had both the highs and lows as my neck building exceeds my expectations before I'm knocked down a peg or two on the next stage. I also prep two guitar bodies ready for the stray-booth, and I do some CAD work on bass guitar work.

Two guitar bodies sit on the workbench, ready to go to the spray booth for painting. Both have a stick screwed into the neck pocket to be held in the clamp during spraying, and one has a cardboard mask on one side as only the rear will be painted.

A Week in the Shop

2 Apr 2023 - 3D-printing, amp, colour, form 3, formlabs, fusion 360, stain, verkstaden

A grab bag of bits this week: 3D printing a custom control for one guitar, testing out staining options for another, fitting a new transformer to my practice amp, and doing a little bit of electronics on my pickup winder.

A set of four postcard-sized rectangles of maple on a workbench, each with a different stain blend being tested: first is just straight yello, the second is orange over yellow, the third is red over yellow, and then the last is yellow, orange, and red.

A Week in the Shop

12 Mar 2023 - älgen, amp, dalarna, design, fusion 360, hästen, website

A busy week, with lots of progress: älgen guitar finally becomes an instrument, I design a new guitar, and I do some work to upgrade my old amp.

A Week Out the Shop

26 Feb 2023 - archtop, bhm, cad, delfinen, fusion 360, rendering, templates, verkstaden

A week spent paying off some CAD debt to fuel the workshop time, and a look at another builder of some amazing archtop guitars.

A 3D render of my älgen guitar design, which has a central wooden core that starts as the neck and continues the full length of the body, and then has a 3D printed latice either side where the guitar body would usually be.

A Week in and out the Shop

19 Sep 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, delfinen, ferrules, fusion 360, jigs, laser-cutting, patching, templates

A week of having more questions than answers as try to push the Delfin build forward.

A week in the shop

22 May 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, delfinen, fusion 360

We hit an epic milestone for the part-3D printed guitar design, and I walk through some of the small details as I refine the CAD model for my second build.

A photo of a weird in progress guitar on stand on a workbench. The centre of the guitar is a plank of walnut that runs the length of the body and neck, and to either side of it the body shape is made from a 3D-printed lattice in white plastic.

A week in the shop

15 May 2022 - älgen, delfinen, fusion 360, jigs, laser-cutting, templates

Dealing with 3D print shrinkage; looking at the tiny design details users will never see; how a damaged guitar body leads to a better design; and just what makes a guitar a Michael Dales guitar?

A return to the shop

2 May 2022 - 3D printing, älgen, fusion 360, jigs, laser-cutting, palm router, templates

After a hiatus due to reasons, I'm finally getting time back in the workshop. This week mostly redesigning my tooling after some initial setbacks on my hybrid guitar.

A week in the shop

15 Jan 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, cnc routing, fusion 360, jigs, laser-cutting, templates

After months of being just a CAD model, my Älgen guitar design finally begins to take form!

Santa's delivery catch up

7 Jan 2022 - 3d printing, älgen, branding, fusion 360

Santa delivers some exciting 3D prints, and I spent some time refining my CAD models for better product renders.

Tags > Fusion 360