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Cheapest Motorized Fret Slots Cutting Aid (Drill-Driven Fret Slotter)

OK people here it is, the cheapest motorized fret slots cutting aid ever, but I have to give the concept credit to Izzy Swan…

As you can see I took an electric 3/8” drill, used a compressor fitting, male to female to increase the size to 1/2”.

Grinded the little notch off so it would fit in the drill better. The reason why I needed to do this was the blade has a 1/2” hole.

The blade is what is a jeweler slotting blade and I ordered it off EBay:

HSS Jewelers Saw 3" D x .023" W x 1/2" Hole X 230 Teeth Made in Poland, http://www.ebay.com/usr/toolmexonlineoutlet

I really would have liked a 4” blade but the asking prices I found or the shipping costs were ridiculous. I didn’t use sealed bearings as shown on Izzy’s video because I didn’t have any but I did use plastic spacer with 1/2” inside diameter (Lowes) and put a washer on the outside of each one, might have to replace these in the future.

As you can tell the table is pretty rough, scraps I had laying around, wasn’t sure it was going to work, I had to slightly shim the table support to get just the right height of the blade for fret slots. I kept the table away from the drill for 2 reasons, one was to get to the trigger and the other is where the table height is not too high because of the height of the drill.

Cut my first fret board, oak, as you can see.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on October 19, 2015 at 11:42am

Great idea. I've been eyeing the table saw idea, would like to do something with a small bandsaw too.

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Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on November 2, 2015 at 1:27am

I edited your article so the pictures & video were displayed. We're featuring it this week. GREAT IDEA!!!

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Permalink Reply by Gerald Smith on November 9, 2015 at 2:14pm

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Permalink Reply by Gerald Smith on November 9, 2015 at 2:16pm

This is pretty cool, but I find that a coping saw is the simplest easiest way to cut the fret board.

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Permalink Reply by doggylv . on November 10, 2015 at 7:33am

Gerald, I have never been able to use a coping saw for anything....

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Permalink Reply by Gerald Smith on November 10, 2015 at 1:18pm

Time and patience. Take the blade down until the top is flush with the fret board. The fret fits perfectly into the slot. It's slower. But I like to build with as much hand tools as possible.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on November 9, 2015 at 4:44pm

Izzy makes some pretty cool stuff, been following him awhile now. I use the scroll saw to cut fret slots the blade is perfect size, so quick and easy.

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Permalink Reply by doggylv . on November 10, 2015 at 7:35am

Hey Pat, I thought about using the scroll saw, but when a blade breaks it scares the crap out of me.....

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Permalink Reply by Pat on November 10, 2015 at 11:29am

I keep the saw on a slow speed, reverse the blade so the teeth face away from me, that way it is easy to see the cut line, and let the blade do the cut with very little pressure use the guide to keep the board square, practice on some scrap you'll find it very easy, don't over tighten the saw blade, it should be about a c note when you give the blade a twang.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on November 10, 2015 at 12:49pm

Very nice! I've got that blade ordered but I think I'll spring for a $50 mini table saw and just leave it set up for fretting. Thanks for the info!

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Permalink Reply by Ray K III on November 14, 2015 at 11:02pm

Awesome Job. Izzy Swan is awesome. ThX for sharing this.

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Permalink Reply by Ray K III on November 14, 2015 at 11:33pm

I was gonna add, that I bought the mini table saw from HF it has NO torque. I even had issues cutting scrap pine for fret slots.Oak it would maybe get half or 3/4 of a slot cut and had to finish with a hand saw. I was using the same blade as mentioned above. $5 off ebay. it works well when you have the power behind it. If it had torque it would be an awesome tool for fret slotting for the cost it was. But I had to return it. In the demo video by HF they are cutting balsa wood and Popsicle sticks.

I'll be building one of these since a drill will have the torque to handle this.