Milling Tone Boards
CNC Tone Board Milling (AR style Duck Kegs and Short Reed Goose Guts and Wedges)
Please read all of this page prior to contacting us about CNC Tone Board Milling - there are a lot of things involved and the more you know the better we can help.
AR Style Duck Call Tone boards:
Pricing for tone board machining varies depending on a lot of variables. As a rough estimate, one would likely expect milling cost to be between $5.50 and $10.00 each for machining costs on Acrylic and Delrin. Materials such as Aluminum and Brass will be roughly double. This is only for milling the tone board.
Tone board profile mapping and setup/programming charge is generally $400.00-$700.00. If we have made a custom jig for you, and already have the profile on file to use there will be a discount on the setup fee. We reserve all copies of cad files, drawings, and programs. These prices do not include a customer copy of the CAD files/data.
Setup/Programming is a ONE TIME fee per tone board/insert design. You may purchase a copy of the CAD file of your tone board if desired if a jig has been made or a run of milled tone boards has been done with the mapping. The cost for a copy of the file is $400.00. Mapping an insert and generating a CAD file without any other work being done will be more.
We have only one fixture for milling Arkansas Style Duck Call tone boards - and there are some specific requirements to be able to use our fixture. We can not currently do LA Style duck soundboards. The fixture bore is .625" - the closer the tenon is to .623-.624 - the better the milling results will be.
Milling of spit grooves and squaring the cork notch (squaring available on PARALLEL or DOWN SLOPE tone boards ONLY) is an additional service. We are not currently able to square the cork notch on UPSLOPE tone boards without making a specific fixture for your exact part. This cost is estimated at $1400-$2000 - but will depend on the specific details of your design. Please be sure to mention this in your email, if it is a requirement.
Minimum batch run is 36 tone boards cut or the turning minimum which is roughly 3 - 4-foot sticks cut into kegs. Quantity discounts will apply on larger runs (8 sticks or more).
Sample Parts: Sample parts are an option, but they are extremely expensive. All the work that goes into setting to run is the same, whether there is 1 or 1000. That is why there are quantity discounts, but also why the inverse is true for just one or two parts... So be prepared for the cost of a sample part if you require one. Its not unheard of to have a single sample part cost $400-$600.
Currently only 5/8" (.625") diameter tenons for Arkansas style Duck Call sound boards can be machined. May be as small as .620" but chatter may be increased or accuracy may be reduced do to loose fit in the fixture. .623-.624" diameter tenons are best suited for our fixturing.
We will only mill tone boards on kegs that we have machined.
There MUST be at least a distance of at least 0.200" from the back of the cork notch to the beginning of the taper, closest face of the O-ring groove, or shoulder of the exhaust. As shown in the picture below. It all relates to the milling fixture and the location of the hold down screw.
The cork notch height MUST NOT BE shorter than 0.150" for milling (tall - ie 0.150"+ thick cork). That is the smallest corn notch that can be milled with our current tooling.
The back of the cork notch will be ROUNDED. It will NOT be square unless notch squaring is added for parallel and downslope tone boards only - upslope tone boards will have the radius in the back of the cork notch and will require the customer squaring the notch. The tool used to cut the soundboard is round (think similar to a slotting router bit). You will need to file the back of the cork notch square once you have received the parts.
If your insert has an O-Ring - the closest edge/face of the O-ring groove MUST be at least 0.200" from the back of the cork notch for strength of the cork tang and to avoid any marring of the surfaces when mounted in the fixture.
Tone boards can be milled on Cast Acrylic, Delrin/Acetal, Aluminum, and Brass.
Turn around time will depend on the current workload.
If you would like an estimate, please contact us via email with your information, specs, quantities, drawings and or pictures. You may send your prototypes to us for a more accurate estimate/quote. Please include $9.50 for return shipping of your prototype plus any additional insurance you require. WFCC is not responsible for items lost by shipping carriers..
Feel free to contact us for additional information.
If you need suggestions for a supplier for materials, we regularly receive drop shipments from Deadshot Polymers, Delvie's Plastics (acrylic) and occasionally Midland Plastics (Delrin/Acetal, Colored Acetal, Acrylic, and PVC).