Building a Troji

[naccoachbob]

Wonder where that name came from? Trojan wars? Anyway, I was watching Todd Stock's videos on using Zpoxy for pore filling, and liked the look of the Troji that he used to hold the guitar while sanding it. Rod True made up a set of plans for building it, located here: https://app.box.com/shared/1h0r6vzsvm
I searched on here before posting this and saw a picture of the same one I'm building. I thought I'd show the way I constructed this one. It'll be finished tomorrow, but I'll post what I have so far and continue it tomorrow.

Here are the major parts. The whole device used up about 3/4's of a sheet of plywood. Shown are the 2 sides, the base, and the long thin pieces are reinforcements for the sides. With 3/4 inch plywood, I'm not sure how much that reinforcement is needed, but doesn't hurt anything.




Next are the smaller parts. The shelf, a number of different sized "gussets"-used to help hold the side and the shelf vertical. Also, the shelf has a couple of pieces of plywood glued together with a T-nut that will be used to receive a threaded rod that will open and close the Troji. There are a couple of other supports too.



The first thing I did (following Rod's directions) was to assemble 6 of the gusset pieces to form two assemblies that go at the bottom of the side.



They were set 2" from the edge of the side at the bottom. I drew a line on the outside of the side to correspond with the thickness of the gussets and screwed them onto the inside.



One of the parts split up near the top, so the picture shows some clamps on that part after I used CA glue on the split.

Next, the shelf was assembled.



You can see the hole thru which the threaded rod will go. The T-nut is on the other side. I bought the wrong kind of T-nut. I wanted the kind that you hammer into the hole. But this one had two holes for screws, but there were no screws in the package. I found some, and used both the screws and some CA glue to hopefully bond it forever.




Here's the side complete.




That's pretty much where I left things today. I should be able to finish it tomorrow.

[charles Tauber]

It was invented and named by Jean Larrivee and apprentices. It looked like a Trojan horse.

After some thought, I decided to make mine atop of a Workmate. I use the jaws of the workmate to adjust the opening of the Trojy. Not my original idea, but I liked it.

[Ben-Had]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

It was invented and named by Jean Larrivee and apprentices. It looked like a Trojan horse.

After some thought, I decided to make mine atop of a Workmate. I use the jaws of the workmate to adjust the opening of the Trojy. Not my original idea, but I liked it.

I made mine the same way Charles. Works great.

[naccoachbob]

Tim, would you post your picture of the Troji on the Workmate? I like it better than mine, but I don't have a Workmate. Others who have them would benefit I think.
Thanks for the origins of this device, Charles. I was curious who came up with it.

[Ben-Had]

Originally Posted by naccoachbob

Tim, would you post your picture of the Troji on the Workmate? I like it better than mine, but I don't have a Workmate. Others who have them would benefit I think.
Thanks for the origins of this device, Charles. I was curious who came up with it.

Here 'tis.

[naccoachbob]

Thanks, Tim.

Today, I put the side stiffeners on the other side. There were 2 vertical pieces and 2 horizontal, with one of these having a hole in it for the handle rod to pass thru. All of those pieces were glued, then I used screws from inside the side to further secure them.



In following Rod's directions, I then screwed in the hinges for the bottom of that side. However, the directions jumped from that to building the handle, which I had already done, and then jumped back to the hinged part. Seems the hinge needs to overhang the side by about 1/8" to allow the side to open a bit wider. It took me and my wife to get this mounted as 2 hands aren't enough. But it's on there now - for good! Oh, also, the side has to be mounted where the rod will go straight thru and catch on the T-nut attached to the shelf. I missed that mark the first time, but after sliding the hinges down and over, got it perfect the 2nd time around.



Speaking of the handle. Here it is.



Very sophisticated!

The directions called for a threaded rod (length to be determined when installed), 2 nuts, 2 regular washers and a larger washer, all to be connected to the handle. I probably could have worked with that, but I put two nuts together on either side of the handle so that they'd lock in place and stay.

My wife took charge of cutting the foam pieces to size, and I used double sided tape and 3M adhesive to secure them to the sides and shelf, completing the Troji. I'm guessing 6-8 good hours of work to do all this. It turned out to not be so cheap, about 10 less than a C note for materials.

Here it is:



I hope it's useful for someone. I think I'll be pretty happy using this. There are several times where I need to work something on the sides, and this puts the guitar body at a good height and holds it securely.

Thanks for looking,
Bob