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Heating A Bending Iron


GREGMW

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Hi

Has anybody tried heating a bending iron with a hot air gun.

Regards

Greg

yes indeed..that's exactly how i heat mine. i have a length of 2" galvanized pipe mounted in a floor flange and then mounted to a 2" thick piece of maple with a 2-2 1/2" hole in the back of it leading to the inside of the pipe. behind that i mounted a paint stripping gun into a clamp and pointing into the hole. works great but be careful..if you get it too close to the hole the heat backs up and sorta kinda melts some of the plastic in the barrell of the heat gun. but once you find the right combination it gets the pipe plenty hot for bending.

by the way, i drilled a series of 1/4" holes into the bottom of the pipe to allow some of the air to pass through.

good luck.

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Hi

Has anybody tried heating a bending iron with a hot air gun.

Regards

Greg

yes indeed..that's exactly how i heat mine. i have a length of 2" galvanized pipe mounted in a floor flange and then mounted to a 2" thick piece of maple with a 2-2 1/2" hole in the back of it leading to the inside of the pipe. behind that i mounted a paint stripping gun into a clamp and pointing into the hole. works great but be careful..if you get it too close to the hole the heat backs up and sorta kinda melts some of the plastic in the barrell of the heat gun. but once you find the right combination it gets the pipe plenty hot for bending.

by the way, i drilled a series of 1/4" holes into the bottom of the pipe to allow some of the air to pass through.

good luck.

Thanks John,

Any chance of a pictire.I have a piece of 4inch (100mm) aluminium tube/Pipe.Would that be too big?What do you reckon is the best size pipe?

out of curiousity, why are you bending Iron?

I am making a bending iron to bend sides.

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Yes, I prefer to use my side bending machine as a form and if touch up is needed I have a 3" iron pipe with a charcoal lighting element stuck inside. I use a heat gun to suppliment my light bulbs in my side bending machine. There is a Topic that several guys are using to show there acoustic builds it may have some info-click

I have a few pics up showing how I build up forms and side bending machine forms. I have not been updating it much, but hopefully I can get more pics up soon.-click

Peace,Rich

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Yes, I prefer to use my side bending machine as a form and if touch up is needed I have a 3" iron pipe with a charcoal lighting element stuck inside.

Peace,Rich

Thanks Rich,

I am not too sure what a Charcoal lighting element is.I had a search around.Any chance of a picture.

We probably call them something else down here.

Thanks

Greg

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Charcoal lighting element = electric heater used to light, well charcoal. BBQs, like. Come in various sizes, and are little more than electric resistance heaters you can probably mash up and reshape to fit in a tube. Plug it in, it gets hot. I'm pondering getting a 'loose' water boiler heater from my local camping/army surplus store, seeing if that will work...

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Charcoal lighting element = electric heater used to light, well charcoal. BBQs, like. Come in various sizes, and are little more than electric resistance heaters you can probably mash up and reshape to fit in a tube. Plug it in, it gets hot. I'm pondering getting a 'loose' water boiler heater from my local camping/army surplus store, seeing if that will work...

Mattia,

A water heating element may burn up quickly. They are designed to be submerged.

A charcoal lighting element is as Mattia described. Just an open heating element. They can be purchased at hardware and some variety stores (about $10).

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GREGMW..i won't be in my shop until sunday or monday but i'll be glad to snap a pic. as to the best size..i don't know. i made mine to make a ukulele and now that i think of it i can't remember if it was two or three inch pipe.. google diy bending irons or something like that and i'll be you find a lot of info on how to make one.

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GREGMW..i won't be in my shop until sunday or monday but i'll be glad to snap a pic. as to the best size..i don't know. i made mine to make a ukulele and now that i think of it i can't remember if it was two or three inch pipe.. google diy bending irons or something like that and i'll be you find a lot of info on how to make one.

Thanks John,

I would appreciate that.

Regards

Greg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am not too sure what a Charcoal lighting element is.I had a search around.Any chance of a picture.

An Aussie that doesn’t know everything about and around BBQs?

Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. I have a friend that moved to Australia and he told me that you were the world champions when it came to barbeques.

Found a link:http://www.wosab.se/Irene-sv.htm

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My concern was setting the house on fire. I sprung for an electric bending iron from Robert Gee voilins on Ebay. Im very satified with it. Does just what its supposed to do.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BENDING-IRON-MIGHTY-MI...1QQcmdZViewItem

That would work for some binding, and maybe up to Archtop sides width. It is only three inches tall and wouldn't do acoustic sides. I noticed he does have a nice luthier unit (egg shaped not round) that is 5" tall. It seems like it could get the job done. I wonder about its ability to maintain temp. though. It says 10 minutes to reach temp. and it is a small bit of cast metal. I like it though $120 is not bad if it works well and is such a small package (saves shop space).

Peace,Rich

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I am not too sure what a Charcoal lighting element is.I had a search around.Any chance of a picture.

An Aussie that doesn’t know everything about and around BBQs?

Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. I have a friend that moved to Australia and he told me that you were the world champions when it came to barbeques.

Found a link:http://www.wosab.se/Irene-sv.htm

i certainly don't want to cause any problems between you and your friend but he's wrong...everyone knows that barbeque was invented in texas and that we are the undisputed world champs. :D

by the way GREGMW..if you're still following this thread i apologize for not supplying the pictures that i promised but a better retail space came available and i've been moving my guitar shop for the last 3-3 1/2 weeks and haven't even set foot in my shop for a while.

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I am not too sure what a Charcoal lighting element is.I had a search around.Any chance of a picture.

An Aussie that doesn’t know everything about and around BBQs?

Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. I have a friend that moved to Australia and he told me that you were the world champions when it came to barbeques.

Found a link:http://www.wosab.se/Irene-sv.htm

i certainly don't want to cause any problems between you and your friend but he's wrong...everyone knows that barbeque was invented in texas and that we are the undisputed world champs. :D

by the way GREGMW..if you're still following this thread i apologize for not supplying the pictures that i promised but a better retail space came available and i've been moving my guitar shop for the last 3-3 1/2 weeks and haven't even set foot in my shop for a while.

No worries John,When you get a chance I would appreciate it.

In the meantime I'll just go out and cook up some "Texas Ribs" on my "Gas Fired BBQ"

Cheers

Greg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

Has anybody tried heating a bending iron with a hot air gun.

Regards

Greg

yes indeed..that's exactly how i heat mine. i have a length of 2" galvanized pipe mounted in a floor flange snip>>>>>>

Hi Greg,

You do realize that heating Galvanized pipe can be deadly???? I do hope you are using lots of ventilation and cross breeze, as well as being outside? I'm just trying to prevent you or any one else from getting deathly ill or possibly dying from the fumes that expelled from galvanized steel after reaching 500 degrees. Just wanted to post the warning, I'm not chastizing just want you and everyone to be careful and be safe..

Sincerely,

Mike K

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Hi

Has anybody tried heating a bending iron with a hot air gun.

Regards

Greg

yes indeed..that's exactly how i heat mine. i have a length of 2" galvanized pipe mounted in a floor flange snip>>>>>>

Hi Greg,

You do realize that heating Galvanized pipe can be deadly???? I do hope you are using lots of ventilation and cross breeze, as well as being outside? I'm just trying to prevent you or any one else from getting deathly ill or possibly dying from the fumes that expelled from galvanized steel after reaching 500 degrees. Just wanted to post the warning, I'm not chastizing just want you and everyone to be careful and be safe..

Sincerely,

Mike K

Thanks for that Mike,

I appreciate what you are saying.

I actually picked up a 80mm Aluminium pipe and did a test run with the heat gun and some scrap.So far so good??

Greg

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