Side Bending Spring Back

[crash6882]

I just made a new bending jib, I tried a piece of curly Maple in the bender. When I took the piece out it sprang back almost straight. what might have caused this to not take the bend, do you think that i need bigger light bulbs.....?

-thanxs Jeff

[pariah223]

this may be asking an obvious question... but you never know.... did you wet the wood? if so how long?

[crash6882]

yes i did wet the wood for about 15mins., I am not sure if the wood got TOO wet!

[Mattia]

Water's not the thing, the heat is.

[crash6882]

I have 60 watt bulbs in there right now but i don't think that they are strong enough, I think I am going to go with 80Watt bulbs.

[Mattia]

The lightbulb powered benders I've seen have 2 100 watt and one 150 watt bulbs in them, sometimes even more than that.

[fryovanni]

When I bent with bulbs. I used (2)150 watt floods and a 200 watt in the middle. If I placed tinfoil on top and around openings, I could get the wood up to about 250-275 deg.F. , and that would take about 30-40 minutes. I used to use a heat gun to suppliment the bulbs as I bent to bring it up to the proper temp(closer to 300-325).

You did not get the wood hot enough (60-80 wat bulbs will not get it even close). I am not sure how thick the sides you are bending are, but you definately don't want to bend sides that are on the thick side with bulbs. I would really recommend a heat gun as a supplimental source to the bulbs.

Peace,Rich

[Daniel Sorbera]

Or you could use the silicon heating pads. I just got mine in. I have not used them to bend any sides yet, but they heat up very quickly and evenly.

[Francesco]

Or you could use the silicon heating pads. I just got mine in. I have not used them to bend any sides yet, but they heat up very quickly and evenly.

Daniel: Could you let me know where you purchased that heating pad? Thanks.

[Daniel Sorbera]

http://www.watlow.com/

They were around $130 each for 5"x35" size.

[crash6882]

Well i just put 150 Watt bulbs in, now the problem is that they are getting too hot and starting to burn the inside of the bending jig, causing smoke. What did you all use to line the inside of your jigs to prevent it from burning?

[Mattia]

Aluminum foil (thick), or just thin aluminum sheeting. Make sure you have quality heat-resistant wire and ceramic bulb fittings as well, or a bit of smoking wood isn't the only problem you'll have...

Edited February 19, 2008 by Mattia

[Vinny]

Im in the middle of building my Fox style bending jig (thanks Peter!) and decided to go the heat blanket route. Heres the post on receiving my blanket. -Vinny

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=34652

[fryovanni]

I am not sure what materials you have used in constructing your bending machine. It will be subjected to very high temps, and you need to build it to take the heat. Using foil is very helpful, especially if you allow a small air gap between the wood and foil.

Using bulbs is tricky, and does have a learning curve, as well as requires patience. You would have a much easier time using heat blankets. They are faster, heat evenly, and are easy to control. Given acoustic sets are pretty expensive, heat blankets pay for themselves very quickly. Since you are having trouble with bulbs, I would recommend you strongly consider buying blankets.

Peace,Rich

[father son]

could someone post how to make the jig and what to do??

again, sorry for my noob question

[carousel182]

Look at my thread in its probably on the last page. It should give you an idea of how much work it is to learn how to make an acoustic when you have no experience with it (other than a bunch of electrics.)

[fryovanni]

Here is a quick link to his topic- topic