Bender Getting worn out

Timbuck

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This is my Bender in use for the last time before I refurbish it..I recon it's bent about 90 pairs of soprano sides to date ..
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and the heat generated into the steel heat containment rods, has chard away the woodwork causing the form plate and workpiece to drop in the area of the uke waist and it is now producing sides that have to be adjusted on the hot pipe.. I intend replacing the damaged parts with Aluminium plate...Here is short slideshow of the damage..Click on the small image to view.
 
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Today I completed the new bender former, all made from metal "Aluminium sides, CRS rods, and Stainless steel .5 mm sheet"
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Now back in the Cooker to test on a new set of sides
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Now thats a lot better...works better now than it ever did...I luv it !
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I'm so pleased with my refurb'ed Soprano bender, that I've decided to make another one using the same design but for Tenor size..The weather has been favourable so I'm building it out in the garden..this is it so far.
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Timbuck , Thank you for the thread and the pictures. Your workshop exploits are always very interesting, and soon you'll have to expand that area. BTW your cabbages look good!
 
Hi Timbuck,

I like your set up alot. I was also thinking about building a bender with halogen bulbs. How much watts does your bulb have? Now that I've seen what the lamp does to wood, I guess I'll be visiting my local machinist to see how much that would cost me. A heating blanket here in Germany costs about €100 (they sell them in 110V and 220V). A question to blanket users: Does the heat blanket also char the wood on your forms?
 
Most of the charing occured when I left the bender switched on....and then i got called away to answer the the telephone, and I forgot about it..luckily I was using it outdoors at the time...(could have set the workshop on fire)....The halogen bulb is 500 watt, take's about 3 to 4 min's to get up to heat.
 
A heat blanket gets very hot, very very fast. You never leave it unattended even for a minute. That said, it would only char the wood if you didn't follow the first advice.

I bend a set of uke sides with my set up and heat blanket in 2 minutes flat, so it's a real time saver if that is your first priority. I've also never cracked or broken a side using it. Where it has it's shortcomings is requiring a dedicated bending form for every size and style of instrument that you plan on building. And then there is the problem of storing all those forms. Trade off's to be sure, but I wouldn't part with mine.
 
Hi Timbuck,

I like your set up alot. I was also thinking about building a bender with halogen bulbs. How much watts does your bulb have? Now that I've seen what the lamp does to wood, I guess I'll be visiting my local machinist to see how much that would cost me.
Why visit a machinist ?..Aluminium cuts like butter with wood working tools just slow down the feed rate a bit..I made mine with Bandsaw and bench drill and cut the steel bar with Hacksaw.
 
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My past experience has taught me that the upper clamping caul also has to be as accurate as the bottom former..Just pushing some round shape into the waist can produce distortions..so i make a simple routing template jig and make enough pieces to build the caul.
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When all the pieces are assembled and glued together on a steel rod it should look like this.
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I installed the Heating Element today..an old 500W halogen sun flood..I got this free co's the lid/glass was missing (I would have removed it anyway)
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It's coming together nicely..I just need a few more parts and then I can test it out.
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I got the Tenor Bender up and running today...I made six cute mahogany screw knobs in the lathe and fitted threaded inserts into them..riveted together the top stainless sheet former...I got plugged in and let it get up to heat....I need to make a device to hold the top plate out of the way instead of the bunjee.:confused:
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Then inserted a pair of damp sides.
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