Well....It's a start.

I've decided to try my luck at building my own ukulele. I was thinking of the Kit from Hana Lima.



Here's what I have so far.

Fox Bender design "borrowed" from Mr. Howlett.






I've built other stuff, but this will be the first instrument.

Here's some more:








I'm gonna ditch the screen. I don't like it. I'll just use all spring steel as soon as my uncle finds some.

The jig for assembly still needs work though.

Wish me luck!

That's a good start. You're right though, that screen's not going to work. You need the skin of the form to be pretty stiff to withstand the bending pressure. I use spring steel. I know you're just cutting your teeth, but a heat blanket would also make your life a lot easier.
Keep up the good work and keep posting your progress.

I'm working on Uke #2 right now and I have been using a hot pipe for bending. Set number 2 went quite a bit better then set 1 the hardest thing about the first one was bending the binding. I'm not sure I will build a bending machine any time soon, if I get people wanting them then I will. Otherwise I am making them one at a time and I want to build more then just ukes.
with the pipe is does take a little practice, but set 2 I was able to make them lay tightly to the male part (or female for that matter) of my forms without gaps.

Good luck with your building.

I think you'll do great in building ukes
I might just buy one!

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

That's a good start. You're right though, that screen's not going to work. You need the skin of the form to be pretty stiff to withstand the bending pressure. I use spring steel. I know you're just cutting your teeth, but a heat blanket would also make your life a lot easier.
Keep up the good work and keep posting your progress.

Click to expand...

Thanks Chuck! I dumped the screen. My Uncle told me where to get some spring steel and he'll have the guys at the metal shop where he works shear it to my specs.

If I had the money, I'd definitely go with a heat blanket. If all goes well and I enjoy this I'll invest more money, like I've seen everyone do around here as they get deeper into it.

mrhandy said:

I'm working on Uke #2 right now and I have been using a hot pipe for bending. Set number 2 went quite a bit better then set 1 the hardest thing about the first one was bending the binding. I'm not sure I will build a bending machine any time soon, if I get people wanting them then I will. Otherwise I am making them one at a time and I want to build more then just ukes.
with the pipe is does take a little practice, but set 2 I was able to make them lay tightly to the male part (or female for that matter) of my forms without gaps.

Good luck with your building.

Click to expand...

I may or may not go with binding. I guess i'll figure that out when the time comes to actually bend the binding. I'll have time to practice bending on some stuff lying around here before the kit gets here. Thanks!

Lexxy said:

I think you'll do great in building ukes
I might just buy one!

Click to expand...

Ha! Thanks Alex! I'd wait and see just how well I do on this adventure.

I got impatient and wanted to try the bender out.

I forgot we had some aluminum in garage attic so I used that. It's heavy duty print shop grade aluminum too. Will this be OK?



We had some pallet/plywood lying around so I separated the thin layers and soaked them for a while (probably too long). I wrapped the wood in some aluminum foil and started to bend it. I know I should have a top sheet, but I just wanted to see it the thing would get hot enough.





How hot should the bender get? The first time I tried it, the bender got pretty hot, and the second time it was even hotter. I took a thermometer out and it seemed like the reading was around 120 degrees F.

The first time I left the wood on there with the heat for a little over 20 minutes and then let it cool before removing the clamps. It didn't really hold it's shape well and was still pretty damp. Like I said, I soaked it way too long.



The second one was less moist and I left it in a little longer and let it cool longer too. It held it shape a little better, but it still wasn't good.


I think the wood wasn't the best in the first place though.



Oh! and I'm totally bummed. I went to purchase the Hana Lima Kit last night and they both disappeared. I saw them on the "Ukulele Kits" page Friday night and Saturday night they weren't even there.

Only 120F? That's not hot enough. You need to get up to around 250F to get it to bend. You'll still get some spring back with a bender like this...especially with mahogany. You might want to rig up a cheap hot-pipe to touch up the bends after
I'd call the folks at Hana Lima. They may have a kit in stock they can sell you. Pretty nice people over there

Yea. The thermometer wasn't really the right one to use to get a correct reading. I'll get different bulbs for more power too. (insert Tim Allen noise)

I was also thinking about the hot pipe as well. I'll make one soon.

As for Hana Lima, I'm waiting for an e-mail from them.

Thank's for the input though. I appreciate it!

You might want to to think about a drying jig like me and some others here use too - see the last picture here: http://www.wsukes.com/bendingsides.html