Building a Better Bending Iron

I'm trying to build a better bending iron for touchup and bindings. I picked up a chunk of aluminum at a junk dealer for $7 and used about half to form this shape. Took me about an hour to shape. I plan to get a commercial element from Grainger or somebody like that. The question I have for the group is do you think 250 watts will be enough. I don't want a wimpy unit that you have to wait half an hour to get hot. I would rather have one that packs a punch that I have to turn down. The unit I'm making here is 2.5 inches wide about 1.25 thick and 4.5 inches long. I drilled a hole for a thermometer as well.

Go with 400W

Liam's a sparkie and my "go to guy" when it comes to things that give me a jolt in the shed. I always defer to his expertise. I've got a StewMac unit and never even thought to look at what it is rated at.

thanks Allen but this time someone else has done the leg work.

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=32159&hilit=iron

I got this "better bending iron" up and running today. It works fantastic and is way better than the pipe and charcoal lighter I was using. The big chunk of aluminum holds a lot of heat an is evenly hot. The egg shape is a real advantage as you can heat any size area you want. I ended up with a 425 watt element. It hits 300 degrees F in 3 minutes and 20 seconds from a cold start. I will post some pics when I have put all the extras on. I'm putting on a timer, and am going to go to the dump rob an electric oven of the thermostat