Well, fraternal twins but not identical. The next project is a pair of concerts. One is all curly mango and the other is curly bigleaf maple with a European spruce top. Both will get Spanish cedar necks but the other details haven't developed yet. Stay tuned.
The sides were bent on this new bender. It's pretty much conventional. The mold portion is replaceable for different sizes and shapes. The 6" by 24" heat blanket came from McMaster-Carr. Both sides can be bent at once side-by-side. The extra clamps at the bouts may be overkill but the idea is to apply more pressure more evenly to encourage figured wood to bend smoothly, as it has a tendency to kink or break. These don't add much to the cost or complexity and it feels good to have a little extra insurance. The knobs are also from McMaster-Carr. It's handy to be able to spin them in and out quickly. Heat control is courtesy of a twenty buck variable output box from Harbor Freight (I know, I know). It runs through a hardware store timer to back up my natural inclination not to leave hot things running too long. The Fluke thermometer is a luxury but it was already on hand and the accuracy can't hurt.
The sides were bent on this new bender. It's pretty much conventional. The mold portion is replaceable for different sizes and shapes. The 6" by 24" heat blanket came from McMaster-Carr. Both sides can be bent at once side-by-side. The extra clamps at the bouts may be overkill but the idea is to apply more pressure more evenly to encourage figured wood to bend smoothly, as it has a tendency to kink or break. These don't add much to the cost or complexity and it feels good to have a little extra insurance. The knobs are also from McMaster-Carr. It's handy to be able to spin them in and out quickly. Heat control is courtesy of a twenty buck variable output box from Harbor Freight (I know, I know). It runs through a hardware store timer to back up my natural inclination not to leave hot things running too long. The Fluke thermometer is a luxury but it was already on hand and the accuracy can't hurt.
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