Fpx Bending plans suggestions

I've been trying to find a set of plans for a fox bending machine that will be usable with ukes and guitars. From my reading and googling it looks like I should build a guitar size base and make my ukulele molds taller to work with the same size calls and bolts.

any thoughts or suggestion on plans?

I don't mind paying for them, but if I do I'd like to pay for the right one once.

I was going to wing it with measurements based off book and internet images but at this point a plan would just be a time save and a frustration saver.

Mike Doolin's bender design is better, and it can be simplified. And these days, you're better off planning to use heating blankets ( one or two ) than light bulbs.

It is easy to find a digital controller, solid state relay, switches , thermocouple, etc, for the controller part, if you have some understanding of how to read a schematic, and how a relay works. I built mine for less than $50 in parts for the controller. The blanket and slats were not included in this cost. Blue creek Guitars has slats and blankets. I opted for the uke size base, as ukes are what I want to build. If I ever need bigger, with what I learned in the process of building this unit, another is no problem. I used bananna plugs/ bananna sockets for the thermocouple, as they were handy, cheap, and I could not easily find fittings I liked for the standard thermocouple fittings.

Oh yes, a heatsink too... like this... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-PID...931?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4165b39043


Caution, electricity can KILL you, or burn you and all your precious stuff to ashes. DO NOT attempt this unless you FULLY understand what you are doing.

thanks, I'll have to try and get a copy of his plans or that issue (AMERICAN LUTHERIE #74).

I love the blanket idea but will have to put that off, I'm in the process of adding new machines to the garage shop... I'm bleeding cash at the moment so light bulbs for now.

I do respect the challenges the bulbs bring but I'll have to suffer I'm really looking forward to the first build but I'm waiting a little longer to make sure I have to the right tools to take some of the learning frustration out of it. I've learned that lesson in my other wood working endeavors. So I really want to spend time to build a good bender and get a setup for routing binding before I jump in.

Chris_H said:

Caution, electricity can KILL you, or burn you and all your precious stuff to ashes. DO NOT attempt this unless you FULLY understand what you are doing.

Click to expand...

I'm good here but appreciate the warnings, there are never enough. I also paint all my table saw gigs so I don't loose fingers

Don't be penny wise and pound foolish, as so many aspiring builders seem to be...

I built my own controller because what was available through the usual outlets looked exactly like what I could build myself, and in reality, not even as good when it was all said and done, mainly because of the enclosure/ ergonomics. The parts are the same as what are sold to the masses through LMI, etc. I never did see for sale the bending machines that Taylor uses, though I am still kind of in awe over that stuff, would have to really think hard before I tried to build anything like that. Bending with a light bulb heated unit never even came on the radar as a viable option, and after using silicon blankets and a controller, it seems even further away. Light bulbs for heating seems like a step in the wrong direction, and time spent learning that method will just have to be re-spent learning again when the correct tooling (heating blankets or a bending iron) is acquired. I have both a bending iron, and a bending machine. They are both different, and I think both are essential in the long term. Actually, I cannot see not having a bending iron. I use the iron for bending my plinth sides, with a bending iron you can immediately see exactly what the shape of a bend is. If I were to have to choose one or the other, right now, I would have to choose the iron, even though the learning curve is a little steeper, more frustrating.

I couldn't think of money better spent than on a silicone heating blanket. Combined with a simple, pattern-routed, solid form, a few clamps and a bit of aluminium flashing and you have a machine that can bend even the curliest of woods simply, effectively and in under two minutes. Make the whole thing double wide and do both sides at once.

I couldn't think of a bigger waste of time and money than temperature control on a heat blanket. Just turn it on and go for it. Bending sides is one of the easier parts of uke building. Don't get caught up in the hype.

I was able to bend sides with a lightbulb based bender but I also wasted a bunch of nice wood. This is a big deal if the sides and back all match or you are bending something rare. I got the uke size blanket from blues creek with the basic controller ( Just a router speed control ) and have been having 100% success. His instructions also work well for me.

When I was building my new bender I did get the $16 plans from http://ultimate-guitar-online.ultimate-online-services.com A lot of the info in the plans is available for free online but it was nice to have it all in one place.

Let me begin by saying we make and sale parts and pieces and this is one of the items that we make. We like to sell our products, but we also like to think that we offer services and help with what we do.

We offer a complete ukulele bending jig for sale but have considered offering just the plywood for making a bending jig. We realize that for various reasons that some want to build there own, some can't afford and entire bending setup at once, and various other reason. We have not offered this as of yet because we didn't know if there was a market for such. If we were to cut the plywood from 5/8" Baltic birch plywood and make the slots screw holes etc. it would need to be in the $75 to $100 range.....Really just asking is there an interest in this? We are a small family operation and our time is king and we are considering anything that reduces our labor and yet still offers much of what we can do for the public to purchase.

Some feed-back either way would be appreciated. Showing below the completed unit and an idea of the plywood pieces necessary for the bender with the exception of the stack glued material necessary for the solid block harness at the top.

Blessings,

Kevin Waldron

www.WaldronMusic.com


( all drawings Copyrighted )

In looking at the (few) pics that are online of Mike Doolin's design,. it looks like it may provide more tension for the bending. I built my bender similar to Kevin's. It worked great for the first woods that went through it. I was having difficulty bending some extremely curly Koa, it kept breaking. I was not getting enough pressure. I was using one blanket. Chuck suggested 2 blankets and 4 slats, and lots of pressure. I started really pressing on the handles, that was the trick. Chuck also mentioned some youtube videos of how Taylor bends sides. (very cool videos BTW) I am not super happy with the springs for tension at this point, I think a design that provides more pressure, easily, is better. Mike Doolin's design might be the answer. Some people use threaded rod instead of springs to maintain pressure, I need to see this work. It sounds like it could provide ample pressure, but it does not fully make sense to me yet.

I was also having difficulty bending that same super curly Koa on an Ibex iron, but then started using a small piece of slat to back it with, to provide support and pressure on the back side of the wood, no more breakage with the Koa.

The heating controller may not be necessary, and maybe it will prove itself to be too slow in the long run. For now, it does not get in the way, and it works. The temperature reaches it's set point and stays there, and is turned off when the bend is done. I have not yet bent enough sides to do it in my sleep, lots of attention is still required. Breaking wood sucks.

1 koa set >= 1 heating blanket

Our process on the bender. ( We need to rework our YouTube video, we have up. ) We find that the best way to bend difficult wood is to spritz lightly (really just moist), place in aluminum foil, and heat with blanket to 210 to 250 range ( depends on the species ). Use close pins for initially holding things together ( stainless slat, wood in foil, stainless slat and heat blanket on top) and maintain this heat before you bend for about 7-10 minutes. Start with the waist and bring the screw down to about 1 1/2" above the mold and allow it to set here for about 1 minute then lightly crank the screw all the way until it bottoms out. At this point bring the front bar with springs to the front forcing the upper bout to shape. Then go to back and slowly drag the rear bar and springs to the rear........ it's more of a feel and sound than just telling you how quickly. Let it remain at the 225-250 range after being bent for 7 to 10 minutes. Turn blanket off or unplug and allow to cool naturally and set for approximately 1 hour. If you will reheat to 200-225 for 10 minutes and allow to cool naturally the sides will not seek to straighten after the second heating as bad. Some woods and body shapes require more slats/dowels in the bending jig. Rarely will we use 3 layers of stainless and a auxiliary blanket but we have done this on occasion.

Hope this helps. Blessings,

Kevin

Michael Smith said:

1 koa set >= 1 heating blanket

Click to expand...

I guess this is the most convincing argument.

Kevin Waldron, thanks for the images, to answer you questions I think having the wood shop makes doing the plywood portion the easy part for people like myslef. As a consumer I'd probably want plans or maybe the pre-fabed metal components.

What I like about the Doolin style bender...and hate about the Fox style...is how you index the sides. With the Doolin, you can positively index to the butt seam cut. Withe the Fox, you never quite know without jumping through hoops. The full Doolin also supports the wood better than any other style, though we cheat it and don't bother. We also don't crack many sides...

Rick,

We have come up with a fairly easy way for using the Fox bender...... we simply find the center of the waist or the axis point on what ever form we are using with a flex/bendable ruler available at any hobby store. Simply follow your bending form to the lowest point in the waist, (use your plan, use your template if you like or if it's a pineapple the axis of the bending head) then take bendable rule transfer the point to sides or the aluminum foil ( basically a storey stick ). When you are ready to bend simply line up the mark in the travel slot where the screw head rides and you have repeatable results within 1/32". If you where also bending an instrument with a cut-a-way at the same time same approach applies...lowest point of the cut-a-way curve lined up in the screw head slot. ( We personally never cut the butt cut at the bending stage anyway) Thousand ways to climb the same tree.

Blessings,

Kevin

I pinched ideas for my first design off Kamaka but I found that the wood formers couldn't take the heat....So a while back I remade my formers all metal construction..I find that I now get uniform heat thoughout the jig (with no hot spots)..I have a couple of heating blankets but never used them..it's too much fiddling about for me ... I just bring the bender up to heat..stick in the wetted sides one pair at a time (no foil just as they are) and do them in batches..I then transfer them to a holding former to keep their shape.

Jorgensen Press Screw - answered my own question... cheers

So building my mold today... Trying to drill for the rods was a pain in the keyster. I had the sides of the mold screwed together.
Here was the problems:
1. Drilling to get the edge of the rod to the edge of the mold. I got it close but I seem to be a little shy here and little proud there.
2. My form side talked a little on the press table. So I've been filing to even it all out.

Better clamping will stop the 2nd problem (I have a ancient press that doesn't have an even underside to the press table.

As far as proper layout I'm not sure what the most accurate method is to get consistent depth around the form (maybe I'm stressing to much.) I also had the challenge of a spiral bit, a forstner bit would probably been better (guess what size was missing from my set)...
I'll be tweaking the forms till they all sit just right.

My screw clamp comes Wednesday, so I should have this wrapped up Wednesday evening.

I recently purchaced one of the Waldron side benders and I love it! I'm glad that I learned on a hot pipe though, it taught me a lot about how to repair crack sides! Just kidding. But really, it taught me a lot about the properites of the wood and gave me a good feel for what is going on with the sides while they are bending, which is something you wouldn't so easily learn if you had only used a bending machine.
I love mine, though. Thanks Kevin!!