My First 3 Bulb Side Bending Machine Nearly Complete....

[Christopher Perkins]

Hello all


After building my first guitar under Al Carruths guidance over a year ago (has it already been that long??) , I set out to gather everything I needed to get going in this addicting craft....

After a little over a year of tool collecting, radius dish collecting, mold making, and pipe bender creating, I have finally (nearly) completed my first fox style three bulb side bending machine. Creating all of these tools have been very fullfilling in many ways, and I have learned a great deal along the way. I have, however run into an unexpected problem..

I have been unable to find a smooth piece of sheet metal or flashing to cover the top of the bender to hold the heat in. I thought this part of the build would be the easiest, but I can't seem to find the material I need....any thoughts or suggestions on material....or a place I could possibly find this material??

Thanks all!
Chris

[Michael Lewis]

Shim stock comes in 6" widths in a square box. I don't remember how long the roll is but it will make a couple "leaves" for a bender. Industrial supply business like McMaster - Carr, or MSC will have this. I use .020" thickness for simpler bends and .012" for cutaway sides. YMMV

[Bob Hammond]

Christopher,

I applaud your effort to build jigs and form. By doing that, you are pre=visualizing what the finished product will be - that's a practice that is very useful.

That said, here's a pic of the first form that I built, and I dug it out of the 'pile' for the pic.. It was made about 10 years ago. The sheetmetal covering is just hardware-store galvanized sheet. I cut it to a broader width with snips, and then passed it over a 4" pipe a few times to pre-shape it. Then I nailed it onto the form with carpet-tacks - no kidding, the carpet tacks were all that i had at the time. But it worked, and still is holding together today.

Dang it, the server refused the picture because of the image size -- but you get the idea, I'm sure

[John Sonksen]

what kind of bulbs does this use?

[Christopher Perkins]

I used 3 150 watt bulbs.

[Christopher Perkins]

Bob I appreciate the kind words and hope you are able to shrink the pic size so I could see it. You should be able to shrink it fairly easily in paint, if you get a chance, I would love to see it!

[Jim Kirby]

Coming in late here - congrats on the bender. I'm on guitar 10 and 11 and I'm so glad that I've taken the time to put together a bender, even though I have used 3 or 4 different body sizes, each needing a new set of forms.

My advice is, ditch the lightbulbs and go right to a heating blanket. You'll never look back.

Happy New Year everyone.

[Dan Pennington]

+1 for switching to a heat blanket. Speeds up the process a lot.