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Has anyone got plans for the Fox Style light bulb side bending jig. I love to get blankets, but I think I'd like to try this first and save up for the blankets. I tried to search the archives, but didn't have much luck.

Thanks

Peter 

Peter I am with Hesh here. I bent using light bulbs for a year or so. I really recommend investing a blanket I really is the way to go. Bulbs have hot spots That make it on occasion frustrating. If You do decide to use bulbs rig your system on 3 600W dimmers Or at least 2 600w dimmers. The waist and upper bouts are so close to the bulbs it is easy to scorch and the lower bout seems to take for ever to heat up. So you want to be able to control the heat independently. I also suggest that you use 3 200W (clear) bulbs. 150W will work but 200W work better.

But the truth is It will cost about $60 for 3 ceramic fixtures, 2 600W dimmers, 3 clear 200W bulbs and a blanket and a variable wattage controller will cost you $120 there about from John at Blues Creek Guitars. So you really don't save that much.

I will third what these guys are telling you. I ran bulbs for a while. They did ok, but they are slow and you need to get used to them. It can be tricky to get up to temp. I had used a heat gun to help even out the heating as well as using foil to help contain the heat(as well as again evening the heating). If you can find it in your budget, heat blankets will certainly be a smoother and safer path(in terms of breakage, learning curve, and results).

Peace,Rich

I think this is what you're looking for.

Fox Bender Plans

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Try this link for reference, Peter. It`s in the Online Resources at the top of this page.

http://jcjonesguitars.netfirms.com/sidebend2.htm

This style bender does OK, but I`m seriously considering heating blankets.

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Thanks All,

This is good advice, I guess the old saying, If you don't have enough money to do it right the first time you really don't have the money to do it twice.

I'll save some money and talk to Uncle John.

Thanks for the doses of straight talk, it's really what I was looking for.

Peter

And some of us use a combination of bulbs and blanket. I agree, bulbs alone are problematic. Kits with prebent sides are available, so you don't even need a bender.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

as to the cost of the blanket, you can buy direct from omega or minco and get one for about $70, and a router speed control is more often than not available on sale from harbor freight for $10 or so if you want to save money and can spend the time to connect the ends of wires together.

Michael, that's a great tip. What type of blanket would one be looking
for? Specs?

Interesting.

I have no doubt that a blanket is better, but I'm a bit surprised at some of the comments. I've used bulbs for the past five years and I don't think I've ever even cracked a side and certainly never ruined one. If there were anything I'd be afraid of ruining with my current setup I'd be even more afraid to use it on a guitar.

I just use 3 200w bulbs. Never had any problem with there being too little or uneven heat, etc...

I don't think you'll have any issues using bulbs.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Peter.....I'd have to agree with Mr French - go for it!

I built a bender a while back with bulbs only (no dimmers) & it's worked well for me. Basically, I just reverse-engineered pics from LMI & various websites (turbocadd helps)

Bulbs are 150w (I change the upper to 200w on cutaways) & rams are 5/8" x 10tpi threaded rod. Probably cost $60 total

My sequence is paint/wipe off with distilled water (both sides), wrap in tinfoil & position between pre-heating slats. After contact, advance waist ram 1 turn per minute 'till bottomed, then do bouts. Cutaway is the same (over the "hump", then 1 turn per minute 'till done). (I think this is the secret- advance is so gradual that the wood yeilds without protest.) Lights immediately off, cool 2-3hrs, recook 10 min., cool overnight. I thin my sides to 075" (.065 in the tight bits)

While blankets are I'm sure very nice, my limited experience tells me if your doing non-cutaway guitars, you should have no problem with bulbs. I've done 4 sets, all cutaways- all curly maple (not the easiest) without mishap. (...couldn't say that about the hotpipe!!).

 

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Dave
Milton, ON

Thanks Hesh,

I'll look into that. I do have a silly question. Is the "press" the same for light bulb bender and blanket? After heating the sides they have to go into a form or press, right? Can I build that and decide on how to heat the sides later?

Just a thought.

Thanks

Peter

yes.

Oh Boy!!! a new jig to make!!!

Peter -

I built a Fox bender following the LMI plans, with full intention to go with 3 200W bulbs. The fixtures are still in the form. For whatever reason, I decided to go with blankets instead. There is no difference in the form, and you can make that choice later as you please.

I have been very happy using blankets, and wish you success with either option.

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

This guy explaion how he did his.
It is in German, but the pictures are English

Was helpfull to me.

Fox Bender built

When I made mine, I took a picture on the internet and put some dimensions on it with ACAD.
If that could be a help I can provide this. You still need to figure a lot of things, but you have the basic idea.

Alain,

I have Autocad, I love to have it. You can e-mail me at PSL53atyahoo.com

Thanks

Peter

    Blankets are very good for bending.I am a sponser here and stock all sizes for benders. The blankets need to be 5 watts per sq inch. Light bulbs will do the job on most wood but you cannot control the heat and over time will end up costing you more in cracked sides.
    In 5 years of blanket bending and I bend 6 sets a week I lost 2 side sets. With light bulbs it was more like 5% lost . Check out my website and you can download the tutorial for bending there. http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
    A complete blanket rig for 120 is $140 with the controller and thermomter.
john hall
blues creek guitars

....and in the "bulb" camp.....

Further to my post above, here's a side I took out of the bender this morning. It's a new design for me & I was a bit worried because of the tight cutaway (1" R) and horn (about 1 1/4"). It came out great- no scorching (even with 55 min. start to finish time) cracks or blemishes.

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Dave
Milton, ON

We use one with three 200 watt bulbs and dimmer switches.

james, sorry to get back to you so slowly.

the last one i got was an omega srm 050636. it is a 5w/s.i., 6" x 36". you can easily look them up on omega's web site.