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I know this has been discussed several times over… I'm about to build a few
bending forms, what do you guys recommend for supporting the side (or
bending blanket), spring steel or aluminum, I cant remember what the issue
was with either one. Can I use aluminum sold in rolls at HD or Lowe's?
Where can I purchase spring 6 x 36 spring steel sheets? Also any problem
using 3/4 MDF instead of 3/4 ply? Thanks in advance!laurent38803.3681134259

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

The issue with aluminum is shape memory. You will have to discard after every use because you will not get it dead flat again. That is if you are like me and like to preheat flat before taking the slats to the bender.I use spring steel. Many use stainless steel but it will take a shape as well.

Laurent, you can get spring steel or stainless from John Hall.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I use SS. You do have to straighten it after use but it works ok. I also use MDF. Since it is so cheap I laminate several together an make one solid hunk about 6" thick. Seems to work fine.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I use stainless - it does retain a bit of the shape, but since I only build dreads at this point, that's OK. If I ever build a different body style, I'll just get some new slats...

-Mark

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Different folks prefer different materials, but I use and like .010" spring steel slats. Unless you're lucky enough to find someone who sells them (John Hall?) you may have to buy a roll from McMaster Carr, which is what I did to make mine.
I'm assuming you're going to use heat blankets for you bending, if so, mdf is fine, it's just nasty to work with. It's a lot cheaper than good plywood. I have a good friend who makes an initial template from 1/4" tempered harboard, and then uses that to shape the mdf. He makes one more from another piece of tempered hardboard, and stacks the mdf between the hardboard. They are great forms. Don Williams38804.6010416667

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
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Spring stainless.   I get it from McMaster-Carr. They sell 6" widths in rolls in just about any gauge you want.

[QUOTE=Don Williams]… mdf is fine, it's just nasty to work with. It's a lot
cheaper than good plywood.…[/QUOTE]

You got that right… I'm making a double sanding dish with MDF… I got
plenty of it for bending forms so…
Wasn't there an issue with aluminum discoloring certain woods?
Thanks to all for the answers.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I use aluminum flashing because it's available. It works, and so far I haven't had a problem with staining. I throw it away after each use.

Al

I use galvanized steel nailed onto my forms. My forms are dedicated though, Olsonish rather than Foxish. I use bulbs inside and blanket on top. You can see pics in the Jigs and Tools section.

Oh, and you can get this metal from any sheet metal or duct working place.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I use spring streel now & it works well... But! I have to paint mine with some high heat paint. It's beginning to rust in a few spots & the rust leaked through a small tear in the alum foil & stained a practice side... The stain went in pretty deep.
I used galvanized steel flashing (cheap at most building suppliers) for a while & it worked fine too. Just had to straighten it out a bit after each use.

Sounds like stainless is the best then. How do you the straighten stainless?

Hi John

I use both stainless and spring steel on a fox bender, Stainless definately remembers the bend and I wouldn't want to use it for a cutaway, if I was to go for one option it would be the spring steel, as you can use it for everything, and at the end of the day the resin from the wood goes all over the stainless anyway, so I wind up cobering the stainless with foil, as it is easier to replace the foil when stained than scrub the stainless.

     Stainless is what I use for everything as the ripple isn't that big a deal to me. I did find some tempered stainless and that is what I put out for the last year or so.
    Slats are eithe spring or stainless. The spring steel is a high tempered carbon steel and will stay flat but you will have some rust and staining. I know Bob Cefalu painted his with high temp paint and said it die great for him
    I am here to help if I can
john

I'm using the Steel flashing from the local hardware store. 6"x whatever is in the roll. It works great and has little to no memory. Less than $20 a roll and from one roll I built three forms (nailed down ala Bruce Dickey!) I have two slats I use for a bending sandwich and still have half a roll left.

As stated little to no memory. I bend my cutaways and non cutaways with the same slats. As to staining? I wrap everything and so far so good.RCoates38803.7700231482

Laurent, I can't help much with the slats although I hear blue tempered stainless works well. But with the form, a tip. I just make mine from particle board, which I think is lighter then MFD. Before glue up it weighed a ton, so I left the two outer pieces whole and then removed all but the outer two inches on the center sections. Still very strong, but now easy to move around.
Mikemikev38804.0364236111

Laurent, you can also get the stainless slats from a place that sells gaskets. I went in there looking for something else and stumbled across the 6"x36" stainless shim stock for about $10.00 each. They also have them in different thicknesses. I think the ones I got were around .010.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Any city that has equipment manufacturing will have a steel vendor such as Herscfield Steel Co. You can pick up spring or stainless there pretty cheap and they will cut or sheer it to shape for you. If they have drops (waist material), you can pick drops up fo as little as 20 cents a pound (or the going scrap rate for the grade of steel per pound) plus a fee to shape itMichaelP38804.4740509259

My issue with memory is alligning the flat wood slats in a bent sandwich. It is much easer to align flat wood slats in a flat sandwich. Plus this allows the blanket evenly heat the plank while preheating before I put the sandwitch in the bender.

    Actually once you learn to bend the waist dip helps. If you want something to stay perfectly flat then spring steel is the only option. This is a high temper steel alloy but the rusting and staining are a pain.
    I do bend alot of sets and if you saw my slats you would throw them out. Remember is ins't the slat it is the bending procedure that will make them work.
   Preheating is a waist of time. The only time I would use that is on a light bulb unit. I have a set of instructions to bend so if you want a set email me at
tippie@epix.net
I will be happy to send you a set.
john hall

I use aluminum on the bottom and spring steel on the top. I flatten the aluminum bottom one every time so that I can pre-heat it as a flat sandwich.Matt Mustapick38805.1372337963