Official Luthiers Forum!

So I've made a hot pipe bending iron and It seemed to actually work quite well. I do however have one problem with it. Instead of using a 1000W dimmer switch I used a 600W dimmer switch (because it was all I found at canadian tire) as the temp control for the 500W bbq element. anyways I noticed that once the dimmer switch is turned on it seems to always on full regardless of where the dial is at. so could it be that I destroyed the capacitors or whatever is inside the dimmer switch so now it basically works as a normal light switch? I likely made a dumb mistake as I don't really know a whole lot about electronics, I just assumed a 600W switch could handle 500W but thats probably some kind of novice electronics mistake. So I could just go out and buy a 1000W switch somewhere and see if it works but i'd rather be sure that's my problem before I do that.

any help will be appreciated
Matt

router speed controller. Harbor freight cheap!

How can you tell its on full with a BBQ starter ???? Try plugging a light bulb into it to see if its still OK (ie does it dim the bulb??) .. if you put a volt meter on it, it will likely read 115 all the way down to almost zero, as its a chopper circuit in there .. its either at 115V or 0, and your meter isnt fast enough to see it change, at least mine arent (digital). I run my 550w blanket with a 600 watt dimmer .. works just fine.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

well I am assuming its on full as i've timed it on the lowest setting and also the highest and the element appeared to reach the brightest glowing orange state in the same time. I did think about adding a lightbulb but just haven't gotten around to it and now won't be able to fiddle around with it for a few weeks.

but the router speed control is a neat idea!