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Hi guys,
Since the switch from incandescent to LED and the curly type, is a light bulb bender still possible. I use the LEDs. Does the other type throw off sufficient heat?
Thanks.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I used to bend with light bulbs, when they were incandescent, but have switched to a blanket now. I really don’t think that the pigtail type bulbs would produce the heat needed to bend sides, and if they could, it would certainly take a very long time to get up to that temperature.

I can’t say this from experience though, just speculation.

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

100 W incandescent lights get hot enough to eventually char the wood on the bending rig. LEDs are a lot more efficient, and not nearly as hot, so they won't work. If you can't find high wattage incandescent lights you might be able to scare up some of the conic ceramic space heater elements that screw into a light socket. Those can put out 'way more heat, and if I were using those in a Fox-type bender I'd still want to use three (or, at least, two; one each in the upper and lower bouts) to get reasonably even heat. That's way more wattage than you'll want, and I'd get a light dimmer to cut the power down. Most good lighting stores that cater to electricians will carry 900W dimmers, and you can put one in a metal electrical box with a 'pigtail' cord in and an outlet plate to the heaters.

I use that sort of dimmer setup with a silicone heat blanket. It costs more than light fixtures, but works far better, lasts longer, and I have yet to scorch the bending rig with it.

Nope, not hot enough and even if we still had the old style incandescent bulbs heat blankets are really a must have. You can bend with bulbs but it's a slog and I could even make the case that since it takes more time it MAY, may be more expensive in materials lost to cracks and more dangerous if you have to run off and take a crap and forget to turn off the bender.

Incandescent bulbs up to 200 watt are still available from ebay.com.
I used 2 x 200 and 1 x 150 at the waist, worked OK - ish, but now use a blanket and the bulbs, works much better.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

As Alan says, the cone heaters can put out a lot of heat. I have an old teardrop shaped side bender that uses one of those heaters. The bender was old when I got it in the mid-1980s. The heater died last year. I had bought two spares from a local hardware store around 20 years ago - they are Eagle 415A Cone Glocoil units, that are rated at 120 volts and 660 watts. Now, you have to get them on ebay or from a few remaining heater companies. The temperature controller on my side bender had quit working a long time ago, so I just bypassed it and the bender worked fine. The cast aluminum teardrop is quite heavy, so I could unplug it and keep bending for quite some time. The cone heater uses a porcelain light bulb base which are still available at hardware stores. I would imagine a Fox-type bender would use those type of bases anyway. The base is attached to a metal bar under the bender.

When I replaced the cone heater last year, I also sanded, repainted (with high heat paint) and rewired the side bender. I took out the dead temp control, and made a separate controller that would work for my silicone blankets and the side bender itself. I went a little overboard and got a Lutron 2000 watt dimmer. Instead of taking the time to build and fit a box, I just lined up three electrical boxes, one for an indicator light, one for the dimmer, and one for the output - it was quick to build - some pictures are attached.

A common name for the modern cone heaters is Edison Base Cone Heater (a standard light bulb base is called an Edison Base). Process Heating Company sells them new for about $35. The third picture, I think, is from PHC's website. The base itself is very durable, and the heating wire is attached with a screw, so one could probably replace the heating element. Also, you might look at an Edison Screw Base Space Cartridge Heater. The wattage appears to be more comparable to a light bulb. I have never used one, but I did consider it in my googling for other options.

I can still get old incandescent bulbs at my local Ace hardware. Just a few months ago I built a Marshall clone amp and made a light bulb limiter with an incandescent bulb.