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I have been thinking about how to make one. The one here looks about the simplest I have seen. Any comments?

http://www.khalafoud.com/Jameel_OudConstruction.htm

Cheers,
Sean

Someone was giving them away at the MIMF, he had them custom made, (blowtorch for heat), maybe he knows the guys number who did them, you could get a few people to go in on some. They were like 20.00

http://www.mimf.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@46. ... @.2cb6af86

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Sean,
My bending pipe consists of an electric charcoal lighter, which is readily available here in the US at most any borg, fitted inside a stainless steel tube, with a temprature control. I put it together for about 15.00 US. I already had the thermostat in the odds and ends drawer, though.
Works great, but will scorch wood and your skin if you`re not careful. DAMHIKT.
Cheers,
Coe Franklin

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I like the first idea with the light bulb, looks like something I could build.

Coe can you post pictures of yours?

i use reptile heater instead of lamps, there made compleatly out of ceramic and screw right into a light socket. I have bent bindings directly on the ceramic just to see if i could.

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Mine is almost exactly like that except the pipe is a scrap of steel conduit mooched off an electrician, and I used a 300W halogen 'work light' bulb - one of those long skinny kind. I squashed the conduit in the vise a bit into an egg/oblong section so it provides different radii. Also to attach it I made a few hacksaw cuts about 1" deep into the end at right angles and bent out the resulting tabs to screw through, if that makes sense.

Peace,
Sanaka

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I have used a cheap homemade job with success in bending bindings and one side. Parts were a piece of pipe I had laying around that was pressed into an oval shape at one end. A hole was drilled in the oval end and a wire bent into an omega shape so (u with two feet). The wire is inserted into the holes from the inside without going through to the outside so no chance of scratching wood. Basically this is just to hold in the next part which is copper scrub pads (plain). I then take a piece of aluminum flashing and make a tube that connects my cheap HF heat gun to the bending tube that is in my vice. I support the heat gun with a cam two cam clamps.

The copper pads work as a baffle to distribute the heat from the hot air to the pipe. I’m not saying this is the best way but it worked and cost me all of $2.00 to make. It wouldn’t have cost me anything if I would have had material for baffles.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

What size pipe do you guys use for your benders.

I used 4" metal dust collection pipe section about 8" long and connected it to a block of wood so that I could put it in a vice. I have a heat blanket I use for side bending and I used it to bend rosette binding, etc. Worked great on a covered wagon model for my grand daughter, too. (you know, the ribs needed bent) The pipe has a spiral structure that gets in the way if you bend more than, say, 180 degrees (arc not heat degrees).

Danny R. Little

I found an ancient entry in the MIMF archives that has several pictures of my iron.

Here's the back, for example:


Peace,
Sanaka

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...imagine there were no hypothetical situations...