Official Luthiers Forum!

My Rival hot pot express has finally quit. It's a couple years old. The thermostat has gone....crazy. I've got an old double boiler I used on a portable burner before I got the hot pot and I'm using now, but it's a pain, and it's easy to bump against the burner and burn myself.

Should I get another Rival hot pot? It did last a couple years, and it was cheap.
Should I get a Hold Heet, possible a pint model, instead of a quart? It's more expensive, but made for hot hide glue.
Should I get a Herdim glue pot? Expensive, but people who have them seem to love them. I don't mind spending money if I think it's needed.

Should I go with another lower cost option? Baby bottle warmer, different style hot pot ect?

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

I continually watched ebay until I found a hold heet. I ended up picking it up for around $40 plus shipping.

It is such an unusal item (afterall most wood workers don't bother with HHG) that they seem to sell fairly inexpensively on ebay.

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

I have the Herdim and I love it. If you don't mind the ridiculous price, it is a very nice tool. One thing is that the degree values on the potentiometer (couldn't just say the short name pot ) are not always spot on. Glue temp seems to vary sensibly with the amount of glue, room temp, the type of pot (they come in plastic, ceramic, glass and metal, I broke mine and now use a coffee porcelain cup that fits ok) the lid (type, on, off) so you should still use a thermometer inside the glue. I still can't figure out how the old guys were getting by

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Build log

Here's what I did, after failing miserably to get my Rival hotpot project to provide temperatures ANYWHERE near acceptable. Probably user error.

Got a portable eletric hotplate - one burner - $15

Took a portable camping coffee pot $10, put in about 30 glass marbles.

Made a top out of thermoresistant plastic, with holes cut to match the digital thermometer (measuring the water in the pot) and the glue squeeze bottle. On the glue squeeze bottle I glued, (with CA) a rubber band around the squeeze bottle, to keep the squeeze bottle from dropping in.

When I want to use it, I fill the coffe pot with hot water from the tap, then set the hotplate to the "W" setting on "WARM" your results may vary.

After a warmup period of about 15 minutes, it's very easy to keep the temp. at 145 F. (and my digital thermometer has an alarm - thermo was $15 at Target)

This works well for me and was ridiculously easy to set up. Added bonus is that I keep my glue brush in the spout for the coffeepot! Shake it off when using it. Wasn't it designed for that??

Sorry no pictures - cameras on the fritz.

They knew that it wasn't that completely important to hold the glue within a two degree band for it to work; hide glue's a lot more resilient to different operating conditions than people think. With a good joint, you can be way off with other parameters from the 'ideal'.

I use a coffee-cup warmer in which lies a mug of water in which lies a baby-food jar of hide glue. Same setup Al Carruth uses (he's the one who taught me to use hide glue).

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Save the aggravation and get a Hold-Heet. Like Brock I got mine off eBay for a song. You can set the temp to where you like it with a small pot, it never changes after that. It is extremely reliable, and built for the task.
Get the quart one, I like to put my HHG in a smaller glass jar in the water bath along with a couple of cleaning brushes, rather than heating the glue directly. When I'm done I can put the lid on the jar and store it in the fridge.

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

Another vote for the Hold-Heet. If you are going to be doing a lot of this for a long time it's the ticket.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Anybody ever tried using a baby bottle warmer? They work great.

hi everyone since robbie o brien brought the subject up on baby bottle warmers
ive bought this crock pot in the second hand shop
for 5 euros ...deal
its the small one and i wanted to ask a few quick questions
id say it holds around a pint and its creamic on the inside

anyone with one of these have any tips or a link ? if not ...
to save anyone the bother of long replies ill number the questions

1 what size of bottle would i use for this ?
2 how high should water be filled with bottle inside ?
3 do you use clean bolts in the glue if so (what weight or size) ?
4 the lid on this is very thin plastic and i was thinking do i need to replace it to keep a consistant temp?
thanks again guys
tomas

Yeah, I'm using a baby bottle warmer, works well the thermostat is in the right range just back from maximum.

I recently got a brand new quart size Hold Heet after using coffee perculators, hot plates and what not for years. I wish I'd done it sooner, the thing just works. Like Laurent, I keep the glue in a small glass in the water, and I store it in the fridge between sessions. I like to apply the glue with a glue brush most of the time, it seems to work better than a bottle for me.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Mario suggest this Little Dipper.
http://www.amazon.com/Rival-32041C-16-O ... B0000CCY14
Hard not to give it a try for $10.

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The reason the Holdheet goes on forever is that there is no thermostat, thus no moving parts. The temperature is set and regulated by the wattage, which is fixed, and being a low watt element, it should outlast its owner. Hmm, sound awful familiar? Yup, the little crock pots work the same way; no moving parts, temp regulated by wattage, which is fixed.

I'll let y'all know how long they last just as soon as my first one dies. It's only at about 8,000 hrs so far, so we may have to wait a while <lol>. I find them at used/second hand stores for $2 all the time.

Guys, I'm all for using the right tool; but when a tool comes along that reportedly matches the right tool at less than 1/10th the cost, the red flags go up! Nobody told me to try this thing out; I had a gift certificate in hand, and it was too cute to leave on the shelf, so I took it home. Damned if it hasn't served me flawlessly since that day... I simply cannot fault it. Its a HoldHeet without the price tag.

That makes sense................saying something that makes sense is not a big deal, but....saying something that makes sense, that I understand......well, that's a big deal. Anyway, that's the problem with my Hot Pot. When it worked correctly, or worked as designed it had a ~10 degree temperature swing. I know that's not a great big deal because of the "old days". Now it's got about a 50 degree temperature swing. I've got several router speed controls. My first....experiment will be to bypass the thermostat in the hot pot, and hook it to a speed control. The speed control is a moving part, but it should work.........I think.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

No doubt. But I always try to buy used and find a good deal. I got my hold heet cheap (ok, not $2, but far from the normal price), and the same with my Abbeon hygrometer ~$20, triple beam balance ~$35, and other high end gizmos.

If you watch ebay and craigslist relentlessly you would be amazed at some of the deals you can find, especially on some of the odd things we desire so much.

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

If you got the time to wait and hope you get lucky on the bid that's fine.

Tell us how patient you are, Chris! (Somogyi Books!)

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I think maybe every time I bid on something on Ebay, Brock out bids me at the end countdown.
I do have patients, just not for everything.
What's taking those Christmas nut rolls so long to raise?

Woddy,

I have been borrowing a hot water bath from my chemistry lab and it is spectacular. It cycles temperatures within 3-4 degrees C. I never have to watch the temperature as it is always accurate.

http://wardsci.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_I ... 2C+2%2E5+L

I just realized that they are actually $500. Opps. Maybe they have something like this used on ebay. Just another idea.

Peter

Better order that Little Dipper. Every time I look at it the price changes, $10, $14 and now $11.

I got the hold heet one. Never failed me.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I got this little pot on Ebay for 15.00 bucks. I like it a lot because of the
temp adjustment.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755