Official Luthiers Forum!

About 8 years ago I was on a much stricter budget and my first bending iron was a selection of 2" galvanized pipe and a propane torch. Nothing wrong with homemade benders at all and mine worked just fine although one of the things I like about the Ibex unit is the shape of the pipe. Using the longer/flatter side seems to make it easier to bend without faceting although it may just be that my technique is improved.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Chris-
Check the wattage rating on your dimmer switch (usually 600W) and compare it to your BBQ heater. There are 'heavy duty' dimmer switches available (my local HomeDepot has them) but they are more expensive than the cheap Chinese router controllers, I've found.

I went straight from the propane torch and pipe setup to the Ibex, then added heat blanket to the tool kit. The Ibex takes quite a while (10min?) to heat up, which seems like 'forever' if you have been using a propane torch. OTOH, it usually took me 10 min to sweep up all the shavings, etc to get the area safe for using an open flame. I don't like using a torch in the shop, much. Or grinding sparks, or.....

Cheers
John

Actually, a router speed control is a better controller than a light dimmer. Light dimmers restrict electricity, router speed controls pulse it. This will result in a longer life for your heating element, and it's the same reason John Hall only recommends them for heating blankets. The charcoal lighter works great, and is easy to control. I've posted mine a number of times, but total cost was about $42, including the grill thermometer.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Check out light dimmer schematics- I think you will find that the operating principles are much the same as in your router control- both use a triac to vary the duty cycle.


BTW, in Sergei deJonge's shop all the bending irons (there were about 6-8 at least) were homebuilts with light dimmer switches and BBQ-type heating elements. They seemed to be working fine a few years ago when I was there, and they got more use than the average in our shops, I think.

John

Home made iron with grill starter here too, and a couple of others that I heat with propane torches. One thing: If you simply put the pipe in a vise and heat it, the vise will get hot too, and that large chunk of steel takes a while to cool down afterwards. Just saying...

Another thing is that the heat may mess with the finish on the vise, and you might not like the results. I have simple wooden holders (with a piece of drywall or somesuch between the steel and wood) for all my pipes, after finding these things out the hard way a long time ago.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I see a picture on this thread which appears to be a galvanized nipple being heated up with a torch, so I wanted to put a reminder here that torching/welding galvanized steel release zinc oxide which can make you quite sick. Make sure that your are using a non-galvanized pipe when bending.

Bending temperatures don't even come close to melting the zinc (melts at around 800 F) although if you get careless, it is possible.

Do you guys think a machine shop could make a pipe the shape thats on the Ibex? I like that shape but im getting more and more tempting to try making one of these, especially after seeing Waddys nice unit there.

In regards to shaping a pipe to a profile like the Ibex.
I'm using 4" muffler pipe, and using my vice I was able to squeeze
one end into an oval shape. My vice is kind of small for the job, its a parrot
luthiers vice. I think using a bigger heavier duty vice will squeeze the oval tighter
and make a better shape for bending sides. There may be other ways if one has
access to a machine shop.
Chris Nielsen

I was using a round pipe heated with a propane torch but that shape is one of the reasons I went ahead and bought the Ibex.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I had a machine shop put a length of 4" pipe in their hydraulic press and weld it to a flange. It works great for most guitar side radii (radiuses? radia? ).

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Round pipe bends sides just fine!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Yes, but for tight cutaways one needs an iron shaped like the Ibex. Let's not mention mandolins…

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

I just bent my first cutaway on an Ibex and I wouldn't have been able to do it on my round pipe. You could have a small pipe maybe 1" diameter if you had a way to heat it.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

1" curling iron!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

i bent some soundhole binding with my wifes curling iron. worked like a charm. i just wrapped some foil around the iron so as to not release any oils, etc. into my wifes hair during a later use!

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sweat the small stuff.

Mine? Ibex from Pligrams project too

I liked the Padma's blowtorch direct on the wood in his no-nothing thread.

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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.

I have an old iron I bought on eBay which looks like the other commercial ones on here. With it I got a note saying; "Do not leave on temp setting 9 or 10 for more than 2 minutes or it will burn the element out." I haven't used it yet, but I assume these things get hotter than I first thought .

I can leave my Ibex on 'Hi' for hours, so it must have a lower wattage element., or be better designed ?

Cheers
John