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Hi

Most bending forms for the Fox type benders have steel bars separating the outside edges of the form, has anyone tried tube either aluminum or stainless steel ?

John

I use 1" x 6" pieces of 1/4" aluminum barstock slotted (on edge) into the forms. Easy to switch from one form set to another. (Of course, this is a bulbs only setup)

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Dave
Milton, ON

I made mine with 1/2" dowel, easy to cut and plenty strong enough. I use a heat blanket above the wood in the stack and heat is not a problem. I line everything up with the dowels in the holes and glue up with CA.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Like Fred said... If you're using a heat blanket, 1/2" dowel works great. 1/2" hardened copper tubing works fine too, so aluminum would probably do the job as long as it is tempered alum alloy.
Stainless is expensive & not so easy to cut, but it'll work too.
1/4" X 1/2" (or 3/4") aluminum bar stock is another option.
I like using round stock, simply because it's easier & quicker to drill holes, than to cut slots.
If you use copper tubing, you'll need a 5/8" drill bit.

Shaped wood blocks for me, with a piece of aluminum flashing nailed over the top.

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Evan McCartney

Hi

I am using blankets, the question was is hollow tube just as good as solid bar- maybe I should have worded it better.

Making a solid form out of wood seems a waste and quite heavy to handle, I was looking for a lighter option - hence the tube instead of bar. I suppose if dowel does the job hollow tube should be Ok - Aluminum tube is not that expensive, cheaper than top quality birch plywood

John

Point contact (or more accurately "line contact") of "bridge bars", whatever you use, is necessary to to get bulb heat to the slats but CAN result in "kinking". It's only happened once to me...set of wood bindings down the center "kinked" at the horn (actually dented the underside slat).
If I was using a blanket, I'd definitly use full forms.

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Dave
Milton, ON

I used 1/8" thick alum flat stock purchased at the local big box store. Cheap, easy to cut and in my opinion easier to route or cut rectangular slots to accept the flat stock and get it flush with the mold than the round method. Just my 2c.

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Bobby Masten

Yes, hollow tube is fine, I doubt very much that it matters what kind. I bought the machine from John Hall, the patterns use 1/2 inch tube, they work great and making new patterns is fast and simple.

Would you use slats and or tube with a heating blanket ?

J

I use both bulb and blanket with mine and have only evey used hollow tube on my forms.
Cheers Robert,

I must admit the flat bar looks attractive, easier to run the pair of sides through the router table than struggle with a drill near the edge.

J