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I am thinking of building a new Fox Side Bender. Have any of you built a DIY – Temperature Controller for your Fox Side Bender? If yes, would you be willing to share your parts list and schematic to assemble same?

On my old side bender, I use a high wattage dimmer switch and temperature probe inserted into the slats but have found it difficult to dial in and sustain the desire temperature for my heating blanket.

I am not the most sophisticated when it comes to electronics, but do have a friend who could help with assembly.

Thank you,
Anthony

Anthony, have a look at my post here -
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=47715
Ignore my stuff about the thermocouple/aluminium foil, I just use these now https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/365424743559-
Any questions, just ask.
P.S don't forget to buy a timer, I use a mechanical plug-in type.
The original one became a bit "funny "after 9 years of use, but it's easy and inexpensive to replace.

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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.

First, I'm not a licensed electrician or an electrical engineer so use this at your own risk. I'd highly recommend that if you are not confident in your electrical skills, get some help from someone who is. I did retire from utilities and communications so had to work on and build various control panels.

I built a couple controllers about 15 yrs ago for me and my fellow builder bro-in-law.

Safety is always something I'm big on and I couldn't find controls with the safety features I wanted leading to the DYI builds.

I wanted an enclosure built for electric devices so used a large PVC electrical junction box. Lighted switches and indicator lights so I could tell what was on or off at a glance. Wanted a mechanical maximum timer for the heating circuit that would never let the heat be on for >60 min (or whatever I set it at <60) in case I got busy or left the shop and forgot. Heating blankets can melt down and/or start fires without controls, they can get really hot really fast!!! I wanted 2 circuits, one for heat and one for controls so I could monitor temps as things cooled down without the heat circuit being energized at all. Also the heat circuit AND the control circuit are individually fused to protect them form over current or shorts.

I always overbuild and did so here. Like a bigger solid state relay for the heater blanket than necessary and larger heat sink to keep the relay cool.

EDIT - I should have mentioned the PID (digital readout brains of the controller) you buy may have different wiring scheme than mine so you'll have to figure that out during construction. The PID instruction sheet for the one I bought left a lot to be desired in clarity for setting it up.

So here's some pictures of what I came up with. Parts list is old but descriptions are still good.

_________________
Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Speaking of safety,

On my setup, I wired 2 bathroom fan timers in series. I had a single timer fail to shut off once. Adding the second timer gives peace of mind.

Tschüß, M

Colin/Brian/Michael, many thanks to you all. I am good friends with Tony Karol (who used to post here a lot) -- he's an electrical engineer by training. In speaking with him, he said he would be able to help with seeing a good schematic. Michael, thank you for the parts list and the detailed schematic.

Actually it was Brian who provided the detailed and excellent parts list and schematic.

M

Hopefully this link will take you to my tutorial.

Building a PID-type blanket temperature controller


https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app

Can confirm that Tim's tutorial is fantastic.

Apologies Brian for incorrectly acknowledging Michael for the plans/schematics. Tim also many thanks to you for providing your schematic and parts list. Tim I updated your parts list and the cost has certainly increased since you built yours (see attached). The cost will approach~ CAD$340.

There are two vendor pre-made options:

1). https://www.tcscustom.com/product-page/ ... de-bending - USD$194.99 + Shipping = ~ CAD$390
2). https://genone-luthier-supply.com/produ ... ide-bender - CAD$139 + Shipping (they don't ship to Canada, so I would need a US relative to receive and re-ship to me)

The TCS unit looks like it largely copies the heat controller that LMI used to sell.

They all use the same core electronics unit, which you can find on Amazon for $26.

I get my silicone heating pads from these folks in China, and they include a similar controller in a box, all wired up to the pad with a temperature sensor. They'll make any size you want. Very reasonable prices.

Greg