Side Bending Machine Vs Bending Iron

[WaddyT]

Bending with a blanket, on a form is really a great way to go. It's hard to get consistency with a bending iron, though I built my first 13 guitars that way. I still don't have a bending machine. I use a solid form I made with slats, a blanket, and some blocks of 2x4 and clamps. Works just fine. The bending iron is still used on all guitars, for rosette part bending, and touch ups on the sides when you get a little spring back or need to adjust a tiny bit.

Here's my bending system!

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by SnowManSnow

Talk to me about the pros and cons of simply using a bending iron vs a side bending machine.

The short answer is the requisite skill level. Anyone with a heat source and some kind of bending form can bend perfect sides on a first try. Not everyone with a heat source can bend perfect sides over a hot pipe/iron even after many tries.

Assume the individual in question wants to make more than a few guitars.

I know one maker who only bends over a hot pipe - he uses no bending forms, blankets, etc. It takes him 20 minutes to bend a pair of sides. He has put in the time and effort to be good at it. He enjoys doing it that way.

Is the side bending machine something that would eventually end up being purchased after much consternation and frustration anyway?

Not necessarily. Much like any other skill, I think it depends upon whether or not you want to put in the time, effort and expense to develop the skill to bend free hand over a pipe. Developing the skill will involve some broken sides, but can eventually lead to great speed and flexibility. It is rather like sharpening a chisel: it can be done with the use of a honing guide to maintain the angle, or one can develop the skill to do it free-hand and not need a honing guide. Both can result in sharp chisels.

There is no right or wrong method, only individual preferences on how to get the job done.

[redir]

That's a nice simple set up you got there Waddy. A good low cost way of getting into side bending jigs.

[WaddyT]

I really don't have room for a bending machine! No place to put it during the 98% of the time I'm not using it for making a guitar. The form, is used for sanding (I also have an outside version for sanding inside), in addition to the bending. When I was bending with an iron, I used the form for checking my bends. blocks don't take up much room, and the clamps are used all the time during the process. Nothing wasted except the blocks, slats and blanket, but they don't take up much space. I actually liked bending with an iron, but hit a set of BRW that would not cooperate. It would twist every time I tried to adjust the bend on the iron. Finally straightened it out with an iron and used a blanket. Came out perfectly - no twist. Have not used the iron for a bend since, except for rosette purfs, a broken piece of binding or some extra purfling for the top or back.

[redir]

^ Did you factor in a little spring back when you make your forms?

[WaddyT]

Just a little bit. I just guessed. It was all in the ends, not waist. I do re-bake my sides, which really cuts down on spring-back. Takes some extra time, but really helps. Some woods are more prone to it than others.

[kencierp]

Here's a really simple to make pipe bender including temperature control and the "mandatory" timer.

http://acousticguitarconstructionfor....php?f=8&t=794

An inexpensive 6" silicone blanket is the heat element.

[Steven Bollman]

Here's a really good video by Ad Van Kuijk using an electric bending iron and a shop-made platform to keep the bends squared up to the sides. I have found all of his videos very useful and well executed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvsDcM0HaqU

[Shuksan]

I used a couple bending machines when I was learning to build, but ever since I've only used a bending iron. Bending the sides that way is one of my favorite parts of the building process. I like that I can see, feel, smell, and hear everything that's going on while bending and it's very satisfying to me to have bent the sides that way when done.

I also use the bending iron to bend the binding and it's possible to get a very exact fit to the body which helps reduce the potential for problems when installing the binding.

From a practical point of view, a bending machine and the forms needed for each body shape you make take up a lot more room in the shop than a bending iron does. For my shop, that's an important consideration. Also, when I come up with a new body shape, I don't need to make new forms for a bending machine. And a bending iron is a much smaller investment.

[John Arnold]

I know one maker who only bends over a hot pipe - he uses no bending forms, blankets, etc. It takes him 20 minutes to bend a pair of sides. He has put in the time and effort to be good at it. He enjoys doing it that way.

Same here. I enjoy the process.....so much so that early on, I took every opportunity to bend wood....mantle clock, tennis racquets, furniture parts, you name it. Somewhere in the shop, I have a 3/4" wide piece of ash that I tied in a knot. All done on a 3" aluminum pipe heated with a propane torch. It takes about as long to get the pipe up to temperature as it does to bend a set of sides, so I tend to wait until I have 3 or 4 sets to bend in one session.

[printer2]

Some have used an electric BBQ lighter inside a pipe. I have used a pipe, use a blanket on a form without a bender. Lately I rough out the bend on a pipe and then clamp it in the form with the blanket and cook it to set the shape. End up with the same setup as Waddy, a caul for the waist and some blocks for the ends.

[mirwa]

I enjoy the satisfaction given from doing it by hand

Steve

[Halcyon/Tinker]

I'm real curious as to what mr snow is using these days. It's been 2 1/2 years since thread start and he's still chugging along in his shop, wonder what he decided...