#1
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Making a Side Bending Pipe or Whatever
Is there a place in this forum that tells one how to make a side bending machine and where would that be?
Thanks |
#2
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Post in "Build & Repair" sub-forum.
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Larry Pattis on Spotify and Pandora LarryPattis.com American Guitar Masters 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists Steel-string guitars by Rebecca Urlacher and Simon Fay Classical guitars by Anders Sterner |
#3
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Search for 'Fox bender'
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#4
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A bit of confusion between your title and the post content. There is a difference between a pipe and a bending machine. Which one do you want? The pipe is a traditional method and the easiest thing to get started with as all you need is.... a pipe. And a blow torch or some heat source.
A bending machine is a much more complicated apparatus and often times considered one best suited for a professional shop that makes many guitars a year of the same model and shape. |
#5
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Thanks for the replies!
I guess what I should have said was a pipe used for bending the sides. |
#6
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About 27 years ago when I started doing this thing I went down to a local plumbing supply asking around for a big piece of pipe and the guy just handed me a section of 3in copper pipe for free. Been using this setup ever since and am currently working on my 60th guitar.
A pipe takes much more skill to use but is really easy to set up and it allows you to build what ever shape (within the metrics of the size pipe) you want. Some people are just naturally good at it, I'm not one of them, but it is one of the more fun things to do in making a guitar I think. And even people that use bending machines have pipes for various reasons. |
#7
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Most people who make a Fox style bender use a heating blanket now. Originally a number of high wattage light bulbs were used as a heat source in the bender. I have used the blanket method but have not built the cradle that holds the bending forms. I just used some bungee cords and wood blocks as well as clamps to hold the bent sides in place.
The hot pipe method usually uses a piece of muffler pipe that is heated with a propane torch, a heat gun or in my case by luck I found a heater from a discarded piece of equipment that had a metal section of pipe surrounding it. I used the heat gun but found they did not last being used continuously. Not bad for getting started but don't expect to get into production with one. I used to wet down the wood and bend it on the pipe but at times I scorched the wood by the time it started to bend. Since then I found placing a damp rag on the pipe and bending the wood while the water in the rag steams off gives me good results. Might not be good on highly figured wood though, better to bend on the dry side of things.
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Fred |
#8
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New posts before I got mine up, so it is a hot pipe then. It does take a little more skill to bend on a pipe, the wood lets you know when it wants to bend but you need to gauge where to put the bends to get the right shape. With the last couple of guitars I built I had to bend the waist tighter than the diameter of the pipe I have. I bent the curve on the pipe and when I removed the wood from the pipe I squeezed the curve smaller as the wood was still flexible. It then set as it cooled. Easier to be able to just use a smaller pipe. Since it looks like more small guitars might be in my future I might get one.
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Fred |
#9
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I got a 12" ling nipple 2" diameter, pipe flange, and cemwnt board, and made a pipe similar to redir's. You can also use a barbecue element as well for heat. I also have an electric pipe as well
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#10
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Thanks for all the info!
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#11
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side bend jig
Interesting, method, the hot pipes
I have to do this one now that the CNC model is done and chrome rendered for approval by the Luthier... Attached googledrive link https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KE...BC3ztwLY2evlvJ[/ iv'e bent more aluminum than wood.
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Been doin this, way too long..... |