Thread: Steel 100mm Pipe -Bender

Greg,

Irving Sloanes book "Steel String Construction" discusses a propane powered pipe bender. He specifies copper , brass or aluminium pipe of at least 3" diameter.

Youre ok for size but the steel pipe will most likely rust as there's moisture involved in bending guitar sides. You could probably get around rust staining your wood by sandwiching your sides in thin stainless steel bending slats but it will make bending cumbersome.

If youre still keen on making your own bender then ditch the steel pipe and get a 12" length of copper, brass or aluminium pipe.

If the cost of an electric bender concerns you then check out Ebay, apparently there are some cheap electric benders for sale with specs much the same as the benders supplied by Stewmac. Only potential hitch is voltage...theyre probably 110 volt. Check it out anyway.

Cheers Martin

Greg mate you're a true luthier.....a steel pipe falls off a truck and nearly kills you and all you can think about is how to make use of the offending item in your workshop!!

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Greg mate you're a true luthier.....a steel pipe falls off a truck and nearly kills you and all you can think about is how to make use of the offending item in your workshop!!

Hi Martin,

Thats what worries me!

(Thanks for the info on the bending iron too.)

Regards

Greg

Greg,

European voltage benders are on Ebay, check out this link.


http://cgi.ebay.com/BENDING-IRON-vio...QQcmdZViewItem


Check the price against Stewmac and LMI's price for same item. Dont forget to factor in postage and handling. I like these benders because they have a range of radii on the pipe and you can control the heat easier with an electric iron than a propane powered one.

I visited a pro builder's workshop last year (http://www.slamanguitars.com/) and we talked about lutherie stuff for 2 hours. This guy's living is building and selling his archtop guitars and his bending setup consisted of a plumbing pipe clamped in a desk vice with a disposable propane torch. He's been using that setup for more than 20 years and tells me that a disposable propane torch will last a good 4-5 instruments. He has no problem adjusting the flame to the proper temperature for bending the sides. It just takes a bit of practice first. When the flame is adjusted, the trick is to drop a droplet of water on the pipe, it has to "dance around" on the pipe and not go up in steam right away. Just adjust the flame until you get that result.

Visting his shop was a very humbling experience, he had practically none of the big power tools I was expecting to see and a lot more was done by hand with a few simple jigs then I was expecting. I guess it shows that you don't have to have all the new fancy expensive luthier tools to build great instruments.

Nothing wrong with bending on a gas heated piece of pipe..its how they did it before the electric benders came along. If cost is an issue then I'd say definitely go for the home made bender but if youve got the money then I'd say go for an electric bender. I like them because once you get the right temp you can just leave the control on the same setting...IMHO a bit easier than having to fiddle with a propane flame control every time you fire it up. I also like the range of radii you get on on the Stewmac irons...great for bending linings and cutaways.

Phil,

I notice Daniel Slaman has done one of Romanillos's courses...that would explain his "low tech" approach to his guitar building. Romanillos is quite big on maximising use of hand tools in his workshop.

The only real-life bender I've seen was a bit of aluminium pipe with the ends blocked and a 100w incandescent globe in it. It was many years ago before I understood this sort of stuff, and I can remember the house, and the mate I was with, but no have no idea who actually owned the workshop.

I see all this propane stuff and wonder does it have to be that hard? What's wrong with a bulb and if necessary a dimmer?

Cheers,

P

A bulb inside a pipe is an option...there are plans for same in GAL's tool book. My only reservation is the bulb getting broken if you knock the bender around. My bender gets a fairly hard life but Im probably more clumsy than most people (two Riedel wine glasses in one week!).