Thread: Bending with thermal blankets

Hey guys, I got the thermostat and timer with with my blancket and don't have any problems with temp. To give you some idea I use a meat themo stuck into the sandwich to get the right temp. Around 80% of full seems to give the right heat. Full would burn I imagine. I have been doing a recook for 5 mins at full heat in the morning then cooling down before removing to help with springback. I still have to touch them up a bit on the iron. I will need to redo my forms i think and put a bit of compensation in, particulalrly at the waist. In the taylor factory vids they over bend a bit and the sides unfold tightly into the forms when opened up. Perfect. Martin, did you guess the over bending on your form or have you some tricky Luthier overbend secret? I know the whole bending blanket with timer and thermostat from Blue creek costs a bit but I did the sums and with the strong $AUS and by the time I stuffed around with different local suppliers etc (plus my time which I prefer to use for making things) to get a safe product it turned out to be a good idea. And one side cooked too long could pay for it anyway.CheersDom

Dom, I put about 13mm of overbend in at the bottom of each bout. I start the tighter curve about 3/4 around the bout from the waist.

Just had a thought on this one. From memory I resd somewhere that the government are going to ban incandescent light bulbs. If they really do, and we are left with the power saver ones that don't generate much heat then anyone wanting to use a side bender will need to use a blanket. Come to that some of the bending pipe designs I have seen use a light bulb for heat too. Looks like I'll be buying a propane torch sometime.

Peter

Yes Peter, light bulb powered side benders may be a thing of the past once the incandescant bulb ban takes affect.

On the positive side a thermal blanket simply fits over the existing moulds you use in the light bulb benders. The bending jig in my recent posts is actually a light bulb powered affair with the bulbs removed.

In any case, I would doubt if the "projected" ban could ever be practically be done. There are several concerns with the flourescent type replacements, not the least of which are that they are not dimmable. In fact installed in dimmed circuits they are potentially hazardous, even if the dimmer is not used.

They are not suitable for use in light fittings which are not vented. They overheat and blow up DAMHIKT

Last but not least, the actual energy saving is exaggerated. While they are lower wattage, and will reduce your domestic electricity bill, power factor considerations mean that there is little reduction in the amount of electricity which actually has to be generated, to cope wth this.

For those interested in the detail, visit this link.
http://sound.westhost.com/articles/incandescent.htm

And there's the added issue of dealing with mercury when disposing of the ****y things.

AND they give out such awful light that you end up replacing them with incandescents anyway. Well, that's what I did. Love the concept, hate the result.

I just re-read this thread. Watco in Melbourne import and manufacture a full range (a huge range in fact) of elements and heat blankets and will send you a free catalogue to choose from. They make 240volt blankets that need no stepdown transformer, and they can make custom sizes and custom "no heat" zones and connector attachment methods. My 18" x 10" 240 volt blanket cost about $280. Great to deal with. I waited about 2 weeks for mine to be delivered.

And you can use a standard stove-controller to regulate the heat blanket. It doesn't have a temp setting as such, but you can adjust it so it keeps a more or less constant setting.

Originally Posted by contrebasse

AND they give out such awful light that you end up replacing them with incandescents anyway. Well, that's what I did. Love the concept, hate the result.

I use them with discretion. Have fallen into the trap of not checking the "colour temperature" statement on pack, however. The "cool white" give the most disgusting institutional blue-white light imaginable, but the "warm white" I find quite easy on the eye. It is a bit disconcerting on switch on, as they start off quite dim, but then improve. Only use them where lights tend to stay on for extended times.

Hijack over.

Thanks for the Watco link. If I succeed with my projected exploratory build, I might follow up for the future.

Regards

This thread has taken a weird turn. Heres my contribution.
The future for lighting is LED's (light emitting diodes) . Super efficient, virtually no heat, last for ever. They use them in traffic lights already.

Wouldn't want to work under a hybrid fluro. Don't like the light.

But i don't mind the light from strip fluros. I like my work environment to be saturated in light so i put them all over the place. Take a long time to bend a side with one though.
Dom