I've been busy getting my side bender together, but not ever having seen one other than a couple of photo's nor having plans, it's been a bit of a guess, and hoping things turn out right.
I've been following Sylvan Wells ideas about his improved Fox Style bender, but now I've come to the point of building the waist shoe. I've not seen how one is put together. I assume there is the provision to swap it out for different body styles if required.
Also, I see that many side benders have a set of springs that follow the slot in the press gantry. Is this for a caul (for lack of a better word) that will get pulled up against the bottom metal slat so the waist bend is supported?
Post pictures if you got em please.
Building a side bender
Allan,
I made my waist caul out of pinus. Cut it out on the bandsaw using the waist of the mold as a pattern and then finished it off with a pattern rasp. I have a different waist caul for each different mold I use.
On the Jim Williams plan I used the springs on the tower attach to each side of a steel bar that passes under the slat/wood sandwich and supports same as you wind the caul down.
Cheers Martin
I made my waist caul out of pinus. Cut it out on the bandsaw using the waist of the mold as a pattern and then finished it off with a pattern rasp. I have a different waist caul for each different mold I use.
On the Jim Williams plan I used the springs on the tower attach to each side of a steel bar that passes under the slat/wood sandwich and supports same as you wind the caul down.
Cheers Martin
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graham mcdonald
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The Fox side bender was originally designed to work with light bulbs as the heat source, and I think the support under the waist was to support it as the heat didn't really get to that part of the side until it was just about bent in place. People often made a preliminary waist bend on a hot pipe and then used the bender to get it finally into shape.
Heat blankets give you a few more options. As they heat up the entire length of the side before any bending, the screw down waist clamp really isn't necessary and a simpler jig can be made with an inside mould and a bunch of small screw down strips to hold everything in place while it cooks and cools. I am away from the home computer for the rest of the week, but I can post some pics (that will explain it better) over the weekend
cheers
graham
Heat blankets give you a few more options. As they heat up the entire length of the side before any bending, the screw down waist clamp really isn't necessary and a simpler jig can be made with an inside mould and a bunch of small screw down strips to hold everything in place while it cooks and cools. I am away from the home computer for the rest of the week, but I can post some pics (that will explain it better) over the weekend
cheers
graham
Graham McDonald
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com
Thanks guys. I've got myself committed to this design now, but please post the pictures. They will be inspiration for someone down the track.
I'm going to be incorporating some ideas from several side benders that I've seen. Doolin's where he adds some springs / turnbuckles to tension the steel slats. The same as Dominic has done. And as I said using Sylvan Wells ideas on improving the Fox style bender. I'll be sure to post pictures of the completed machine.
I'm going to be incorporating some ideas from several side benders that I've seen. Doolin's where he adds some springs / turnbuckles to tension the steel slats. The same as Dominic has done. And as I said using Sylvan Wells ideas on improving the Fox style bender. I'll be sure to post pictures of the completed machine.
Allen ,
I use Stainless slats , ( .6 mm. or .024 " thick ) and it's true they need a quick straighten up after doing their job . I've found the best way, is to work the bends out over the edge of your straight bench edge. Just go slow, and a bit at a time and their back to new in no time.
Don't know if this works with a thicker slat though.
I use Stainless slats , ( .6 mm. or .024 " thick ) and it's true they need a quick straighten up after doing their job . I've found the best way, is to work the bends out over the edge of your straight bench edge. Just go slow, and a bit at a time and their back to new in no time.
Don't know if this works with a thicker slat though.
Craig Lawrence
Allen
Check this thread out viewtopic.php?t=758
.010" blued steel slats are fine, they have less memory that stainless, they are cheaper than stainless and as you would normally wrap u'r wood in paper of some description prior to bending, I really do not understand why people would be concerned with blued steel causing any staining? If u'r still so very worried about rust or stains for some reason, you can give the slates a quick spray with high temp manifold and exhaust paint of your chosen colour.
It has been mentioned that upon removing your work from the bender, spring steel slates may force your bent wood back out of the form as you release pressure from the waist caul and cause it to break. I guess this is 'possible' with thin bindings that have been bent on their own without a side, but if you simply secure the bottom slat of the sandwich at each end with binding tape just prior to undoing the clamps, this is not an issue.
Cheers
Kim
Check this thread out viewtopic.php?t=758
.010" blued steel slats are fine, they have less memory that stainless, they are cheaper than stainless and as you would normally wrap u'r wood in paper of some description prior to bending, I really do not understand why people would be concerned with blued steel causing any staining? If u'r still so very worried about rust or stains for some reason, you can give the slates a quick spray with high temp manifold and exhaust paint of your chosen colour.
It has been mentioned that upon removing your work from the bender, spring steel slates may force your bent wood back out of the form as you release pressure from the waist caul and cause it to break. I guess this is 'possible' with thin bindings that have been bent on their own without a side, but if you simply secure the bottom slat of the sandwich at each end with binding tape just prior to undoing the clamps, this is not an issue.
Cheers
Kim
Has anyone tried the alloy flashing that comes in 6" wide rolls at Bunnings?
The local Allied Bearings has the blue steel rolls, but with the humidity here, I'm concerned about the amount of oil I'm going to have to keep on them to hold the rust at bay, then the subsequent cleaning before use. Maybe I'm worried about nothing.
Heat paint is a possibility, but it's yet one more thing to add to the things I gotta do.
The local Allied Bearings has the blue steel rolls, but with the humidity here, I'm concerned about the amount of oil I'm going to have to keep on them to hold the rust at bay, then the subsequent cleaning before use. Maybe I'm worried about nothing.
Heat paint is a possibility, but it's yet one more thing to add to the things I gotta do.
Allen, is your shop going to have some form of relative humidity control? If so and you keep it where the experts say we should be building at I can't see where rust would be an issue as long as you keep them in your shop and even if you do get a bit of staining on them, wrapping your wood in paper should protect it.
I have gotten mine to the point where I could give it a go to see what I needed to change. After bending just the bottom bout and waist of one side I decided that I want add a plate of some sort on one side. It would stick up just enough so I could register the slat/wood sandwich off of, so that I don't end up with the side being bent slightly skewed.
I made my waist caul out of a piece of pallet wood. I'll never really know what it is, but it reminds me of Pauduk, same color, but cavernous pores. I don't know if it was the best choice. It is heavy and dense, but it took as long to shape that as it did to put the bending forum together. I'm thinking that pine might have been a better choice. Live and learn.
I will add something so that I can secure the bottom slat in place so that it doesn't spring back and crack another side. The springs I have holding the bottom bout caul in place aren't strong enough. I need to seriously rethink that system.
Sorry, no pictures, but the camera was dropped again and we haven't gotten around to replacing it.
I have gotten mine to the point where I could give it a go to see what I needed to change. After bending just the bottom bout and waist of one side I decided that I want add a plate of some sort on one side. It would stick up just enough so I could register the slat/wood sandwich off of, so that I don't end up with the side being bent slightly skewed.
I made my waist caul out of a piece of pallet wood. I'll never really know what it is, but it reminds me of Pauduk, same color, but cavernous pores. I don't know if it was the best choice. It is heavy and dense, but it took as long to shape that as it did to put the bending forum together. I'm thinking that pine might have been a better choice. Live and learn.
I will add something so that I can secure the bottom slat in place so that it doesn't spring back and crack another side. The springs I have holding the bottom bout caul in place aren't strong enough. I need to seriously rethink that system.
Sorry, no pictures, but the camera was dropped again and we haven't gotten around to replacing it.
There's no way to have humidity control in my garage, where my machinery and bending set up is. I've got a spare bedroom with all my wood with a dehumidifier. However I only run this during the critical times leading up to building a new instrument, then turn it off once the box is closed up. This is a rental house, so we have to be pretty careful about not damaging carpets etc.
If you've never been to the tropics, then you'd be in for a real shock when you experience how much moisture air at 36 C holds at 98% RH. Rust starts to form on the exposed metal when I'm panel beating within 15 minutes. Over night and you'll have a full rust bloom, and within days it'll be pitted to the point of needing sand blasting to remove it. This is the reason that I'm a bit concerned. The tools that I've got need constant attention to keep them in good shape, and I'm too the point of not wanting to add more high maintenance tools and jigs to my daily grind. I might have to re-think living up here, and go for a drier move southwards.
I picked up a set of springs at the local hardware store than I guessed will be right. Not having seen how much tension is on the commercial ones it's going to be a bit of trial and error I'm afraid until I get it right.
If you've never been to the tropics, then you'd be in for a real shock when you experience how much moisture air at 36 C holds at 98% RH. Rust starts to form on the exposed metal when I'm panel beating within 15 minutes. Over night and you'll have a full rust bloom, and within days it'll be pitted to the point of needing sand blasting to remove it. This is the reason that I'm a bit concerned. The tools that I've got need constant attention to keep them in good shape, and I'm too the point of not wanting to add more high maintenance tools and jigs to my daily grind. I might have to re-think living up here, and go for a drier move southwards.
I picked up a set of springs at the local hardware store than I guessed will be right. Not having seen how much tension is on the commercial ones it's going to be a bit of trial and error I'm afraid until I get it right.
Well, it sounds like a couple of coats of high temp paint is your best bet. Once done it shouldn't need much in the way of daily maintenance.
If you have a room in the house to devote to a shop, you could always put down a sheet of thick plastic with plywood on top of it as a temporary floor. The plastic would stop liquids for getting to the carpet and the ply would give you a flat surface to put things on and protect the carpet. When you move, a steam cleaner would make the carpet look like new. Just a thought.
If you have a room in the house to devote to a shop, you could always put down a sheet of thick plastic with plywood on top of it as a temporary floor. The plastic would stop liquids for getting to the carpet and the ply would give you a flat surface to put things on and protect the carpet. When you move, a steam cleaner would make the carpet look like new. Just a thought.
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