Wood Bending Irons on Ebay

[jazzjune18]

Howdy.

Disclaimer: I am not looking to spend a lot of money, don't want to use a small torch, and simply build mandolins for fun in my garage. Not looking to spend a lot of money.

For bending instrument sides I currently use a rig that I built with a long piece of pipe (for fencing) with a heat gun from harbor freight attached. It works alright, although it is a little makeshift. I have been looking at wood bending irons online, and cannot currently justify spending 230 on one from Stew Mac. So...I have had my eye on the cheap bending irons on ebay that come straight from china and look like they were stripped from the delorean in 'Back to the Future.' I can get one for ~100 dollars. I know one typically gets what they pay for, but has anyone have any experience with these wood benders? Good or bad?

Thanks!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Guitar-...661d%7Ciid%3A1

[Jonathan Ward]

I bought one of that type a few years ago, and it has worked fine in occasional use. That said, mine is wired for 230 volts at 50 Hz, and it requires a transformer. (An oversight on my part, having assumed it would run on American 240 at 60 Hz.)

My experience with electric element benders, including a couple I've built myself, is that the heating elements burn up pretty quickly if you run them hot. People complain about that with the Stew-Mac benders. The upside with the home-brew units is that they use reasonably inexpensive cartridge heaters from W.W. Grainger, so when those go it's a half-hour swap. Never opened my Chinese bender, and so have no idea about the replaceability of the heating element. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

A cheap laser thermometer works well for monitoring the surface temperature.

[John Bertotti]

I have some silicone pads I have used for bending wood. Anyone use them for their instruments? there are all kinds you can wire some in for adjustable temps.
for example a quick search pulled these up on amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/silicone-pad-...one+pad+heater

[kjbllc]

I am very happy with mine, I talked him down to about $60 but the with the current trade situation I don't know if that works to your advantage or not

[jazzjune18]

khbllc. Did you get one that has variable temperature?