Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently bought a relatively inexpensive ($110.00) bending iron on Ebay from an 81 year old violin maker- seems like a nice fella. However, the bending iron worked for about 30 minutes. He has lifetime warranty and has already agreed to replace the heating element. After taking it apart I could tell that the heating element wasn't that great (to be expected for the price) and also the wire powering it seemed pretty small and the dimmer switch was not grounded. I'm thinking that I'll keep the replacement element as a backup and buy a higher quality one: http://www.cartridge-heater.com/eng/shop_product.php?r=13866

...as well as running a new wire with a ground and maybe adding a nicer dimmer switch since I have that stuff laying around anyway. I don't know much about wiring stuff. Anyone have any input as I've not done this before?

Here's a thread were I rebuilt an Ibex bending iron and put a hotter heating element in it. Perhaps that will help.

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=37310&hilit=ibex

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The element you linked to is 160 Watts at 230 Volts. You'll only get half the watts (heat) at 110 Volt.

I don't know how much you need for a bending iron but 80 Watts seems too low.

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I agree 80W is too low. Not sure what the bending iron you have purchased looks like or how much metal needs to be heated. For comparisons sake, the one I put in the rebuilt Ibex was 400W and I turn it up about 60% or 70% when bending so actually using around 300W. The original was 200W I think and just didn't get hot enough.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Good call, they have so many elements that I'll have to call to find the right one.


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