Best place to buy Flexible heat blankets

[RandyN]

I'm almost done building my Fox-style bender and am going to order the 6"x36" blanket from Omega. But do I need the 3"x6" blanket for the waist curve heater?

I thought you only used one blanket with this style bender?

Randy

[ken cierp]

We (KMG) actually have a separate waist curve bending fixture similar to the Taylor operation -- getting the exact inner most curve at the perfect location makes life easier as the build progresses. I would also note the new LMII fixture has an additional blanket at the waist curve.

There's some other good info here viewtopic.php?f=8&t=239 and also other threads in this section.

To your point -- yes, you can bend with just the one blanket, and yes the process can be improved with the addition of an extra step and extra blanket or both.

[Eric_K]

I'm in the process of building a Fox bender. It looks like the price of the 2.5 Watt blanket isn't much more than the price of ceramic bases and 3 X 300 watt bulbs.

Thanks everyone!!

Eric

[Kevin in California]

I spent about $18 on my 3 ceramic bases and 3 150 watt bulbs. That is cheaper then close to $100 with shipping......however, I don't negate the value of having the blanket.

Kevin

[Daniel P]

For a waist bending blanket, 3x6 vs 6x6 ?
I am getting a 6 x 36 at 2.5 watts / sq. in. for the primary side bending blanket.

Thinking if I get a 6x6 at 5 or 10 watts/sq. in. I could also use it for setting up a quick bending pipe for binding work
http://www.acousticguitarconstructionfo ... ?f=8&t=794

Any thoughts on which would be most useful?

[Jay McClellan]

Thanks Ken, your tip is very timely as I was ready to get one but hesitating at the high $ from LMI.

I noticed that down in the order section Omega shows the dimensions of this unit as 6' x 36', so it won't quite fit in my shop but will make some BIG guitars, maybe good for bending boat sides too! Alas at 2.5W per square inch that's 78 kilowatts so I'd need a 650-amp circuit to power it. ;-)

[Dave Bagwill]

You're right, Jay - I'm sure they meant meters, not feet!! :-)