Acoustic Guitar Construction

Of course the place not to buy common industrial products is from a luthier supplier. Who has not gone to the Stew mac site and looked at pliers and said --HUH!$$??? --- to themselves? Heat blankets are used in medical, aerospace, and wall to wall in manufacturing plants. My favorite supplier for flexible heat blankets is

http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref= ... Nav=heam01

The 4"x36" SRMU020436--- $72 and 6"x36" SRMU020636--- $78 either works great and are about half what LMII charges. The temperature can be controlled with a common household dimmer switch, most of those are rated at least 600 watts -- the 6x36 at full load draws 540 watt but surely you will have it set lower. A 3"x6" blanket for the waist curve heater is just few dollars. And don't be fooled by the arrogant "huff" and fabricated science you are likely to get from some of the small time suppliers (salesman) -- this is easy stuff to use and understand --- its simple, the blanket gets hot!!.

As with light bulb style benders a timer is mandatory!!!

Ken, thanks for the post ... can you confirm the stock number of the 6X36 blanket
you have SRMU20636? I'm think it is SRMU020636

Thanks

Jeff Baldwin

Yup. Those are good blankets. If you have the scratch laying around, I would suggest the temperature controller LMI sells with the thermo-couples. Otherwise, a dimmer switch and a timer will be more than adequate.
Mr. Baldwin, Ken may be using an older part number or it was a typo. The number you posted seems to be the correct part number, but I would email or call Omega to be certain before placing an order.

Ken Cierp,
I might be mistaken, but don't we want the 5 watts per square inch model rather than the 2.5 watts per square inch? I did not get mine from Omega, it was a gift last Christmas so I am uncertain as to the rating and I'm not home to go read what it says on the blanket.

Yes, I left out the first 0 -- Jeff you are correct.

Tony -- 540 watts is plenty, the darn thing will get to over 400 degrees! Plus you can use a standard dimmer switch to control the temperature.

Tony,
Did your Omega blanket come with a cord and plug? Their website doesn't state that they do.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

The Omega blankets come with bare leads -- so you'll need a cord, I used a cord off an old lamp fixture. The manual that's included is very detailed.

Kevin, I have the whole set up from LMII. I know a guy who used to make bending rigs for people and he swore by the Omega blankets. He no longer makes bending blanket set ups but he used to incorporate the thermo couples into the blankets as opposed to my set up which has them as separate wires.