Is this price right?

[Michelle_K]

Hi all
I have no experience with metal working at all so please bare with me.
I am trying to make a bending iron for guitar sides and my plan is to mount a light bulb fixture to an base and cover it with a pipe.
I need a piece of metal pipe about 7 inches in length and four inches in diameter with a kid welder onto the tube. I have approached one local welder and was quoted £20 for this piece of pipe with the lid welder on and I just wanted to see if that price sounds about right.

Thanks everyone

 

[Wuffles]

Are you happy with the price? You're just lucky he or she has that size of pipe lying about, or it could cost quite a bit more, you can't generally buy steel in tiny lengths you see.

I'm confused about the light bulb fixture and assume you mean lid and not kid. Is this to warm things up?

 

[n0legs]

Yup.
Just doing it quicly from the Metals4u site, the 4'' pipe's over half the price you've been given. Then there's cutting out a piece for a lid and finally welding it all together.

 

[Kalimna]

Why is there a lid on it? If it is for bending guitar sides, then I'm not sure I understand the reason for it. Something you may find helpful, if your welder has the equipment to do it, is to introduce deformation to the pipe (squashed in one direction). This will give you a pipe of differing radii and make the different side radii easier to bend. If the pipe remains at 4" diameter, then you are almost limited to 4" as a minimum radius to bend - and this is much larger than some of the radii found on acoustic guitar (or ukulele) sides.
Cheers,
Adam

 

[Michelle_K]

Hi
I will be making a guitar bending iron to bend the sides and purfling. I will mount a lightbulb fixture to a bit of plywood and then place the tube over the light bulb to heat the wood.
Ideally I would love to get a piece with the multiple radii but I am not sure how I would go about that so will stick with the simple one for now.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[xy mosian]

Hi, my first bending iron was a piece of scrap exhaust pipe if that helps.
xy

 

[esox20]

£20 sounds quite good for the steel and his time to do it....

 

[Kalimna]

One way to deform the pipe would be with a large vice - perhaps something a welder might have access to? It doesn't have to be pretty - just work well.

Adam

 

[profchris]

Scrap exhaust pipe is good - I use part of a trailer jockey wheel and don't bother covering the end.

Rather than those tiny brackets, why not do as I did - drill four holes around one end of the tube, cut between then with a hacksaw for an inch, and then hammer the resulting flanges out. Bolt to board.

I hacked a hole in my board and use a cheap heat gun to power it. It heats up in seconds and is powerful enough to get the heat needed for difficult woods. I've found light bulbs barely produce enough heat.

Total cost including the heat gun around £15.

 

[Wuffles]

I'm interested in this guitar chatter, any fun videos to watch of these contraptions working?

 

[Michelle_K]

Yes there are:
http://youtu.be/-py9FGKpYW0

http://youtu.be/VgcCPaUq5us

They are links to what I am hoping to end up with. Other people use a blow torch or a heat gun but I prefer the idea of using a light bulb.

 

[Wuffles]

Other people use a blow torch or a heat gun but I prefer the idea of using a light bulb.

LED yeah?































Only joking.

 

[Kalimna]

Daft question here - is it still possible to get the high wattage incandescent bulbs required for a bending iron?

Adam

 

[Michelle_K]

Apparently there are some places that still sell them. I think that they are sold at trade type places according to what I have read.

 

[Wuffles]

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index ... index.html

 

[Michelle_K]

I just got another quote for the piece of pipe. £150!!

 

[profchris]

Michelle, I honestly think you might struggle with light bulbs to get enough heat. My £10 heat gun has 2 settings, hot and really hot, which gives me enough temperature control. I've built a light bulb bender, and it was feeble for ukulele sides using 2 x 100w bulbs.

Plus the heat gun just pokes in the back when in use, so I can take it out and use it as ... well, a heat gun too.

 

[Wuffles]

I just got another quote for the piece of pipe. £150!!

Which proved everyone who has commented so far correct. Were you not happy with £20 or had you already asked someone else and were waiting to hear back?

 

[Michelle_K]

It's not that I wasn't happy with paying £20 I just wanted to double check that's a standard price as I've never approached a welding company before so wasn't sure what price was right. I contacted a few places to get quotes only two got back to me. One at £20 and one at £150

 

[porker]

I think the main issue is that it's a small job. If you are a cheapskate like me I would find an exhaust or metal working place and ask if I could rummage in their offcuts bin for an offcut of pipe. Does it really need to be welded? Is that to keep the heat in?