Official Luthiers Forum!

I have one of these
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... _Iron.html
that doesn't heat up can I buy the guts to rebuild it?

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Grainger's carries replacement items. But Todd Stock came up with a hotter heating element and associated controller several years ago. I hot-rodded my iron with these components and am very happy with the result. No loss in control, but much faster heat-up. Here are the Grainger part numbers.

Cartridge Heater, 120V, 400 W, 170 W/Sq.-In Item no: 4NJJ3 $22.91

Elec Cook Control, Repl INF-120-4339 Item no: 6KXF5 $19.21

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

way cool.....thanks

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Yes,...I replaced the element in mine....LMI I think. But good tip Goziert....mine 'fried' way too soon.......and the replacement element was a bit pricey.....but i bit the bullet.....Stew Mac looks kinda like the LMI...

Not sure if Todd did this too but I posted a tutorial on how this is done based on Howard Klepper's notes (who did it originally, I think).

Tutorial is here http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=37310

Unfortunately I put that in the Guitar Building Forum and not in Tutorials,

Lance - if you see this can you move that to the tutorial section since it seems to come up every 6 months or so.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I PM'd Lance and asked him to move that thread so if the link I gave you doesn't work then check the tutorial section.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks Steve, WOW pictures sure do help I am a visual learner. Waiting on the parts to come in

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Glad to help - enjoy your new iron!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It's funny how some of these things are burning up.

I left mine on high for 3 days.

It didn't burn up but the aluminum developed little bumps all over it. I guess I have to grind them down.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

If my heating element expires I will leave out the controller completely, put in the higher wattage heater, install a thermocouple and control it with my PID controller. I also run mine at high at all times and it is often on for hours at a time as I need all the heat it can provide.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Anyone know where I could get a section of that "egg profile" tubing? It looks suspiciously like the leading edge of an ultralight aircraft wing...

Depends where you live, but if near a large body of water, go looking for a yacht rigger and ask for some mast off-cuts. Comes in a vast array of sizes. Otherwise, it's a piece of thick walled aluminium tube and a big vise. I seem to recall a post where a guy used his wheel jack and his truck to flatten a piece of tube...

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Quote:

go looking for a yacht rigger and ask for some mast off-cuts.

ah! yes, i just knew that looked familiar...he heh.

International Violin also carries the stock replacement heater element for this as well, just in case you want the original. Although I am sure the Grainger one is just fine.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

I used to run mine at high all the time too - not after I put the higher wattage element in. That's how I toasted that set of Bubinga sides.

A PID controller would work great on that.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"