Acrylic bending table
Reply with QuoteMaking your own bender is very doable (I'm an acrylic fabricator) but if its just a simple production bender you need look at the once from the fabricator's source. They use calrod heaters. I've made my own with just using the replacement rods and aluminum channel. There is a benefit to cooling (I have one of the ebay ones too just to see what they did) in that otherwise the metal or wood surrounding the element can/will expand and warp. I'd expect that to be a big issue on the wood style if using it all day and its also an issue if you are too thin on the aluminum channel. I'd say min 1/8" thick for all day use and I use that with insulation in the channel to ensure the heat mostly goes up where I want it. I also mounted it on a hollow alum square tube so that I had somewhere to run the return wire and give it a bit more rigidity. Oh and make sure you ground the channel especially with nichrome as they break semi regularly. You can use a simple 120v dimmer to vary the heat (though they will die faster than say a variac).
The nichrome ones are great for one offs because the heat up super fast to start but they take longer to heat the material than with a calrod or coiled nichrome (more density) so for a full day's use, I'd go calrod or coiled wire.
So long and short, you can do it but to make an all day usable one takes some experience to know what you want from your finished product, specialized materials (insulation/hi temp wire) and time. If I needed something quick and only for 1 or 2 bends, I'd buy it especially if its for a paying job.
