Cheap heat blankets

[Steve G]

Greetings.  As you know it's often difficult to find inexpensive guitar repair tools if do repairs as just a hobby.  Back in December I purchased a cheap 2"x5" heating blanked online to try, and yesterday finally used it to remove a fretboard extension off an old yamaha guitar that needs a neck reset.  It went better than expected!  In fact, I just ordered another one in a 1"x5" size, useful for bridge repairs.

These blankets come coated with adhesive on one side, so I just affixed the blanket to a piece of cooking foil, and trimmed the foil to size. 

They are pretty cheap at about $16 for the larger one, and $12 for the smaller one from Amazon.com

(search for 24050 and 24025 hot pad).  As always be careful as these get pretty hot and do not leave unattended.  I think these have a built-in thermostat, but I don't know what the cut-off temperature is.

[Kerry Krishna]

 Can you please link us?

[John McDonald]

Here ya go Kerry..

This links to the 1" x 5" blanket.

http://www.amazon.com/Kats-24025-Watt-Universal-Heater/dp/B000I8XDB...

[Mike Kolb]

They look pretty good for the money, especially the 1"x 5" size ...which is what LMI offers, although they get $54 for their version and, of course, you need their fancy $162 controller.

John, is there any way you could take a temp reading on those blankets from Amazon?  LMI's temp controller goes from about 300-500deg, although they recommend 400deg for a good average working temp. 

As an aside, it'd be great if someone made a 1"x 6" size for bridges, as the 5" length always seems to not quite get to the ends.

[Lee Gendvilas]

Here's what I saw in one of the Amazon reviews for the 1x5 size- "This silicon pad heater does exactly what I expected it to do.  At 5 square inches it uses 25 watts and hour for a $1.49 a month.  Additionally it has potential to cost me less as it seems to run intermitantly kicking on and off every few seconds.  The heater takes but 25 seconds to get up to it maximum operating temperature of 313 degrees F and the back side is roughly 90 degrees F on the silicon side."

[Mark Pollock]

Wow - in conjunction with a variac, these would be a steal.

[Steve G]

Here's the 2"x5"

http://www.amazon.com/Kats-24050-Watt-Universal-Heater/dp/B000I8YPQ4

[Paul Verticchio]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#heat-blankets/=qicfbu

[Jeff Highland]

I use a suitably rated light dimmer switch with my heat blankets.

For things like fretboard  tongues and bridges, you don't want to go too hot too fast, you will need time for the heat to penetrate through to the glueline.

For sidebending I run it flatout for 60 seconds then start bending, and then use the  controller to give low heat to set the bends

[Matt Hannafin]

Just got one.  Seems to heat up to around 375°F

Looks like it'll creep up to 400 after twenty minutes or so.

[Mike Kolb]

Yowzuh.... that looks like just the ticket, thanks for checking the temp.

[Steve G]

I purchased a 2nd blanket  (1"x5" this time).  There's 2 ways to deal with the adhesive:

a) cover it with a piece of foil, which is what I did with the 1st blanket

b) rub/roll off the adhesive - easy to do with just fingers.  You still end up with foil, just with no extra layers.

Both seems to work fine.