Modifications to LMI fret bender

[Simon Bancroft]

This fret bender does a great job, but I find the controls clumsy and imprecise. Here's a mod I did to mine using a drill and dremel:

 

From the working side of the tool I can adjust very quickly and accurately. Also, there is plenty of mechanical advantage in the lever to start the bend in the fretwire.

I wonder if anyone will find this helpful.

 

Simon

[FRANK]

Sweet

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Simon-- I have one of thoes fret benders that you have pictured and I set it at a bout a 7 inch radious when I first got it and I havent changed it yet and that was about 2 years ago-, however if you change the radious of your bends on a regular basis then your "mod" looks like a good one.. Peace 

[Simon Bancroft]

Thanks, Donald. That would be the key...set it once and then leave it alone! I suppose that's what everyone does. I read the instruction to introduce the bend in stages, and I was trying to tighten the radius a wee bit with each pass, and getting frustrated by the wing nut. As an amateur I am obliged to take a few extra steps haha.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I build one of a kind instruments and do repairs, so I'm always changing the radius. That's a clever trick, thanks!

[Russell Vance]

Same again, an easy fix - thankyou Simon.

Rusty.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Simon-- Get a lawyer and patent thet thing before someone else does -- just a thought-- peace

[Simon Bancroft]

Thanks for your interest Pierre-Antoine, Rusty, and Donald.

I appreciate the thought Donald, but I've been paid well enough by the tips I pick up on this forum. Like these stickies on my computer about glue that I wrote down from Rusty's post. Etc.

I'd be just fine if the maker of this tool improved it for the benefit of users  (and I'd be very surprised too.)

 

Simon

[Mike Kolb]

Damn.... I must be denser than most folks had previously believed.  What, exactly, does the extra arm do? And the little pin-thingie? I'm lost here. 'Splain it to me, Lucy.

[chris snyder]

The pin is a fulcrum, the arm is a lever. When you move the arm/lever it moves the bearing, which is on a cam. Thus, there is no need to move the bearing with your fingers and wrench. At least thats how I see it.

[Simon Bancroft]

That's exactly so, Chris. Thanks for the explanation. The bearing is in a circular slot, and the fulcrum is in line with the center of the circle, so the geometry works.

 

Moving the bearing with a lever instead of with its axle allows it to be moved very accurately and in very small increments.

[chris snyder]

Simon, just to entertane a curious thought, would you be able to bend the fret wire without locking the allen screw; is there enough leverage to do so?

 

Not that one would want to do so. Just a thought...

[Simon Bancroft]

Yes, you can. You can insert straight fretwire and use the lever to bend it to the smallest radius.