Don't know if you figured this out already, but the rule of thumb is 1 hour per inch of thickness, STARTING with when the temperature of the box reaches over 200 degrees Farenheit. For the steamer, the trick is to have two of them. Pay attention to how long it takes the first one to boil, and start the second one going in time so that it will be boiling at about the time the first one runs out of water. At $30/each for these steamers (priced yesterday at Home Depot), it's still cheaper to buy two of these than one of the dedicated steamers they sell at the woodworking supply stores. And, by using two, there's no limit to how long you could keep the steam box going - you just keep tag-teaming them. One final point: Your box should NOT be airtight - that's asking for it to explode. You want some leaks and/or relief holes so the pressure doesn't build up inside. Best of luck with your project!
Thanks for the great advise. I did put in some vents that drip into a bucket. I will get back at it one day but for now I am on the road and not working on any projects for a while. Thanks again for watching.
Glad I found your video. I have some shoe molding I need to bend because when carpet was laid of course they removed it. The baseboard was already bent all I need is the shoe molding. Thanks
I suggest slicing the wood into several thin strips matching the height and length of your form. Next steam them, dry fit each one individually building up to the thickness of your piece while clamping each one. Disassemble, then apply glue to one face on each piece. Repeat the assembly process and apply clamps to the whole assembly. I have used this method very successfully for a number of pieces without steaming the wood. One project involved bar corners out of cherry with a 6 in radius. Watched your video since I am considering using your approach on cherry plywood to create 4 foot half-columns.Thanks for the post!
If the plastic is thick enough drill a hole at the lower end, then glue/thread a hose connector for some clear plastic tubing and let the condensate drain directly back into the steamer. You will need to top off the steam generating supply shortly after it comes up to temp so it won't boil dry. Use a lower table to adjust the height of things overall since the water tank supplying steam just has to be lower than the holding tube.
Couple of tips I have read about. 1. Slip your piece to bend inside a plastic sleeve. This lengthens your time that your piece stays bendable. 2. I saw one guy presoaking his wood overnight. He use fabric softener in the water. 3. I also had someone mention to let your steam box get to the temperature of 200 degrees. I make canes and will be attempting to bend the shepherds hook in one end. I hope to have good luck. Also, I have heard to forget to try soft woods because of the grain structure. Good luck.
My last tour, 2012-2013, I watched The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to get me through my 13 months over here. Craig's off air now but I think your videos qualify to take his slot :) Great job on the steam box. Believe if you use the same size thin strips of wood like you started with and glue them you're good to go! Can't wait for the next video!
+The S.T.E.M Lab Yea man. I have given up on the bending for the moment. I need to get the table done and don't have time to mess around with all of the experiments. I will get back to it, just not right now. The table is almost done now so I just want to finish it and move on to something new.
Got to do what you got to do....I was thinking of setting one up so I could do a re-curve long bow one day.... and straightening wood arrow shafts. ... so thanks for the ideas... certainly a General in my book ser! Anyways keep the gray matter smasher on full I know I'll have to, to keep up with an engineer like you up there getting the good ones first...lol
I 100% concur with Michael Recchione. In fact, reinforce his recommendation by purchasing a THIRD steamer as a backup in case one of them fails. DO NOT leave your backup steamer in the package. Assemble it and test it, then store it assembled so it will be ready for use at a moment's notice.
A piece of metal duct pipe 6 x 60 inches is what I used, the end caps are 6 inch caps. Screw one on with sheet metal screws the other end cap has a handle. You have a piece of sewer and drain pipe there. its really expensive to buy . Lucky you.
you know that Cherry has a large bend radius i think about 6 to 8" so you using the wrong wood, try oak hickory or elm there closer to 2" radius, Thanks for your service.
Plastic will start to deform at the temps needed to steam your wood, also There are cheap commercial clothes steamers that boil almost instantly for around 75 bucks. Try building your box from scrap sheet metal and insulate it. Good luck! :)
anybody seen the plastic that dude wrapped over the wood that's the only way to go the way I see it you can see the bubbles coming right out of there the gases of the wood incredible I would never do it any other way...
I made one with a thicker wall. When I put the steam heat to it, the tube sagged and completing the steam time was impossible. Do not waste your time and effort to make one with plastic.
You might have been ok with some real clamps. Dewalt actually makes some amazing grip clamps these days, probably 10x stronger than the baby ones you use here. Thanks for the steamer suggestions.
First time using a steambox and glue ups. Lots I learned and finally gave up because the compound bends proved to be impossible. Lots of lessons learned for sure. Go to about 5 minutes into this video ruclips.net/video/I4n68j9QB1M/видео.html And about 9 minutes into this video ruclips.net/video/OKxujlXGBpY/видео.html
Got mine as a cut off from a construction site Stopped at doughnut shop bought the crew (4) coffees, they asked if I needed any more got two pieces a 5' and 7' 6" dia.
Squeeze clamps are totally useless for this purpose, you need screw clamps, heavy duty types ideally, and a male and female form to pressure the wood, but I guess you've realised that by now.
that thing need pressure release holes!! two 1/4 holes at either end. when you build the base it should be about 1 1/2 to 2 inches higher on one end. Ive built 16 of em for a near by school! I had to make sure it wasn't a 6" potato gun! LOL If your design works efficiently then use it!! Soo many critics lol
+Mario Tibbrine Yea, I was going to roll it over easy enough to do. I put a vent hole in the top and a hose so I don't over pressure it. The cork blew off today, LOL. I will roll it over when I put in some fresh wood. I will post a new video soon. Thanks for the suggestion, I can use all that I can get.. Chuckle... Happy New Year Bud.
+Mario Tibbrine Well, I see all sorts of formulas for wood thickness and time on youtube. The best ones that I found seem to be from long time steam benders. They are boatwrights and build boats. To get something very pliable they say 15 minutes for every 1/4" of thickness. They don't start timing the piece until the temp reaches 200F in the box. My system doesn't seem to get beyond 180F. I popped something out of the box last night and it worked great at that temp. It was about 20 1/8" strips and I stood them up vertically on my dowels down the center of the tube. I cooked them about 1.5 hrs. If I were doing anything thicker I would probably rebuild the box with lessons learned. I also flipped the tube over and blew it up from the bottom.
Guуs I just found а gоod wеbsitе whiсh givеs ууоu frеe_steaаааm_wаaааllеееt_card_c0des twitter.com/2917c4d78572b9245/status/719079525670395904 How I Built aа Steam Bоx in Undеeеer 3 Hours
Old Man from Scene Twenty Four Umm. Humans have been bending wood for like many hundreds of years without fabric softener. Soaking doesn’t matter either. The major problem is buying a ‘steamer’ when it can’t/won’t provide the volume of steam needed for efficient bending. The other thing is the steam hose is too small. My assumption is that he figured all that out already. He seems pretty smart.
Yes, I just cut the remainder of what I had down the middle and turned them into 2 wicking bed gardens. I will post a video soon if you sub to my channel and hit the bell, you will see it when it posts. Thanks for the comment.
+Rev John O'Toole The heating element is in the lower tank, submerged in the water. I think that the 75 minutes is in use while you are blowing steam everywhere, while removing wallpaper. I think it will go several house if not more.
too much talking and wasting time with useless dribble...like starting out in the car at home depot. just tell how to make a steam box . skip all your problems and get to the point and stay there.
iROBODUDE i am glad you took my comment the right way. did not mean to be disrespectful , but it is so much easier and enjoyable to watch videos when you stay on the subject and skip all the useless stuff.....thanks.........
Feedback is important. Sometimes I just get carried away. Not sure if there was adult beverage involved or not. LOL. I have 134 videos up so if you get a chance to follow any of my gardening or rain gutter garden build videos you may find them more to your liking. Some talking is involved but mostly informative. Take care sir and thanks again for the constructive criticism.
Mine is made from 6"Green sewer pipe 5' long made a small rack to keep strips separated, been using it for about 5 years now, have small vent on bottom so steam stays in awhile a session runs about 3 -4 hours of steaming.
Don't know if you figured this out already, but the rule of thumb is 1 hour per inch of thickness, STARTING with when the temperature of the box reaches over 200 degrees Farenheit. For the steamer, the trick is to have two of them. Pay attention to how long it takes the first one to boil, and start the second one going in time so that it will be boiling at about the time the first one runs out of water. At $30/each for these steamers (priced yesterday at Home Depot), it's still cheaper to buy two of these than one of the dedicated steamers they sell at the woodworking supply stores. And, by using two, there's no limit to how long you could keep the steam box going - you just keep tag-teaming them. One final point: Your box should NOT be airtight - that's asking for it to explode. You want some leaks and/or relief holes so the pressure doesn't build up inside.
Best of luck with your project!
Thanks for the great advise. I did put in some vents that drip into a bucket. I will get back at it one day but for now I am on the road and not working on any projects for a while. Thanks again for watching.
Glad I found your video. I have some shoe molding I need to bend because when carpet was laid of course they removed it. The baseboard was already bent all I need is the shoe molding. Thanks
I suggest slicing the wood into several thin strips matching the height and length of your form. Next steam them, dry fit each one individually building up to the thickness of your piece while clamping each one. Disassemble, then apply glue to one face on each piece. Repeat the assembly process and apply clamps to the whole assembly. I have used this method very successfully for a number of pieces without steaming the wood. One project involved bar corners out of cherry with a 6 in radius. Watched your video since I am considering using your approach on cherry plywood to create 4 foot half-columns.Thanks for the post!
Do don't want to have loops in the hose. Low points could fill with condensed water and block the supply of steam.
I love your shop. It’s much cleaner than mine.😊
Awesome. I want to come over and play in your work shop. 😁
If the plastic is thick enough drill a hole at the lower end, then glue/thread a hose connector for some clear plastic tubing and let the condensate drain directly back into the steamer. You will need to top off the steam generating supply shortly after it comes up to temp so it won't boil dry. Use a lower table to adjust the height of things overall since the water tank supplying steam just has to be lower than the holding tube.
REDHORSE Wordsmith great idea
That's a great idea
Thanks for the steamer idea. Going to use a old wallpaper steamer.
Couple of tips I have read about. 1. Slip your piece to bend inside a plastic sleeve. This lengthens your time that your piece stays bendable. 2. I saw one guy presoaking his wood overnight. He use fabric softener in the water. 3. I also had someone mention to let your steam box get to the temperature of 200 degrees.
I make canes and will be attempting to bend the shepherds hook in one end. I hope to have good luck. Also, I have heard to forget to try soft woods because of the grain structure. Good luck.
My last tour, 2012-2013, I watched The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to get me through my 13 months over here. Craig's off air now but I think your videos qualify to take his slot :) Great job on the steam box. Believe if you use the same size thin strips of wood like you started with and glue them you're good to go! Can't wait for the next video!
+James Tanner I watched a bunch of shows to get me through. I know how it was. Happy New Year!!!
Never mind the steamer, i want to see the cork gun
Good luck. PVC can break down into deadly components starting above 70 C.
awesome S.T.E.M testing man, a lot of fun to watch... love the (if you will...) HillBilly engineering stuff...
+The S.T.E.M Lab Yea man. I have given up on the bending for the moment. I need to get the table done and don't have time to mess around with all of the experiments. I will get back to it, just not right now. The table is almost done now so I just want to finish it and move on to something new.
Got to do what you got to do....I was thinking of setting one up so I could do a re-curve long bow one day.... and straightening wood arrow shafts. ... so thanks for the ideas... certainly a General in my book ser! Anyways keep the gray matter smasher on full I know I'll have to, to keep up with an engineer like you up there getting the good ones first...lol
Thank you very much for your video I'm building it now
I 100% concur with Michael Recchione.
In fact, reinforce his recommendation by purchasing a THIRD steamer as a backup in case one of them fails. DO NOT leave your backup steamer in the package. Assemble it and test it, then store it assembled so it will be ready for use at a moment's notice.
Trade those oak dowels in for something with less tannic acid, it'll stain your parts.
I would try using an old car jack 5 ton lift
to press two pieces together
A piece of metal duct pipe 6 x 60 inches is what I used, the end caps are 6 inch caps. Screw one on with sheet metal screws the other end cap has a handle. You have a piece of sewer and drain pipe there. its really expensive to buy . Lucky you.
at the steam temperature the PVC just collapses in about a couple of minutes! how could you succeed in making a steambox out of it?
Thank you, just found your channel/station.
I would guess that by using you method/instruction I could bend the wood for a wood-bodied station wagon, roof bows, fender/wheel curves, etc.
dont worry about the split in the tube as that will act as the vent,or did you incorporate a vent elsewhere?
good good stuff
Good vid
Have you try spray bottle water, heat gun and griped device
Cheap turkey fryer pot with hose connectors inserted in the lid will solve the working time problem. C clamp the lid down and fire it up.
you know that Cherry has a large bend radius i think about 6 to 8" so you using the wrong wood, try oak hickory or elm there closer to 2" radius, Thanks for your service.
Yes, I figured that out the hard way.. Just finally posted a new video.
Plastic will start to deform at the temps needed to steam your wood, also There are cheap commercial clothes steamers that boil almost instantly for around 75 bucks. Try building your box from scrap sheet metal and insulate it. Good luck! :)
Thanks for the tip Gary.
1 gal of water per cubic foot of steam chamber volume per hour of run time. You don't have near enough steam!
anybody seen the plastic that dude wrapped over the wood that's the only way to go the way I see it you can see the bubbles coming right out of there the gases of the wood incredible I would never do it any other way...
I made one with a thicker wall. When I put the steam heat to it, the tube sagged and completing the steam time was impossible. Do not waste your time and effort to make one with plastic.
You might have been ok with some real clamps. Dewalt actually makes some amazing grip clamps these days, probably 10x stronger than the baby ones you use here. Thanks for the steamer suggestions.
First time using a steambox and glue ups. Lots I learned and finally gave up because the compound bends proved to be impossible. Lots of lessons learned for sure.
Go to about 5 minutes into this video ruclips.net/video/I4n68j9QB1M/видео.html
And about 9 minutes into this video
ruclips.net/video/OKxujlXGBpY/видео.html
curious how long that pvc will last.. not designed for use at the temps your using. I bend it at 300 to 350 degreesF
Got mine as a cut off from a construction site Stopped at doughnut shop bought the crew (4) coffees, they asked if I needed any more got two pieces a 5' and 7' 6" dia.
Squeeze clamps are totally useless for this purpose, you need screw clamps, heavy duty types ideally, and a male and female form to pressure the wood, but I guess you've realised that by now.
Gigantic cork gun. Lmao We have to be related. HA Ha
:)
that thing need pressure release holes!! two 1/4 holes at either end. when you build the base it should be about 1 1/2 to 2 inches higher on one end. Ive built 16 of em for a near by school! I had to make sure it wasn't a 6" potato gun! LOL If your design works efficiently then use it!! Soo many critics lol
Thanks for the input. It seems to work just fine. Part of my problem was that I am in an uninsulated building and temps way below freezing.
nothing good comes from the cold!! lol I'm building my own now, I could practically build these things blind folded not that I want to lol
Thanks
steam travels up bud you need the steam port on the bottom on the closed side of the box
+Mario Tibbrine Yea, I was going to roll it over easy enough to do. I put a vent hole in the top and a hose so I don't over pressure it. The cork blew off today, LOL. I will roll it over when I put in some fresh wood. I will post a new video soon. Thanks for the suggestion, I can use all that I can get.. Chuckle... Happy New Year Bud.
Is the time 45 mins per inch?
I hope this video helps happy new year
+Mario Tibbrine Well, I see all sorts of formulas for wood thickness and time on youtube. The best ones that I found seem to be from long time steam benders. They are boatwrights and build boats. To get something very pliable they say 15 minutes for every 1/4" of thickness. They don't start timing the piece until the temp reaches 200F in the box. My system doesn't seem to get beyond 180F. I popped something out of the box last night and it worked great at that temp. It was about 20 1/8" strips and I stood them up vertically on my dowels down the center of the tube. I cooked them about 1.5 hrs. If I were doing anything thicker I would probably rebuild the box with lessons learned. I also flipped the tube over and blew it up from the bottom.
Guуs I just found а gоod wеbsitе whiсh givеs ууоu frеe_steaаааm_wаaааllеееt_card_c0des twitter.com/2917c4d78572b9245/status/719079525670395904 How I Built aа Steam Bоx in Undеeеer 3 Hours
If the wood had been soaked in warm water and fabric softener over night before steaming, you would have gotten much better results.
Old Man from Scene Twenty Four
Umm. Humans have been bending wood for like many hundreds of years without fabric softener. Soaking doesn’t matter either.
The major problem is buying a ‘steamer’ when it can’t/won’t provide the volume of steam needed for efficient bending.
The other thing is the steam hose is too small.
My assumption is that he figured all that out already. He seems pretty smart.
What's the name of that material is use to build the workshop
I don't know exactly. Probably some sort of PVC. It was found on the side of the road.
fill it with hot water
Just boil the kettle and top it up with that when you get empty
Thats what I have been doing...
Lucky. That pvc that length and width is probably $350-$400.
Yes, I just cut the remainder of what I had down the middle and turned them into 2 wicking bed gardens. I will post a video soon if you sub to my channel and hit the bell, you will see it when it posts. Thanks for the comment.
I totally agree. And you’re talking 4yrs back😂
maybe you can mount the top on a bigger tank.
+Rev John O'Toole The heating element is in the lower tank, submerged in the water. I think that the 75 minutes is in use while you are blowing steam everywhere, while removing wallpaper. I think it will go several house if not more.
This good man does not know what he is doing! He would rather learn it properly and only explain it afterwards.
Moving the camera around so quickly made me dizzy big time. wishing you good luck in your next movie.
Thank you sir. I will work on it.
don't know how that repeated
Was I the only one extremely bothered by the crooked drilling???🤢🤪😕😬
Mike was Frank your dad?
+Benny Russell No sir, no relation. I assume you are talking about Frank from Guntersville?
wow, plz don't open the end of your steam box directly over a powerstrip
Thanks for wasting my time!
Sorry man, I need to update this video. It was years ago and I was just starting out, as you saw. I apologize sir.
Great to see that woodprix has new instructions to save my money and energy to build it.
too much talking and wasting time with useless dribble...like starting out in the car at home depot. just tell how to make a steam box . skip all your problems and get to the point and stay there.
Thanks for the input. I'll try to do better in future videos. Have a great day.
iROBODUDE i am glad you took my comment the right way. did not mean to be disrespectful , but it is so much easier and enjoyable to watch videos when you stay on the subject and skip all the useless stuff.....thanks.........
Feedback is important. Sometimes I just get carried away. Not sure if there was adult beverage involved or not. LOL. I have 134 videos up so if you get a chance to follow any of my gardening or rain gutter garden build videos you may find them more to your liking. Some talking is involved but mostly informative. Take care sir and thanks again for the constructive criticism.
Make it yourself thanks to woodprix plans. I think it's the best way to learn how to build it in the cheapest way.
curious how long that pvc will last.. not designed for use at the temps your using. I bend it at 300 to 350 degreesF
Mine is made from 6"Green sewer pipe 5' long made a small rack to keep strips separated, been using it for about 5 years now, have small vent on bottom so steam stays in awhile a session runs about 3 -4 hours of steaming.