RHS tube bender.... any recommendations ?

[Fossil]

Hello all.

I have just picked up a job which requires me to bend up a heap of 20 x 20 1.2mm gal rhs in a wide arc for some fancy gates. I had a look in the H&F catalogue and saw a tube bender for $199.00 that seemed to fit the bill.

Does anyone have any experience with these type of benders? I don't really want to spend a packet on a tool that I will probably only rarely use. The Bramely unit at H&F runs out at $850.00 with the optional square formers, which is out of the question.

Does anyone have any opinion on me making up a simple bender for square tube? Any ideas on simple designs?

Thanks all, and have a good evening. :)

Fossil

[Penpal]

In the eighties I worked with a guy who cheaply his own bender for square without crushing,this is too far away for me to check with that guy but in answer yes it can be done cheaply and effectively.For seldom use enquire pros charges,no sense in reinventing the wheel.

Also send an E Mail to [email protected] the coinventor of the precision self centring punch,his partner here in Canberra certainly is bending and shaping many metals easily and well with economic gear.

Have success Peter:2tsup:

[echnidna]

have a look at post #11 here (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=220338), it shows how to make one

[Lyndoch]

Hi Fossil,
I'm new at this and this is my first post.
We have made RHS arches by using an old Blacksmiths' tyre roller.
The only modification is a square groove in one roller to locate the tube and keep it tracking straight. So far the smallest arch would be to suite the front of a horse float, not sure what the width is, but it seems to work ok.
Hope this helps.

[gnu52]

Hello Fossil,
I saw a bloke bending RHS bows for a gooseneck horse float in the 80's. All he used was a piece of oversize nesting RHS hammered into the ground to which he welded an old rim that had the correct radius. He slipped the piece to be bent into the jig, slid another oversize piece on as a lever & pulled it down using his body weight, was effective on 50/50/3.2 & smaller using small "bites" each time. Cheap, quick & effective.
Regards, Bill

[Grahame Collins]

Hi Foss,
I was looking on a yank site and saw this which should readily and cheaply adapt to your needs.

Just machine the rollers to to the profiles for your box section in your lathe.

If its not clear from the pics the top die pivots on the arms from the LH side. It is rough but may be a cheap solution to your problem.

Grahame

[zathras]

Hello Grahame, I presume you would roll the metal by winding the top roller?

Any further details of the site where you seen this contraption?

I too have a need to form a similar size, 20x20 rhs to fix up the front of a horse float :cool:

[Grahame Collins]

Hi Ray,
It looks as though the handle is on the top die as per pic no 2
I have 6 pics in all , from the professional welding web.
Here's the others if they fit in. There's not much info there on the website bar the pictures.

I say it would do the job fairly well.You might even get away with not machining an indent for the shs .

I would though, as I reckon it will help keep the bar on the straight and narrow.

Cheers

Grahame

[Grahame Collins]

Ding !
Rush of of excrement to the cerebellum.

One could do a real nice job on this and machine a set of dies for each section size that will fit in the aperture. I would not go too excessively wide though as the wider you get the more pressure is required.

A big diameter spoked wheel in place of the handle may the go, here? The first job for the new toy,perhaps ?

At this point you need to contemplate who will be doing the manual labor? Daaahling,would you come here and turn this please?

Grahame

[Fossil]

Thank you all very much for the ideas!

Graham, that unit looks like the one for me.

I have everything required sitting in one of the scrap bins as well.

I agree with making up formers to suit each section material size. I have a chunk of 2 1/4" 4145 about two feet long which should make up a few formers. :) I could have used it for a hundred jobs already, but I hate cutting the stuff. I don't have a metal bandsaw and one cut takes about a third of an $18.00 abrasive disc!

One more job to add to the list then. :wink:

Current half finished projects....

Bike trailer for one son.
Go cart for another son.
Finish cleaning up and refitting workshop.
Put dirt bike back together after rebuild of engine and respray frame. (It's all done, just sitting in crates on a shelf in the workshop)
Finish tool trailer.

Stuff to do to keep wife.
New roof to house..... material sitting in driveway for two months now.
Replace weatherboards to whole of house.
Finish kitchen reno.
Start and finish bathroom reno.
Rewire 1/2 house.
Polish floor boards to whole house.
Repaint whole house
Go to work.

Stuff for clients....

Complete one reno job for client.... this comes first unfortunately.
Start another reno in March. Whole of 150 year old full brick home.
Do the job that requires bending the RHS. I have put that one off for a while.

Ahhhh! I might have to bite the bullit and get another apprentice. :rolleyes: