Thread: Bending steel

I don't know the answer to your problem but the first thing that came to mind was "Blacksmith" - I saw a bloke a while back and he was amazing as to what he could do with steel. Just a thought - yellow pages?

No heat should be needed - just a bloody big sledge hammer, an anvil and a bunch of your uni mates and carton should do it!

Hi Paul,

It would help to know what the ring is for. Assuming it is not a ring for a tracking telescope, or other precision instrument, I would have two semi circular rings laser cut, and weld them together, end to end.

If you like this idea, I can draw it up for you for nix and make a dxf file for the Laser Cutter. The laser cutting programming fee is around $50, the material maybe $15.

My 3 bobs worth.

Ken

Originally Posted by smidsy

Hei Guys,
Working on a design for a uni project and one idea involves bending some 32x8 flat bar on edge to a radius of about a metre. Uni does not have facility to do this, and getting it done commercially is out due to cost. Would it be feasible to make a jig of the radius and bend the steel using heat? Anyone got any ideas on how I could accomplish this?
Cheers Paul

Hi Paul,

What type of steel are you talking about cold rolled/bright drawn mild steel - stainless steel? Which ever one you are going for unless you had an industrial heavy duty roller set, you will have to use a oxy-ace torch with the gas cutting torch attached. I assume you would want it to be round all the way - if you cut it off to half the circumference length you will more than likely end up with flattish ends - I would cut them off longer and trim it to size later. I would mark out the circle on a piece of cardboard and bend it to suit this. Making a jig I think would be a waste of time as you would still have to bend it some how to get it into it!!. Then if you did get it in you may have trouble getting it out.

Regards
MH

have you priced getting it rolled by a boilermaker?

have you priced getting it rolled by a boilermaker?

That would probably be your best bet.

Sorry but people have no idea how to respond to your question, if you don't tell what you want to make, to get an idea of the specs.The application has a very large bearing on the the tolerances required and therefore the means of manufacture.

Ask your local fab shops do they have section rolls. The job itself should not take longer than 40 mins. If you supply the metal allow for .5m longer each end to allow for the section outside the rolls. Also make the radius template out of some .6mm sheet.If they have to make that it, it also costs money.
$50 is cheap
Grahame

My guess its for a uni arts project, that's why he said about a metre radius.

There are several ways of doing the job.One will be the most suitable for the intended application.
If its art ,as you say, may be the tolerance won't matter too much.

Get a heavy bit of channel and belt the flat on edge across it until the flat bar curves. One has to work up and down the length hammering evenly.It will curve ,but newbies will need a template to keep an eye on the bend radius to keep it even.I bend steel every day this way

Or you could make a small Jim Crow.
Each method has advantages and disadvantages.

cheers

Grahame

Hei Guys,
I'm making a fairly futuristic chair and an idea I had was to make it in to a rocking chair - the 32x8 would be the rocking rails.

We are allowed to outsource specific jobs that are beyond the workshop's capability, but having worked in a bending factory (admittedly some 20 years ago) I know that a one off job like this would be expensive.

Even though I'm paying HECS hand over fist, we have to finance the materials for this ourselves so outsourcing is simply not an option.
Cheers

Get some MDF then cut & glue it into a slab big enough to mold the radius on. You will need to make the actual radius a good bit smaller than the desired final product, and as noted above it will need to have 200-300mm extra on each end to avoid a straight section being left on the ends - unless that is in the plan.

Get a solid clamp and drill a hole in the MDF template for one jaw of the clamp so it will grip the end of the bar, then heave away. You may need to make some more holes & clamp it as you go, and/or use a BIG hammer. When you take it off the template it will spring back but you should be close. If the bend is too tight, rest it on the ground and push outwards with your arms & body weight until it relaxes enough to fit. If it is too loose, you can tighten it in a vice with two parallel rods clamped in it.

If it still refuses to comply, you can build a basic forge box from some old bricks & mud, load it with BBQ heat beads & lay the iron on top. Once the heat beads get going, bury the iron & apply some air with an old vacuum cleaner with a metal pipe - the old ones have a blow as well as a suck function. When the metal is hot, bend it on the MDF former - it will smoke & stink, but you only have to use it twice to make a pair of rocker rails and MDF should last that long. Hose it down to lock the radius & avoid having the rocker bar dead soft.

Here's my effort at the cheap way,

Channel no *8 or 200mm.

See the drawing.

Grahame

Could use a Triton superjaws as a press, making some custom jaws out of hardwood or steel would be the go.


Cheers..................Sean

If you made up a former you shoulkd pull it around with a 10ft pipe over the bar