[turbo38t]

Ok, I have to bend a bunch of handles and they have to be +- 1/16" accuracy. They need to be a complete rectangle with inside dimensions of 4" X11". Am I better off setting a simple fixture up on my welding table and just heating each corner or buying a bender? What type of bender? I will need to make around 100 of these handles. Dave

 

[Go1lum]

yes set up a fixture carefully and strong that won't warp during the middle of your job. Heat and bend sounds like a couple hour project.

 

[cajun welder]

i had to make 20, 15"x28"x3/8" hot roll rectangles and layed it out on my table, then cut 4, 3/8"x1" pieces and tacked them in each corner, clamped the rod to the 1" piece,left 6" bypass heated the rod with the torch and when the ends meet put a tack. all 20 came out the same.

 

[Ries]

I bend stuff like this all the time, and I use a hossfeld bender. They cost $800, with basic tooling.
I have had mine since 78, it has paid for itself about a thousand times over.
It has stops for degree of bend, and for length, you do a couple test pieces, then bend 100 of the first bend, reset the length stop, bend the second, and so on.

The mickey mouse chinese benders will not do 5/8", and probably not 1/2" very well. A hossfeld will do 1", no problem. It has a 4 foot, and 8 foot extension handle.
Its a well designed tool, and well worth it if you think you will be doing fab work for a while.

Heat and bend, 400 corners, sure seems to me to be more than a couple hours. With 5/8", you probably want a helper to hold the rosebud, and nice big tanks of oxy and acetylene. I would be amazed if you could do em in a minute, probably more like 2 minutes per bend. Thats 800 minutes, with no pee breaks or lunch. About 2 days.
With a hossfeld, maybe 2 or 3 hours.

I bend hundreds of pieces of stainless round bar all the time, and have exact matches on length and degree of bend with the hossfeld.

 

[Tinbasher]

We've got an old hossy at work too. Bending them cold would be way faster, but hard to justify buying a bender if you're only going to be doing a 100.

 

[TubularFab]

Hello - I guess you gave up on the tube handles? Solid ought to be easier to work with since it can't collapse. And, like mentioned above it sounds like a job for a Hossfeld!

 

[tapwelder]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a manual bender specific for the project.

Something that holds the metal in place and allows you to make each bend without moving the metal.

Make it stout from the start. Overkill won't be overkill. Not much worst than having a jig or tool slowly fall apart in the middle of a project.

cold bending hot rolled steel is the way to go.

Anyway, Hossfeld is a great suggestion, also American bender a true hossfeld clone. I talked to American bender a couple of months ago and they might set you up complete for under $1000.

100 parts isn't that many. However, if I had the potential of doing many more, then I would spend the money on at least a good bender. Though, a job specific bender probably be faster.

 

[clive]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a manual bender specific for the project.

Something that holds the metal in place and allows you to make each bend without moving the metal.

Make it stout from the start. Overkill won't be overkill. Not much worst than having a jig or tool slowly fall apart in the middle of a project.

cold bending hot rolled steel is the way to go.

Anyway, Hossfeld is a great suggestion, also American bender a true hossfeld clone. I talked to American bender a couple of months ago and they might set you up complete for under $1000.

100 parts isn't that many. However, if I had the potential of doing many more, then I would spend the money on at least a good bender. Though, a job specific bender probably be faster.

Seriously, for 100, why not farm them out and add on 10%.
Clive

 

[Supe]

Seriously, for 100, why not farm them out and add on 10%.
Clive

Outsourcing would be the way to go here.

 

[WANNAWELD]

We've got an old hossy at work too. Bending them cold would be way faster, but hard to justify buying a bender if you're only going to be doing a 100.

pic of the ols hossy anyone?

 

[MoonRise]

http://www.hossfeldbender.com/

http://americanbender.com/

 

[tapwelder]

http://www.handlesunlimited.com/custom.html


I suggested outsourcing in your first thread. It is definately worth considering.

No need stressing over how to get the job done. It is great to just reach for a part and weld it on.

Later

 

[turbo38t]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a manual bender specific for the project.

Something that holds the metal in place and allows you to make each bend without moving the metal.

Make it stout from the start. Overkill won't be overkill. Not much worst than having a jig or tool slowly fall apart in the middle of a project.

cold bending hot rolled steel is the way to go.

Anyway, Hossfeld is a great suggestion, also American bender a true hossfeld clone. I talked to American bender a couple of months ago and they might set you up complete for under $1000.

100 parts isn't that many. However, if I had the potential of doing many more, then I would spend the money on at least a good bender. Though, a job specific bender probably be faster.

How do you recommend cold bending 5/8" round bar? These rectangles need to be pretty accurate but the corner radius doesn't have to be super tight. Dave

 

[turbo38t]

I bend stuff like this all the time, and I use a hossfeld bender. They cost $800, with basic tooling.
I have had mine since 78, it has paid for itself about a thousand times over.
It has stops for degree of bend, and for length, you do a couple test pieces, then bend 100 of the first bend, reset the length stop, bend the second, and so on.

The mickey mouse chinese benders will not do 5/8", and probably not 1/2" very well. A hossfeld will do 1", no problem. It has a 4 foot, and 8 foot extension handle.
Its a well designed tool, and well worth it if you think you will be doing fab work for a while.

Heat and bend, 400 corners, sure seems to me to be more than a couple hours. With 5/8", you probably want a helper to hold the rosebud, and nice big tanks of oxy and acetylene. I would be amazed if you could do em in a minute, probably more like 2 minutes per bend. Thats 800 minutes, with no pee breaks or lunch. About 2 days.
With a hossfeld, maybe 2 or 3 hours.

I bend hundreds of pieces of stainless round bar all the time, and have exact matches on length and degree of bend with the hossfeld.

Which Hossfield bender do you recommend? Needs to work well with 5/8" round bar. What dies are needed? Do they bend relatively tightly? Dave

 

[aametalmaster]

I have a mickey mouse chinese bender and i bend hundereds of 1/2" bars every week. But it won't bend a tight corner on 1/2". Well worth the 49 bucks it costs...Bob

 

[turbo38t]

I have a mickey mouse chinese bender and i bend hundereds of 1/2" bars every week. But it won't bend a tight corner on 1/2". Well worth the 49 bucks it costs...Bob

Do you have a link to the unit you have?> Thanks .Dave

 

[David R]

Sometimes for a jig, I just weld things to my bench. When done, cut em off and grind flush.

David

 

[aametalmaster]

This is what i have. Sometimes its on sale for 49 bucks.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44094
I also have 2 Hossfelds i don't use much. Seems like the little bender will bend anything i want in my wrought iron shop. There are some more pics of bending with the little bender here>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ornamentiron/ but you have to join yahoo groups which is easy enough.
I also do all my 1/2" round and sq bar bending on top of the frame because its easier to see and easier to get the parts out when bent. I just made some longer 5/8" pins from long 5/8" bolts from the farm store.
I also sell dies up to 8" in dia for bending shepherd hooks with the little bender which is in detail in the yahoo group pics...Bob

 

[turbo38t]

This is what i have. Sometimes its on sale for 49 bucks.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44094
I also have 2 Hossfelds i don't use much. Seems like the little bender will bend anything i want in my wrought iron shop. There are some more pics of bending with the little bender here>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ornamentiron/ but you have to join yahoo groups which is easy enough.
I also do all my 1/2" round and sq bar bending on top of the frame because its easier to see and easier to get the parts out when bent. I just made some longer 5/8" pins from long 5/8" bolts from the farm store.
I also sell dies up to 8" in dia for bending shepherd hooks with the little bender which is in detail in the yahoo group pics...Bob

Would be nice if I could afford a rebar bender. They do just what I want. Dave

 

[tapwelder]

Turbo

I fabbed a tool today. The tool is specific for bending those handles. Sorry, for some reason I cannot get my pictures loaded. Perhaps later today I will figure the stuff out.

Some other things to think consider:

I bent 3/4" square with a 4 ft 1.25 schedule 40 pipe handle. I cannot imagine bending 100 parts. Perhaps a 8' handle will work better. You will need a stable mounting point. My table is about 700 lbs I had no problems with movement. However, initially I mounted it on a 300 lbs table, The table just move around.