Bending flat stock

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I have a need to bend 1 1/2" by 1/4" flat stock. It needs to be in a circle that is about 5 feet, but it needs to be on the 1/4" so that when it is done and I look at the 5' circle I see the 1 1/2" side of the bar not the 1/4". Is there anyway to do this simply? I do have a rod bender from Northern tools with different dies. It is not the vertical bender, but the horizontal one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.Ryguy
Reply:If you have a friend with a Hossfield it's relatively easy.I've bent half by inch and a half the hardway (as you've described) with only a small jig and three pound hammer.If you have a way to lay out your circle on a table then you can do it with a torch.The hammer method is probably the simplest but hardest to do.  You need a jig and a hammer with a rounded face.  If you're interested I can walk you through it.life is good
Reply:This is called bending it the "hard way". Its called that because its hard. You have to shrink the inner side, and stretch the outside. You can do it hot, but it will involve a fair amount of heat and beat. You can do it cold with a hossfeld bender, with the right tooling. About $1200 worth of bender. You can do it cold with a powered angle roll- About $4000 worth of roll.If you only have one or two to do, and its not a big paying job, I would try to get somebody else to do it for you- Most bigger fab shops have powered angle rolls like these from Eagle bender-http://www.eaglebendingmachines.com/that will knock this out in 10 minutes. You could spend a lot of time, frustration, and swearing ruining flat bar first, if you wanted. But this is something that is easy with the right tools, or extremely hard, with the wrong ones.
Reply:Not sure exactly who to go to in New Hope area, but there should be shops in the area that can do it. Yellow pages for steel fabricators, or net serch for same. If not, try Duffy in Thoroughfare, NJ (down by Belmawr and red bank, off 295, about 45 min south of Lawrenceville). There are also several in the Lakewood, NJ area.Without the right equipment, you will end up with a mess. (I have tooling for up to 24" ID. Anything larger goes to a shop)Last edited by enlpck; 01-28-2005 at 10:02 PM.
Reply:Let's pretend for a minute that you're as interested in process as you are in product.  There's this little piece inside of you that gets warm when you touch metal.  For you touching it is more like caressing than it is grabbing.First thing.  Itty bitty bites.  Memorize, itty bitty bites.Now you need a jig.  The jig will have to support the material verically from warping so you need two guides, one at each end of the jig, think of a two pronged tuning fork that your quarter inch bar stock fits snug vertically.You need a surface that will allow you to hit the stock and depress it slightly between the two tuning forks.I've got picture of one if I can find it.Now is when the itty bitty bites comes in.  You hit your material between your tuning forks.  It looks and feels like you didn't do a thing.  Move your material an inch or so.  Hit it again.  You still don't appear to be doing squat.  But if you keep moving it an inch and then hitting it you'll see a curve appear.Every now and then you'll have to lay the material down flat and dress it with the hammer.  Each hammer blow is a statement.  When you're done your circle will be a book.It's one of those things that grows on you as you do it.  If you're as much into process as you are into product.  Sure you're arm will hurt.  But it's not a bad hurt.  And when it's all done and someone admires it I can guarantee down deep you'll smile.  You, a hammer, a jig, and some time and and effort have done what only artists and craftsmen have been able to do.  Take something common and ignored most of the time and made it into something special.  You're in select company.Most people won't understand it.  And that's okay.  There's life and then there's living.life is good
Reply:I found some pictures of the half by one and half hard way work.This is the jig. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Itty bitty bites will work wonders. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:It's one of those things that look a lot harder than they really are. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:Of course if you want a really tight bend in bar stock I suggest using a forge along with the hammer.  These were made with half by one and a half the hard way with some heat. Attached Imageslife is good
Reply:I just love 'old timers'. When I was a kid I always tried to hang around them. They always made things seem so simple. They never knew you couldn't do something. No fancy thousands of dollars worth of tools. Poke around the garage/scrap pile, rig something up, and get the job done. I worked for a guy like that all the while I was in highschool. Best 'practical' education I ever got.Thank you for showing the rest of us and sharing your experience. I'm 62 and can impress my kid's generation with my 'street smart' knowledge but I'm still learning from the real 'old timers' and I don't necessarily mean that in age either. 'Old timers' experience wise.       Hobbiest hack
Reply:Thank you Dave.I have a customer about ten years older than me that loves to hang out where I'm working.  He likes to talk about how I remind him of his dad.  I guess his dad didn't know enough to not try either.life is good
Reply:Thanks guys for all of the help. I think that I have found 0ne or two guys that can make these for me. I knew that with the tools that I have it would be either impossible, or too time consuming for the money that I would be paid. The circle was to reproduce items for sale. So if it takes too long it is impractical. At some point a nice bender would be a great addition to my shop.Anyway, it's nice to have a place to post questions, I am self taught and sometimes don't know where to turn for help.Thanks AgainRyguy