Need help with bending decorative metal!

admin

Hi,    Love the site great info!  My problem is I have been doing decorative handrails on houses lately and up to this point i haven't had to bend any of the rails. I got a job where the brick steps on the front roll down and out. I will have to follow the contour of the steps. What method of bending do i use to accomplish this? A torch will be to difficult to do and I just dont think I could match them perfectly doing it that way. I saw a man that was in dec. handrail buisness  bend it with a torch and it looked like crap! Would I need a bender with a special die or what? I know someone here that does this can help me! please!    ANY help is appreciated!
Reply:A torch is an excellent tool to use if you don't have anything else.  I used torch exclusively for a few years.  To slow use water to cool and cause contraction.  Iit is very important to get the inside radius to contract.  Heat actually allows you to contour to the step.  The only negative about heating and cooling is the metal gets hardened and difficult to tweek without heat.If you are using channel, then it can be bent by hand in bending forks.In the last 4 months I have done 3 bending jobs and all have used different techniques.  One was only bent with an American Bender(Hossfeld clone).  Ones was bent with Bender W/ cap bending dies, ring roller and heat. And one was just rolled.Patience is key, however you choose to proceed. Also, It is not just a bend it is also twisted (helix).
Reply:It's hard to answer the question unless you tell us specifically what you are bending. Pipe, flat bar, square, channel, how big, how thick?You are probably going to be looking at a roll bender, something like this. http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/...r-p-16775.htmlLast edited by slagmatic; 02-24-2010 at 12:08 PM.
Reply:Bending stuff is fun. But it takes a lot of practice, and a fair amount of tools.I have an entire arsenal of bending equipment, and often I still dont have the right tool.However, the tool I started with, that does the most for the least amount of money, is the Hossfeld bender.http://www.hossfeldbender.com/I got mine in 78, and I still learn new stuff about it.A real Hossfeld, not a chinese "copy", will bend pipe, square tubing, flat bar the easy way or the hard way, handrail cap the hard way, square, round, angle, and lots more.It takes muscle, and practice, but for less money than any power roll, it will do a lot more.I have bent a lot of pipe rail with mine, flat bar the hard way for the woodbutchers to screw on fancy wooden handrail, and square tube in 30' radius for the roof trusses of my carport.I also have a set of powered angle rolls that are very expensive, and they are great for some things, but most anything they will do, the hossfeld will do too, just slower and with more lunch or caffeine involved.
Reply:Hey Tapwelder, do you have the caprail die for your American bender? Is it from American Bender. I have the same bender and was considering the die set. does it work well?Thanks,
Reply:Yeah, mine are from American Bender.  I got a 48/49  and 24/26.  They work excellently.  Absoulutely no marring and cap and one channel can be bent together.  Nice continuous untwisted bends.     If you don't have hydraulics---I made a leverage multilplier, like my JD2 bender.  That bender is a really nice tool.  I have had it for 2 yrs. Definitely worth it's price.
Reply:There are many bending outfits that do nothing but custom bending of tubing and other structural sections.  They know what they are doing.  You need to give them the radius and the rise over the distance on that radius.  They will roll it for you.  Once the rolling is done you trim it to length and insert your verticals or other detail.  I have built many spiral structures and the shops I have worked in always jobbed out the rolling to a custom forming shop.  Some are soooo deadly!  I would set a string across an arc then measure the chord height.  In 20 feet the height was within 1/4 inch on rolled tubes.
Reply:I would have to agree with Ries, over the years I have found my hossfeld machine very handy & couldn't beat the price FREE! dug it out of a dumpster @ a school, however I have spent a few bucks on dies. I also like the fact you could break it down for storage too. I usually leave the main frame set up with my scroll dies out as I use them quite a bit.