best way to bend square tubing..

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Hi all,I put a bid on building an iron door with scroll work arched doorway.  The design calls for 1 1/2" square tubing or 1 1/2" x 1" rectangular tubing making up the door frame and the same material for the door itself.It is to have wooden slats in between iron bars up to the 6' mark and from that point it arches to conform to the contour of the doorway.  This part will have the scroll work designs welded to it. Standard gate hardware will finish it off.My question is, can this material be bent by hand with a jig on my steel table?  I was thinking that I may have to go to a local fab shop with bending equipment but thought I might run it by my peers here.  My concern would be wrinkling it.  I have made many such arches out of solid stock over the years, but never made one out of tubing.  I have bent pipe by hand and a torch, filling it with sand and applying heat to soften it while I bent it around a jig.  Could I do the same to the thin wall rectangular tubing or square tubing??  Maybe just filling it with sand but no heat as it would be relatively easy to bend??Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas?Any help is appreciated.Thanks,Tony
Reply:you should be able to pack it with sand and bend it with heat. your best it to have someone else roll it for you.  you may not be able to use thin wall tubing for it though. call around your area and ask them what they think you should use. its hard to say bc  you didnt mention the radius you want it to be. the radius will be the major deciding factor in how it can be done
Reply:Hi rustyripple,its a 24" radius so its not a sharp bend.  what do you think?Thanks,Tony
Reply:Check this guy out:http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/2011/04/08/000121.phpHe has a whole site devoted to how to bend metal by hand. He shows how to make a bending jig, several actually and how to go about bending square as well as round tube.You really do want to get a HF ring roller though if you are going to do any amount of this. Trust me I did some 1 1/2 round by hand for a railing. That will be the last time I do hand bending.Good luck. Post pics.Glenn.Sign on East Texas payphone: Calls to God 40 cents......it's a local call...
Reply:Here is a link over to SFT for a post I did on bending some 1 1/2" square tubing. This was .250 wall, but For yours I would use a minimum of 1/8-3/16 wall. I have bent as thin as .065 using this method. Shoot me a PM if you are interested in coming to the north side of town and I can show you how to do it.http://shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31192
Reply:Hi Walker,I planned on making the frame and door from some 14 gauge square or rectangular tubing.  I had planned on making a form as you did but was not sure if I could just bend it, use heat, fill it with sand, etc.The radius I am bending is a 24" so it is not sharp by any means.  Think I can just cold bend it?  I can see heat with the 1/8" tubing.  What do you think?I could also setup a rosebud and heat it red and bend it as you show in your project.  I hate to just practice on it to see if it can be bent cold, but my gut feeling is that it can.This is a one shot project as I am not in the business of making gates, fences and wrought iron pieces, but occasionally they come up and I do them.  My main work is maintenance welding.  From there I get called on to do many things.Thanks,Tony
Reply:I have watched youtube videos and this seems to work really nice. I plan on picking one up here soon.http://www.harborfreight.com/tubing-roller-99736.html
Reply:If it is a one shot deal, then have somebody else do it. You can do something else
Reply:Member joseph_zlnsk had this intriguing idea:http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ghlight=benderTxDoc's Photos Lincoln SP175 PlusLincoln Power Mig 256Lincoln 250 LX Spool Gun Lincoln Precision Tig 225 Hypertherm 600 KMG 2x72 Belt GrinderBaldor 812RE Grinder
Reply:check out these guys i had them roll som 2 in round tubing for me and will be having them roll some 3 inch by 1/2 flat stock for me here soon.http://otfabrication.com/they seemd fair in the price. i would use them again.Offering CNC Plasma cutting and welding projects.Follow me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/nobigdeal.fabSupport those that support WW.