Only vaguely familiar w/ benders.
Note that Northern Tools has competitive prices w/ HF, but they BANG you
bigtime on the s&h. HF is (was) surprisingly humane on s&h.
You can make a bender of sorts in 1/2" plate, or thinner iffin you don't
mind nutting/screwing the pegs from the bottom. Or thicker.
Choose a std insertion diameter (1/2 seems reasonable) for pegs (say, 5/8 or
3/4 turned down to 1/2, or tap the holes for 1/2" studs), and then make a
set of collars that can fit over these pegs for various curvatures.
Plumbing pipe would do, as these collars don't even have to be tight fits at
all on the peg--you could put a piece of 3" pipe over a 1/2" peg, and in
many cases the wobble/play won't matter.
You can even make wood collars!
You can get fancy and use thick collars w/ a radius cut in them for
specific-sized rod.
HVAC guys use small hand benders for 90 bends in 1/4" rigid tubing, if that
helps.
You can make s system where if the project is large, you can link a number
of plates together, as one plate could get pretty heavy.
Sometimes real good prof'l stuff (read: heavy--diacros, etc) become
available pretty cheap. But the parts likely ain't.
Ackshooly, I'm talkin to m'self here, as I've wanted to do this for *years*.
May finally have to, when Gothic Iron Gate building time comes (along w/
nagging wife)...
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll
wrote in message
ups.com...
I've been reading this group for a while now and am impressed with the
knowledge I've seen. I've learned alot. I am new to metalworking, and
have a couple of questions I hope you can help with.
I want to make some ornamental things, mostly one-offs such as bird
feeder hangers, artistic wall hangings, etc. This would involved
making bends in mild steel. I plan to use mostly thin plate (less than
1/4 " for sure - mostly 24 gauge) and round and square bar (nothing
more than 3/8" - mostly 1/4" and smaller) and possibly rebar. This
would all be out of mild steel or possibly copper wire and the radius'
involved could be quite small (2-3"). This might also include large
curves, rings, etc.
I have a MIG welder, vise, hand tools, propane torch, and mapp/oxygen
torch. I think i should purchase one of these, bur I'm not sure which
would be best. Does anyone have any recomendations or other
suggestions?
A "universal bender" I see at
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=36790
A parts bender at
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...ctId=630&R=630
or possibly just a ring roller at
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=36790