In article .com,
"mlcorson" wrote:

I've got some 3/8" un-deformed reinforcement rod to bend in a 7"
radius bending in 180 degrees until the rod is running parallel to
itself. I only need 6 of them as part of a sculpture I am doing. I
thought I would get a 7" diameter piece of pipe maybe with a flange
and weld a post along the pipe, heat the rod, insert the rod between
the post and pipe and bend until the desired bend is achieved. The
bends need to be reasonably duplicated.

Have you considered a simple bending fork? Two bolts in a vise, or two
bolts welded to a long handle. Given the scrollwork that can be done
with those, a simple 180 should not be too difficult to pull off, with
perhaps a couple of practice pieces first, in addition to the 6 more you
need.

How did you bend the first one?

I certainly found that bending 1/2" deformed rebar freehand, with no
special attempt to constrain the bends (function, not esthetics)
resulted in bends that were all of pretty similar radius (all bent cold,
with simple leverage). I bent 90 degree pieces for my corners, and 180
degree hooks at the ends of straight bars. I can't see that you need
heat if you actually mean 3/8" bar.

Then again, you could wander into the tool rental and get a rebar bender
for an hour or two. Those have rolls to constrain the bend to a
particular radius.

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