I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

stryped wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

Go to the conduit place and see if they have a bender you could borrow
or rent.

Or miter the corners and weld it. Conduit welds OK, but you have to grind
off the zinc so you don't get zinc fume. (you can weld through zinc, if
you have a respirator or SCBA. ;-) )

Have Fun!
Rich

On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 11:32:36 -0800 (PST), stryped
wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

You could possibly put something like and old garage door spring
inside the tube in the area of the bend and then make the bend. The
spring should keep the tubing from collapsing. I have neve tried this,
but seem to recall hearing of this method somewhere.
Dave

On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 11:32:36 -0800 (PST), stryped
wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

Buy the bends as EMT elbows. Weld the elbows, or pieces cut out of
them, to the straight pieces.
http://www.calconduit.com/emt_elbows.html?epm=1_1

--
Ned Simmons

On Mar 1, 3:40*pm, Ned Simmons wrote:
On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 11:32:36 -0800 (PST), stryped
wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

Buy the bends as EMT elbows. Weld the elbows, or pieces cut out of
them, to the straight pieces.http://www.calconduit.com/emt_elbows.html?epm=1_1

--
Ned Simmons

I actually thought of that but the darn things are 10 bucks a piece at
Lowes. That is 40 bucks in just elbows.

Rich Grise wrote:

stryped wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

Go to the conduit place and see if they have a bender you could borrow
or rent.

Or miter the corners and weld it. Conduit welds OK, but you have to grind
off the zinc so you don't get zinc fume. (you can weld through zinc, if
you have a respirator or SCBA. ;-) )

SCUBA gear works fine as well - been there, done that, not dead yet...

On Mar 1, 4:50*pm, stryped wrote:

I actually thought of that but the darn things are 10 bucks a piece at
Lowes. That is 40 bucks in just elbows.

I would try a muffler shop , if you think 2 inch or so exhaust pipe is
adequate. It would probably be as strong as the original bed rails.

Dan

Pete C. wrote:
Rich Grise wrote:
stryped wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

Go to the conduit place and see if they have a bender you could borrow
or rent.

Or miter the corners and weld it. Conduit welds OK, but you have to grind
off the zinc so you don't get zinc fume. (you can weld through zinc, if
you have a respirator or SCBA. ;-) )

SCUBA gear works fine as well - been there, done that, not dead yet...

The Fire Department calls it SCBA because, obviously, they're not under
water. ;-)

But it's the same gear. :-)

Cheers!
Rich

Rich Grise wrote:

Pete C. wrote:
Rich Grise wrote:
stryped wrote:

I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

Go to the conduit place and see if they have a bender you could borrow
or rent.

Or miter the corners and weld it. Conduit welds OK, but you have to grind
off the zinc so you don't get zinc fume. (you can weld through zinc, if
you have a respirator or SCBA. ;-) )

SCUBA gear works fine as well - been there, done that, not dead yet...

The Fire Department calls it SCBA because, obviously, they're not under
water. ;-)

But it's the same gear. :-)

There are some differences:

SCBA - Always full face mask with comm.
SCUBA - Sometimes full face mask with comm.

SCBA - Usually 4,500 PSI air
SCUBA - Usually 3,000 PSI air

SCBA - Always air
SCUBA - Often a gas blend other than air

Probably other differences I can't think of at the moment.

Rich Grise wrote:
... (you can weld through zinc, if
you have a respirator or SCBA. ;-) )

Or if you weld outside. Or if there is cross ventilation. Or if you
hold your breath & then leave. Depends upon how thick the galvanizing
is, too. Bob

"Bob Engelhardt" wrote in message
...
Rich Grise wrote:
... (you can weld through zinc, if
you have a respirator or SCBA. ;-) )

Or if you weld outside. Or if there is cross ventilation. Or if you hold
your breath & then leave. Depends upon how thick the galvanizing is, too.
Bob

3M makes an effective and cheap mask especially for that job. Also, soaking
the last 6" or so of the piece of EMT in muriatic (dilute hydrochloric) acid
will eat the zinc off pretty fast.

I have some pieces that I treated that way for a test, before I started
welding EMT. I washed them in plain water, dried them, and stacked them on a
shelf in my not-so-dry basement. That was around six years ago. No rust yet.

--
Ed Huntress

On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 13:27:44 -0800 (PST), KD7HB
wrote:

If it were mine, I would not attempt to bend. I would cut the tubing at 45 degrees and braze the ends together. Then clean. primer and epoxy paint the things.

Paul
I'd simply buy some long sweeping "els" and weld them to the ends of
the tubing, if I was using EMT, but I'd be much more likely to find
some old dairy tubing (stainless steel milker pipe) and a few bends
and "do it right".

On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 13:27:44 -0800 (PST), KD7HB
wrote:

If it were mine, I would not attempt to bend. I would cut the tubing at 45 degrees and braze the ends together. Then clean. primer and epoxy paint the things.

Paul
Another good way to do it is to find some "T" fittings to slide pipe
through, and use pipe stubs down to the "rack pockets". Lots of fence
and gate fittings at the local TSC, orchard supply, building center,
or what-have-you - along with the galvanized pipe to do the job.

On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 14:32:22 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Mar 1, 4:50Â*pm, stryped wrote:

I actually thought of that but the darn things are 10 bucks a piece at
Lowes. That is 40 bucks in just elbows.

I would try a muffler shop , if you think 2 inch or so exhaust pipe is
adequate. It would probably be as strong as the original bed rails.

Dan

My other option is to wait 'till my buddy is pulling some bends for
the custom exhaust work he does and have him mandrel bend a piece to
fit - but we don't all have friends with mandrel benders!!!

"stryped" wrote in message
...
I have an old truck with round tube bedrails that are rusted through.
It is an old truck with 330,000 miles but paid for at least.

My idea was to copy the rusted ones using some 2 inch emt. How could I
copy and make the end on the ends without a tubing bender and it look
half way decent? My first idea was to bolt a large socket on a table
and heat the pipt and bend it around that but there has got to be a
better way out there.

IF IT WAS ME, I'd go to a muffler shop and pay the guy to make what I
wanted. Those guys do it all day every day, and it will look professional.
OR, I'd just bite the bullet and buy a tubing bender, as once you do this,
it will probably segway into many other tube bending projects. I can think
of a dozen things right now that I could use a tube bender on to build, and
unless you get a really top of the line one, you can get a decent one
reasonable. Cheaper for used. That machine bent stuff comes out looking
soooooooooooo sweet. Learning curve may be a little expensive, but unless
it has to be exact, you can do a lot of splicing.

And you can finish that stuff from the muffler shop and have it chromed or
powdercoated, and it will look like a million.

SteveB

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