I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

Thanks,

Dave

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 15:02:05 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

Got access to an arbor press? I made this
http://www.suscom-maine.net/~nsimmon...essBrake01.jpg
http://www.suscom-maine.net/~nsimmon...essBrake02.jpg
for making a bunch of accurate bends in 1/8" Inconel. The collar on
the ram is a stop that adjusts the bend angle. The pins are hardened
dowel pins. You do need to pay attention to the clearance between the
pins and block, depending on the stock diameter, springback, and
sharpest angle required.

--
Ned Simmons

In article , wrote:
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

Do a search on Duo-Mite benders. They should work pretty well, although
you may have to jury rig a stop to get the angle you want. The lever
clamp is very quick to pop things in & out.

Doug White

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 15:02:05 -0700 (PDT), the infamous
scrawled the following:

I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

A regular (good) tubing bender might work fine for this if you don't
care about a wide radius bend, X. Your actual application will
determine that.

http://tinyurl.com/3u6gr7 This kind is what I'm talking about. Figure
out how many degrees of bend you need, check it after bending to get
the springback rate, then bend again if necessary.

If you need a precise, straight 2" section, build a jig around a vise,
a peg, and a piece of rigid tubing which fits the 1/4" rod loosely
enough.

Put the rod in the vise with 2" (your required length plus the bend
radius, to be determined after bending a couple.) sticking out. Find
out how far you have to move the pipe to bend the proper angle and put
a peg in your bench/jig to limit the bar there. Repetition will give
you identical pieces if the rod is pure.

-
If the gods had meant us to vote, they'd have given us candidates.
--------------

wrote in message
...
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?


The others will give you a elegant solutions. Mine is cheap. You may
consider adapting/adopting it :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2768312...7607295241669/

Total cost $6. I fit the angle to a pattern.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

I bend 1/2 brass tube... this may not work for you, watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPvLUhdwpaE

LLB

wrote in message
...
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

Thanks,

Dave

On Oct 2, 10:23*pm, "Michael Koblic" wrote:
wrote in message

...

I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

The others will give you a elegant solutions. Mine is cheap. You may
consider adapting/adopting it :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2768312...7607295241669/

Total cost $6. I fit the angle to a pattern.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

That's the sort of clever home-made solution a lot of us have used in
various forms. If you can drill straight holes in a steel block you
can make a more general-purpose bender with two upright bolts to bend
the rod around, and a stop held in place with clamps to make them all
the same. The inside diameter of 1/8" pipe is a little over 1/4" and
it should work for the handle. You could slip a short piece of pipe
over the bolts to increase the bend radius.

wrote in message

news:1c92bea9-8522-404a-b635-5a3378657e37
@h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...

I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends
have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford
something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?


The idea of a simple manual bending jig is cheap and easy to make, but
it won't give you the sort of repeatability and precision that a
simple press-bender would. A very careful and attentive operator
(you?) will have to be responsible for the work, and you'll still
fidget out little variations on virtually every piece.

You don't need a hog of a hydraulic machine for 1/4" aluminum rod;
just build a brake die and shoe to fit a manual arbor press. With a
simple down-stop arrangement, you'll be able to get the same radius
and angle of bend on every stroke.

Chinalloy arbor presses are inexpensive, and you'll find many more
future uses for one after this run of rods is done.

BTW... a nice expedient down-stop for an arbor press is to cut off a
small section off the top end of the rack, then turn it around and
clamp it to the main rack. It's adjustable in one-tooth increments,
and easy to apply/change. The drawback is that you'll remove about 1-
1/2" of stroke on the typical press. There's usually a small un-
toothed snipe at the end of each rack to prevent the rack from over-
travel, and that piece will require to be cut off the block before
using it.

If you don't like that approach, because you think you might need the
full stroke in the future, you can build a small casting box around a
portion of the rack, and cast an epoxy or low-melt metal stop block,
using the teeth of the rack as a form mould. Several of the zinc-based
pressure molding alloys are almost as strong as steel.

This isn't a "cheap and dirty" solution. It's pretty inexpensive
though, and will give you good quality output along with future
utility.

LLoyd

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...

..The inside diameter of 1/8" pipe is a little over 1/4" and
it should work for the handle.

The Tardis principle...:-)

Since you didn't say "tube", I assume it's solid. The Harbor Freight
bender (bench model is cheapest) ought to do it. They are on sale for
as low as about $50 from time to time. Goes down to about a 5/8" radius.


Pete Stanaitis

wrote:
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?

Thanks,

Dave

On 2008-10-04, Michael Koblic wrote:

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...

.The inside diameter of 1/8" pipe is a little over 1/4" and
it should work for the handle.

The Tardis principle...:-)

I need one of those (the Tardis) for my shop. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
On 2008-10-04, Michael Koblic wrote:

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...

.The inside diameter of 1/8" pipe is a little over 1/4" and
it should work for the handle.

The Tardis principle...:-)

I need one of those (the Tardis) for my shop. :-)

Try Gallifrey Harbor Freight branch...They will throw in a sonic
screwdriver, too.

Thanks for all the good ideas. I think I might start by trying the
arbor press one. For some reason I didn't think you could produce
enough force with that, but I'll give it a shot.

Dave

Thanks for all the ideas... I think I might try making the arbor press
one first. I didn't think that would have enough force, but I'll give
it a shot.

Dave

wrote:
Thanks for all the ideas... I think I might try making the arbor press
one first. I didn't think that would have enough force, but I'll give
it a shot.

Dave


Arbor Presses come with different ratings. ONE of them will probably do the job.

On Oct 3, 8:39*pm, "Michael Koblic" wrote:
"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message

...

.The inside diameter of 1/8" pipe is a little over 1/4" and
it should work for the handle.

The Tardis principle...:-)

The ID of Schedule 80 (Extra Strong) pipe is generally close to or
slightly less than the nominal size.

In article , wrote:
Thanks for all the ideas... I think I might try making the arbor press
one first. I didn't think that would have enough force, but I'll give
it a shot.

I've used a small arbor press (3 ton?) to bend 5/16" Stainless rod, so
1/4" aluminum shoudl be easy. Watch out for what alloy you use. Some
will bend much easier than others. I know 6061-T6 isn't very good for
bending. 50?? used for aluminum chassis is much better.

Doug White

On Oct 6, 2:56*pm, (Doug White) wrote:
In article , wrote:

Thanks for all the ideas... I think I might try making the arbor press
one first. I didn't think that would have enough force, but I'll give
it a shot.

I've used a small arbor press (3 ton?) to bend 5/16" Stainless rod, so
1/4" aluminum shoudl be easy. *Watch out for what alloy you use. *Some
will bend much easier than others. *I know 6061-T6 isn't very good for
bending. *50?? used for aluminum chassis is much better.

Doug White

We actually do use the 6061 for a number of reasons. I wonder if the
little one ton kind would be good enough.

On Mon, 6 Oct 2008 16:58:39 -0700 (PDT), wrote:


We actually do use the 6061 for a number of reasons. I wonder if the
little one ton kind would be good enough.

It'll depend on the dies you use. A quick and dirty calculation
yielded less than 1000# to bend 1/4" dia 6060-T6 with a die with a
1/4" nose radius and closely spaced supports. That's probably tighter
than what you ought to be considering with that material.

--
Ned Simmons

On Oct 6, 8:57*pm, Ned Simmons wrote:
On Mon, 6 Oct 2008 16:58:39 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

We actually do use the 6061 for a number of reasons. I wonder if the
little one ton kind would be good enough.

It'll depend on the dies you use. A quick and dirty calculation
yielded less than 1000# to bend 1/4" dia 6060-T6 with a die with a
1/4" nose radius and closely spaced supports. That's probably tighter
than what you ought to be considering with that material.

--
Ned Simmons

Thanks... The way I was doing before was to just bend it over in a
vise with wood in the front, but it's a giant pain and very hard to
duplicate. But that's about equal to a 3/4" curve. I'm not sure how
far I could spread the supports. Maybe I could use angle for the
supports and that would help keep the sides straight.

Dave

On Oct 2, 3:02*pm, wrote:
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press

Consider removing the jaws of a vise, and bolting on a set of
custom-cut curved pieces. You DO have a 'sort of press'
if you have a vise.

wrote:
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?


You should take a look at the Universal Multipurpose Metalbender at
http://tinyurl.com/3unb9p
It bends bar, rod, and tube. I've had one for a number of years and
found it extremely useful and versatile.

--
Regards, Gary Wooding
(To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)

On Oct 10, 9:16*am, Gary Wooding wrote:
wrote:

You should take a look at the Universal Multipurpose Metalbender at http://tinyurl.com/3unb9p
It bends bar, rod, and tube. I've had one for a number of years and
found it extremely useful and versatile.

--
Regards, Gary Wooding


This is the HF bench bender;

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44094

In article , wrote:
wrote:
I need a simple tool for bending 1/4" aluminum round. The bends have
to be consistent at about 40 degrees with less than 2" on one end.
There's hundreds of them to do and they all need to match. I would
love to use some sort of press, but I can't really afford something
like that. I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas for a tool that
might work well?


You should take a look at the Universal Multipurpose Metalbender at
http://tinyurl.com/3unb9p
It bends bar, rod, and tube. I've had one for a number of years and
found it extremely useful and versatile.

It looks nice, but the shipping to the US doubles the price. Ouch!

Doug White

--These guys have a fair selection of benders and theyre very
reasonable if you need extra die sets, etc.
http://www.vansantent.com/tube_bending_machines.htm

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : $150,000,000,000 in pork??
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : Where's my share???
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Just wanted to revisit this topic... Thanks for all the ideas. In the
end I built a jig that works quite well. Photo:
http://home.earthlink.net/~davepd/temp/bender.jpg

When you clamp a small stop to butt the back end of the round up to,
and another stop at the front for the handle to stop down on, you can
create the exact same angle bend, in the same place each time... up to
about 90 degrees. It works good for the 1/4" aluminum, but probably
not for anything harder.

wrote:
Just wanted to revisit this topic... Thanks for all the ideas. In the
end I built a jig that works quite well. Photo:
http://home.earthlink.net/~davepd/temp/bender.jpg

When you clamp a small stop to butt the back end of the round up to,
and another stop at the front for the handle to stop down on, you can
create the exact same angle bend, in the same place each time... up to
about 90 degrees. It works good for the 1/4" aluminum, but probably
not for anything harder.

Beautiful little jig. I expect after quite a few bends you'll need to replace that
plastic bushing/roller but that should be no problem. Depending on the needed precision
you may start to detect slight variations before it actually fails.

On Nov 9, 5:41*pm, Al Patrick wrote:
wrote:
Just wanted to revisit this topic... Thanks for all the ideas. In the
end I built a jig that works quite well. Photo:
http://home.earthlink.net/~davepd/temp/bender.jpg

When you clamp a small stop to butt the back end of the round up to,
and another stop at the front for the handle to stop down on, you can
create the exact same angle bend, in the same place each time... up to
about 90 degrees. It works good for the 1/4" aluminum, but probably
not for anything harder.

Beautiful little jig. *I expect after quite a few bends you'll need to replace that
plastic bushing/roller but that should be no problem. *Depending on the needed precision
you may start to detect slight variations before it actually fails.

Yeah, I actually already changed the ones on the handle to wider 3/4".
Using a locking nut helps keep it at the right tension without being
too much. Luckily I have a ton of different nylon spacers left over
from other stuff. Nylon always amazes me. I have some nylon bushings
on the shafts of a parts tumbler I built that has been run for about
200 hours and they haven't worn through at all.