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square tubing bending

Kejtar

PostMaster General
NAXJA Member
What is the best way to bend square tubing? I am looking into bending 1/2" and 1" tube. The shape I'm after would be a gentle arc with about 5" to 6" height in the middle, length of the piece would be no more then 6'.
If I get access to a tubing bender, does it need a special die to get that collapsed effect in the middle? What is the best way to do it without a bender (I saw the thread about the home built bender in the tools section, but I am not going to have the time to get that prepared before I have to finish the rack).
 
Yes you need square dies. Go to a place that makes custom trailer hitches. They should be able to bend square stock.
 
Kejtar said:
What is the best way to bend square tubing? I am looking into bending 1/2" and 1" tube. The shape I'm after would be a gentle arc with about 5" to 6" height in the middle, length of the piece would be no more then 6'.
If I get access to a tubing bender, does it need a special die to get that collapsed effect in the middle? What is the best way to do it without a bender (I saw the thread about the home built bender in the tools section, but I am not going to have the time to get that prepared before I have to finish the rack).

The bend radius you're describing here Remi is more like what you'd get from a tube roller rather than a bender.
1/2" and 1" square tube bend radiuses (radii) are going to be more in the range of 3" to 6".
A tube roller will give you radiuses more in the feet to several feet range you're looking for.

You can use a tube bender to fake a larger, rolled like radiuses but it is segmented arc rather than a smooth continuous arc.
To do it you'll make a slight bend, then pull through several inches of straight length, make a slight bend, repeat, repeat, repeat and so on.

What are you making anyway?
This sounds more like art work or pool fencing than Jeep stuff?
 
C-ROK said:
The bend radius you're describing here Remi is more like what you'd get from a tube roller rather than a bender.
1/2" and 1" square tube bend radiuses (radii) are going to be more in the range of 3" to 6".
A tube roller will give you radiuses more in the feet to several feet range you're looking for.

You can use a tube bender to fake a larger, rolled like radiuses but it is segmented arc rather than a smooth continuous arc.
To do it you'll make a slight bend, then pull through several inches of straight length, make a slight bend, repeat, repeat, repeat and so on.

What are you making anyway?
This sounds more like art work or pool fencing than Jeep stuff?
I will be working on my roof rack and those will be the crossbraces going side to side.
 
I cut slits in the tube every few inches, bend, weld slits up & flap'um. It's pretty time consuming, but you can get the exact bends you want. I even made some 'S' bends with this method.

Paul
 
At the end I decided to go only 2" on the curve (2" over 4'). To get that bend I built a wood stande (ok, I clamped pieces of lumber that I had in the workshop) to have raised sides and low center (kind of like a very wide U). Then I put it into my 20 ton press and pressed it down. Curve came out real nice.
 
BrettM said:
i've heard of heating the side you want it to bend towards with an O/A torch then cooling it with a sponge. never done it but makes sense to me with the way metal warps when heated/cooled.

With 1" tube I would be using up a lot of water and gas :D
 
For that gentle a radius you probably don't need a tubing bender. Make a template out of 2 sheets of 1/2" plywood that are tightly screwed together. Draw on it the radius required to get the profile you want. Then draw another radius slightly tighter -- you'll need to bend the steel slightly beyond where you want it to have it relax to the final arc when done.

Set your template up off the garage floor on several short lengths of 2x4 or 4x4. It might be a good idea to make up some gussets and brace the template so it won't fall over when pressure is applied.

Then have a friend come over -- preferably a LARGE friend -- and each of you grab one end of the tube and press gently down to bend the tube over the plywood template.

Don't make the first template TOO much tighter in radius than what you want for a final bend. You can always recut the plywood to a smaller radius and re-bend, but if you bend too far you get to buy new tubing and start over.
 
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