I am doing a quote for some 1" x 14ga sq tube bent in a horse shoe shape about a 3" radius.
I am wondering if I can get kink free bends with a manual bender?
I dont have anything to bend square tube but I thought I would look into buying one depending on how much I would need to spend.
I was thinking maybe up to 2" x 10ga but if that is way to big/thick let me know.
A few years ago, I welded set of handrails that incorporated several elbows of 1 1/2" square HSS tubing. To get the “no kink” look we had to outsource the bends to a gentleman with a mandrel bender. The elbows still had what I call a small “pucker” in the center but not near as much as what we bent with the proper dies on the manual bender. I believe that manual bender was a Woodward Fab brand with the sq. tube dies.
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I dont know how many you have to do but i have done arches with 2x2 14gauge that i ultimately wound up band saw cutting at very close regular intervals on the inside and sides of bend then achieving curve and welding all the saw cuts…very time and labor intesive but very nice final product. i itried a square tubing roller but the sides kept collapsing. i might have had better luck heating the outside of the bend up cherry red while trying to roll.
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what about cutting slots then welding them up after the bend?
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All good ideas, I will give the band saw method a shot on some scrap and see how it comes out.
Thanks for all the replies
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That is a very tight radius for a 180 bend in 1 inch tube. I’d be surprised if it can be done on a manual machine.
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I have seen a friend bend some tubing with no kinks. He packed the tubing full of sand to hold the shape. Seemed to work pretty well.
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I have seen that also but pretty time consuming.
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The tightest CLR for 1" square tubing for my JD2 Model 32 is a 4.5" CLR. That die alone is $341.00. Then you need the bender to utilize it. The manual version of the Model 32 is $475.00.
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