Square tube bender

[Youngster]

One of the projects in the shop now is a '27 roadster body that has been channeled sometime in it's history. The present owner wants to build it as a hiboy. Problem; the body sub-frame is just a memory. Solution; build a new space type sub-frame from 1"x1" square tubing. Problem; how to shape 4 identical tubes to fit the body and frame. Solution; as follows,

Basically 3, 2-3/4" steel casters, 2 mounted in fixed positions and 1 adjustable with a crank to move the tube.

By tightening the adjustable caster 1/4 turn and moving the tube back and forth, a curve starts to appear.

3 passes turned a straight tube into a curve one with a 1-1/4" bow.

The steel came from my scrap pile. The 3 casters were $12 at the farm store. About 8 hours to build including coffee breaks. I can provide a sketch to anyone interested in building their own.

Ron

 

[VegasBruce]

Very nice Ron. :lol:

 

[Wild Mango]

A new shop tool to be known hereafter as the YOUNGSTERISH WHEEL.

Nice lateral thinking there, pilgrim.

 

[Gotta Be Chevy]

could you e-mail me the info needed to make this bender

 

[lbryie]

Hey ron larry from Mi. can that be made for round tubbing as well as square.

 

[troppo]

Hey ron larry from Mi. can that be made for round tubbing as well as square.

I dont see why not, although you would need to have removable rollers with a radius the size of the tube/pipe being bent cut into it on a lathe so it would be a lot of work if you work with more than one size tube/pipe

 

[GAB]

Here is one that is made for round tube as well as 3/4 square tube and 1/8 strip on edge. I've made round tube dies for 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, 1, and 1-1/8.

 

[Rick]

Here is one that is made for round tube as well as 3/4 square tube and 1/8 strip on edge. I've made round tube dies for 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, 1, and 1-1/8.

George do you have any drawings on this rig?I have access to cnc lathe's at work i'd like to build this little fella.

 

[GAB]

I never have gotten around to drawing this tool up, but here is a pic of all of the parts disassembled. The rolls are 3" diameter and 1-1/2" wide. The shafts are 3/4" diameter. The sprockets are 15 tooth for a #40 roller chain and the acme screw is a 1-10 thread.

Here is a view from the back:

And here is the adjusting screw with the graduated ring for adjusting the depth of engagement:

CNC lathes? That's cheating! :lol: I have to do them the old fashioned way:

Hope this helps. Any questions, let me know.

 

[Rick]

I never have gotten around to drawing this tool up, but here is a pic of all of the parts disassembled. The rolls are 3" diameter and 1-1/2" wide. The shafts are 3/4" diameter. The sprockets are 15 tooth for a #40 roller chain and the acme screw is a 1-10 thread.

Here is a view from the back:

And here is the adjusting screw with the graduated ring for adjusting the depth of engagement:

CNC lathes? That's cheating! :lol: I have to do them the old fashioned way:

Hope this helps. Any questions, let me know.

Where did you get the graduated knob from?

 

[RexRod]

GAB made it!

I'm stealing this image.... and that image....

:lol:

 

[GAB]

Rick,

It's one that I made. They aren't hard to do, just time consuming. The dividing scale is just a card stock paper that can be printed from a 2D CAD program. Measure the lathe chuck and multiply by pi (3.14159) then divide by the number of divisions you want. Draw a short line and use an array command with the figure that you got after dividing to produce the stretch out. Unless you have a lathe with a pretty small chuck or a big printer, you'll have to do it in 2 pieces. No problem, just tape them together and tape the ring to the chuck.

If you don't have a CAD program or aren't into that, it can also be done by hand using a method known as dropping parallels. If you need some info on that, let me know.

Make an indicator that attaches rigidly to the machine. Grind a tool bit like you were going to single point some threads and mount it 90 to what is normal. Set the carriage stop for the depth of the line that you want. Feed the tool in about .005" and go to town. You'll need a numbers stamping set for finishing up.

 

[Whitworthsocket]

Human ingenuity at its best.
Great work

Whitworthsocket

 

[Jay]

Nice looking dies .Were they all made on the radius turner?

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Here is another variation that I recently built which is capable of bending up to .125 wall square or round tubing, as well as flat up to 4" wide x .250 I have been making the dies as I need them for various projects.

The dies that are shown in the bender are for the 3/4" square tube. If you haven't already, check out the "T-Boy" topic in the Bodies forum and you will see that I used this for making all of the radii for the body.

 

[fordsbyjay]

Mr.fixit did you make those dies? I like how you can move them closer together. I have the cheapo harbor freight unit and it works alright but I have only used it with round tubing. They only have a 1/2" square die which I have not tried. I noticed that your two lower wheels are closer together than the HF unit though.

 

[GFBeamon]

One of the projects in the shop now is a '27 roadster body that has been channeled sometime in it's history. The present owner wants to build it as a hiboy. Problem; the body sub-frame is just a memory. Solution; build a new space type sub-frame from 1"x1" square tubing. Problem; how to shape 4 identical tubes to fit the body and frame. Solution; as follows,

Basically 3, 2-3/4" steel casters, 2 mounted in fixed positions and 1 adjustable with a crank to move the tube.

By tightening the adjustable caster 1/4 turn and moving the tube back and forth, a curve starts to appear.

3 passes turned a straight tube into a curve one with a 1-1/4" bow.

The steel came from my scrap pile. The 3 casters were $12 at the farm store. About 8 hours to build including coffee breaks. I can provide a sketch to anyone interested in building their own.

Ron

 

[GFBeamon]

Hi, I am a new member, just started a T, the sketch for the sq tube bender would be great, and any other plans for benders. Thanks, George. My email gfbmetal@fidnet.com

 

[moses-t]

hi youngster can you send me a copy to make this bender

sosaducky@hotmail.com

One of the projects in the shop now is a '27 roadster body that has been channeled sometime in it's history. The present owner wants to build it as a hiboy. Problem; the body sub-frame is just a memory. Solution; build a new space type sub-frame from 1"x1" square tubing. Problem; how to shape 4 identical tubes to fit the body and frame. Solution; as follows,

Basically 3, 2-3/4" steel casters, 2 mounted in fixed positions and 1 adjustable with a crank to move the tube.

By tightening the adjustable caster 1/4 turn and moving the tube back and forth, a curve starts to appear.

3 passes turned a straight tube into a curve one with a 1-1/4" bow.

The steel came from my scrap pile. The 3 casters were $12 at the farm store. About 8 hours to build including coffee breaks. I can provide a sketch to anyone interested in building their own.

Ron