I've got a project in the shop that is gonna require making a nice radius bend in 1 1/2 inch square steel tubing. Like a 4 foot radius. I bought the Harbor Freight tubing roller and am machining one set of dies to 1 1/2 inch square but in my testing it seems like I'll need about 5 guys to help turn the wheel to feed the tubing through. Anyone ever hook up a power drive of some sort to make a power tubing bender? Tried making plywood bucks to bend a radius but the tube collapses before much bending. The local wrought iron shops have big tube rollers but don't want to do one off jobs for a car guy. Any ideas? If not, I'll try a power set-up of some sort. Put a pic in of the roller I bought. Thanks.
Just looking at it because I have not bent square stock, I don't think that little rig will do it. Especially a 4' radius.
I bought one last year. The problem with it, it's on the light duty side. Even if you do bend the tubing it will start to run out on you crookedly. I don't remember seeing a die set for square tubing. All though it woudn't be hard to make a set in the lathe. I rolled a peice of 1 1/4 x .065 round and it still tried to flatten it. Luckily I only needed the top half of the tube.
Thanks for the input. I've been messing with it quite a bit today in between a trip to Pomona for the GNRS (killer btw) and think I have it figured out. I machined the rollers for 1 1/2 square tube and that works. But the outer rollers are too close to each other, it tries to compress, or flaten the tube instead of bending it. So, I made some rails that relocate the rollers outward about 4 inches from their stock location. Way easier to roll now. I have an old power gate opener with a reversible motor and a gear reduction on it I'm gonna try and hook up. Gonna be a late night in the shop but I bought shirts for the wife and kids so I have a p***! I'll try and post a pic or two in the morning if it works, or even if it doesn't.. Machining a shaft right now to put a sprocket on it instead of the wheel. Should be a simple chain hook up and instant power roller. Old school roll bar hoop getting closer. Off to work.
I have the same roller and usually bend 3/4" square tubing works great. I can see where anything over 1" might be tough.
There is a pretty good thread on roll bending , some of the guys have built some really nice things. Just do a search...sounds like you already have it figured out though.
Well we have results. I made a new shaft for the drive roller as the weak little set screws just don't hold under a heavier load. Cut a keyway slot in it and slid a sprocket on it. There is a company near me that installs electric gate openers and they throw away used ones all the time so I grabbed one. It already has a slow turning sprocket on the end to drive the gate so I laid it on it's side, welded some angle iron guides on it and bolted the roller on to it. Instant power roller and it works awesome! Smooth FAST wrinkle free bends. As you crank the drive roller down, the chain loosens so I made a simple pull bolt adjuster that slides the whole ***embly out to keep the chain tight. Sounds complicated but it's super simple. I'll paint it today and go buy some more material to bend up. Here is pics of what I have up to this point.
Here is more info on roll bending and making your own. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=344182&highlight=the+official+roll+bending .
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