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Bending tube... educate me.

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Old 08-09-2009 | 01:54 PM
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OverlandZJ's Avatar
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From: Bristol,Pa
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Default Bending tube... educate me.

I'm about to make my own fuel can carrier and want to bend the material to match my roofrack style.

This is the bend i need.. how do i measure it and get the correct square tube die? In the pic you can make out that there is the indentation for the full length of the 90* bend. Do i measure the ID width and divide by two?

If anyone here is able to bend 3/4" 16g square tube PM me.

Old 08-09-2009 | 05:33 PM
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I'm not sure how to handle square tube offhand, but it should be covered in Machinery's Handbook - pretty much any recent edition should serve. It's a book I recommend to anyone wanting to do any kind of fabrication work anyhow, and well worth whatever you spend on it.
Old 08-14-2009 | 08:28 AM
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I'd try to find a machine shop in your hometown to bend the metal to your specs. You can old-school heat up with a Cutting Torch and ram a rod down it and try it yourself...but the thin 16 g could just break on ya!
Old 08-14-2009 | 08:35 AM
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What bender are you using? Can't recommend a die source without knowing the basics.

A must read for all that are getting into tube bending:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/
Old 09-03-2009 | 03:12 PM
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I realize I'm a bit late..... But if you want to build your own bender, it's pretty easy to do. I haven't built one yet, but will shortly when I fab my roof rack. Cut a few plates as show in the pic, something for a handle, a few small tabs for the retainer/slider, and I'll be using a 90° section of 6" SCH 40 pipe. Cut the pipe the size of your tube, i.e. 3/4" tubing, cut the pipe section to 3/4". Or you could try to roll a piece of flat bar to a radius. I was just thinking I had a small section of 6" pipe, and it's a lot more of a consistent radius. Weld it all together, and go at it. Functions like a manual conduit bender. The small 1/8" square stock in the middle of the radius is to help form the indentation on the inside of the radius. Without this, you'll be fighting the material like crazy.

Old 09-03-2009 | 03:15 PM
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Or you can go here for premade 90° elbows of square tube. Radii look smaller on these than you could probably reproduce accurately at home with a bender like above. I've heard they cost about $5 each for a 1"x1"x1/16" size.

http://www.quickfab.ca/
Old 07-19-2011 | 01:03 PM
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Moved to chat.

Anyone have info on making a tubing bender that is capable of bending a cage properly?
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