Home-Built Pipe Bender

Home-Built Pipe Bender FARM SHOP Repairs 15-2-9 Vo Ag teacher Van Reed Jr. and his students at Macomb High School, Macomb, Okla, built an inexpensive square tubing bender out of scrap material including a 15-in. car rim cut in half, a 4 ft. long, 2 3/ 8-in. dia. pipe handle, a 2 1/2-in. dia. open-ended pipe, and a 3-in. long, 1 1/2-in. wide curved length of channel iron. "We built it because we needed a bender that was simple and inexpensive and could be used by one person," says Reed. "We tried using a cutting torch to make bends on 14 ga. tubing, but it caused the tubing walls to collapse. We also used the torch to wrinkle bend the tubing, but we didn't like the way it looked. I patterned the idea after an electrical conduit bender. Our bender is simply a heavier duty version. It makes a perfect 90 degree arc without collapsing the tubing. We've used it to bend up to 1 3/4-in. dia. sq. tubing for building hog farrowing crates, towable feed trough runners, and picnic table runners." Reed welded the 3 in. long channel iron across the wheel rim and welded one end of the 21f2-in. dia. pipe to the wheel hub. To bend the tubing, he inserts it into the slot between the channel iron and wheel rim, then slides the 4-ft. long handle into one of the open ends of the 2 1/2-in. dia. pipe and pulls backward. When the handle reaches the ground, it has made a 45? bend in the tubing. Then he slips the handle out and slides it into the pipe's other open end to complete the 90? bend. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Van Reed Jr., Vocational Agriculture Dept., Macomb High School, Macomb, Okla. 74852 (ph 405 598-2716) or Rt. 1, Box 10, Macomb, Okla. 74852 (ph 405 759-2518).

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