Bending steel in arcs

David Esquinasi - Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 2:34am

Hi everyone,

I am not a metal worker, but I have a project that I was thinking about and in the process of searching for information, I came across this FINE site. My question is this;I would like to make clean radius type bends in some .187 x .250 cold rolled 1018 steel. I would was thinking of / hoping to bend the thinner part of this material around a mandrel of some sort (to be determined later) by hand in approx. 3-4-5 inch diameters in arcs between 90 and 270 degrees.

Is this possible? Is a torch required? Am I delerious?

I plan to read over this incredible site to learn more about metal working in the near future, but what I need is a quick opinion as to how this would best be accomplished.

Thank you in advance.

David E.

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Here's some ideas

SteelyJan - Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 9:32am

Hi David,

And welcome to ArtMetal. I'm not quite sure what your bending? Are they sheets? Anyway two options. Find a local metal shop ,perhaps one the does railings etc. ,there;s a Hossfeld bender which can bend certain things around dies or someone that has a roller (preferably hydrolic) that will bend it over a roller. Hopefully someone on this site can give you other options. I don't think
heating and bending cold rolled steel will be as easy as these methods. Hope we will be of some help. Janet R.

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Bending bar

Rick Crawford - Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 9:48am

I would think you could bend 3/16 X 1/4 with ease around a mandrel that size. Just leave a length of bar on each end to hold onto and supply leverage. You will need to cut the ends off after forming. I wouldn't think of using anything but my hands for a job this small. Unless the radius was extremely tight, then a machine would be better. A 3 to 5 inch diameter should be reasonably easy to bend. The steel will spring back when you release it, so you will need to make the mandrels smaller than you want or do some touching up of the bars when released from the mandrels.

Rick Crawford at Smoky Forge

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David, If I'm understanding

Rich Waugh - Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 10:28am

David,

If I'm understanding you correctly, the material you're working with is rectangular section, 3/16"x1/4" and you want to bend it into anywhere from a quarter circle to three-quarters of a circle that is about 4" diameter. If that is correct, you can easily form thos bends around a mandrel by hand. That small a section is easily hand bent.

As Rick pointed out, there will be some spring-back if you do this bending cold, so you need to make your mandrels a bit undersize. You'll have to experiment to determine the exact amount of spring back you need to account for.

If you heat the steel, you'll get scale and surface discolorations, and there really isn't any need to do that for such small stuff. Also, the difference in dimension between the two sides of the rectangular stock is not enough to make it hard to do the bends the "hard way", so you don't really need a shoe-type bender such as a Hossfeld or a ring roller.

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Hi, I agree with the wise

mele miller - Sunday, November 11, 2007 - 5:48pm

Hi,
I agree with the wise ones that have already posted replies. I have bent a good bit if stock in the size range that you are talking about and it is easy to bend by hand. Heat won't help unless you had a forge, using a torch doesn't heat it enough to make a diffence. It cools to fast and changes the stock.

Mele

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Thanks very much to everyone

David Esquinasi - Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - 5:31pm

Thanks very much to everyone for your input. I plan to buy some stock and give it a try. The project I am planing / attempting is for my fireplace. It is a frame and door enclosure and consists of .187 or .250 thick by 1 and 3/4 inch cold rolled stock for the outside frame and probably
1 1/2 inch wide stock for the 2 doors which would swing out and of course have stops set behind and a latch mechanism in front. Within the frame of the doors I was hoping to bend the 187. x .250 rectangular stock in varying arcs with welded connections to the frame of the door. On the distal ends I hope to use forged or stamped flowers that I have located. The idea is to make it look Arts and Crafts like or as a friend of mine calls it "The Farts and Craps Movement". A welder friend told me he would do the connecting work for me. The plan is to have it finished in an antiqued bronze.
If anyone has any recommendations or sees issues with this plan please let me know. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again one and all!

David

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Got plans?

Stephen Fitz-Gerald - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - 1:56pm

Stephen Fitz-Gerald
Dear David,
Do you have a sketch for this piece.
That would help all involved understand better what you're trying to achieve.
Why did you choose cold rolled steel?

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