Thanks Bill for the information. Just bought a rosebud torch so I can bend my handrail capping, I can't wait to play with it. Janet R.

Awsome!! I never thought of doing it with rebar. Tomorrow...I'm on it.
Thanks, Mele

Thanks for that Bill. Love the rebar got lots of that lying around in all sorts of different sizes. Like you we seem to be banging our heads on metal design. Wiltshire in England is bowtop crazy. We hate the stuff, but planning puts it on new housing estates and then refuses other styles because its not inkeeping with the local area!! Often centuries old villages etc. Still we think weve sold the wave design to our customer as she wants something simple but stunning.
Kindest regards and thanks for your input
Michelle and Andy

now we need someone to post how to make a twister machine...

i have a twisting machine that i will photograph tomorrow, it is only a simple hand turning twister but it is quite controllable, i will get it posted.
Adrian

Three methods. Gear head lathe, pipe threader,or large gear reducer. Start with a chunk of rd. bar, 2.5" long,2-2.5"O.D. Bore a .5" hole in center in lathe. Or whatever size picket you want to twist. I have 7/16,1/2,5/8, and 3/4. Take chunk from lathe to milling machine. Mill slot so that drilled hole disapears. Carefully finnish work end with file and sandpaper. Grip in lathe or pipe threading machine. For use in the lathe, you must make a stand that clamps to the ways, with a slot in the top to hold the bar. This must line up very well with the center of the chuck. Pipe threader must be clamped or bolted to bench top. Work is held by a vice clamped to the bench on sufficient spacers. To use a gear reducer, it must have a high numerical reduction, or be driven by reducing sprocket or pulley set up. The 2.5" long chunk must be 4" long or more and first be bored and keyed to go on output shaft of gear-reducer. Presently I am building a twister to do 1.25" square steel, cold. John Christiansen

I scrounged an old Rigid pipe threader, and it works a treat for bar up to 3/4" cold, and much bigger hot. The three-jaw chuck is not handy for holding square, but it is easy to make inserts from either 5C square collets (for small stock up to about 3/4") or fabricate larger ones from scrap. If you have a milling machine, you can make spiffy ones with square holes and hex perimeter. Alternately, you can get some really large hex nuts and scab in some welds inside the round hole to make it a square. The three-jaw chuck holds the hex nuts perfectly.

For the tailstock, I just clamp the threader to a piece of scrap wide-flange I-beam and scab together a holder fork that can be clamped wherever I want it. You can get fancy and make the tailstock slide to accomodate shortening when you twist really long sections, but I've never found the need.

One note about homemade twisters:

Pipe threaders, lathes, gear reduction units, etc, all will have some greater or lesser degree of "overrun" on the twisting when you shut off the power. It's pretty much inherent in any geared-down device; the momentum keeps it turning for another half or more revolution. Since this isn't always consistent, due to variables in hardness of the stock, heat levels, etc, it's a good idea to plan for some variation. If you can't tolerate a bit of uncertainty, then you need to build in a way to stop the machine on a dime.

Fancy twisters like the German machines will twist stock in any increment of a degree or so of twist, from what I hear. They also cost big bucks. For the small shop, you can put a brake on the twister head, create an automatic stop that drops in after X number of revolutions, or something similar. For myself, when the number of turnsis critical, I try to twist them cold and stop a bit short of the final number and finish turning the machine by hand with a big bar.