How to bend square tubing?

[Bob/Colfax]

I have an old two horse enclosed trailer that has the double doors in back. I want to redo it to just have one door. How can I bend 1 inch square tubing so that it has about a 6 inch radius. I only need to do two bend, but would like ideas on doing it. I thought about making a wooden die on the wood lathe, but don't know how well that would work.

Thanks,
Bob

[5wndwcpe]

For all things metal.

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[jklingel]

I think that your wooden jig is a good idea, if you are fast and leave two feet or so of excess to use for a handle while bending. Do you have any pipe around you could use for the jig? Any 1" flat bar you could bend and secure over the wood to protect it a tad? I have bent 1" x 1/8" sqr tub fairly well by just heating and beating, concentrating on the inside edge and the sides of it. The outer surface doesn't matter much, and you likely will get a little bulging on the inside surface as it gets compressed during the bend. I have not bent a 6" radius, but I would guess that if you don't have to bend 360 degrees you would do OK w/ a torch or forge to heat a section real hot and bending it quickly over your hard wood/metal jig. It is a cheap and easy method, so I'd try it. Not much to lose.

[BD1]

hi, if you have access to a cutting torch with a heating tip rosebud , welding machine , either a piece of 5" 0r 6" schedule 40 pipe you can do a good job. Secure pipe and tack the tubing to the top center and square with pipe , heat with rosebud and bend away. the outside of pipe will be the inside of tubing. 5" schedule 40 pipe is about 5 1/2 " O.D. and the 6" is about 6 1/2". hope this helps. bob :beer:

[george4]

hi, if you have access to a cutting torch with a heating tip rosebud , welding machine , either a piece of 5" 0r 6" schedule 40 pipe you can do a good job. Secure pipe and tack the tubing to the top center and square with pipe , heat with rosebud and bend away. the outside of pipe will be the inside of tubing. 5" schedule 40 pipe is about 5 1/2 " O.D. and the 6" is about 6 1/2". hope this helps. bob :beer:
Excellent tip.

[pirana]

Wouldn't you need 12" pipe if you wanted to get close to a 6" radius?

[george4]

Wouldn't you need 12" pipe if you wanted to get close to a 6" radius?
Good point.

[Hackerbill]

Cut it lengthwise into two C channels, past the bend area.
Bend the inside C around your form. Bend the outside C by heating, bending, tacking...using the kurf width as your gap for penetration. One its tacked, weld completely and grind flat. The inner C will be longer than the outer C once the bend is complete, so allow for that in setup!
This difference in length is the amount of stretching that would have been required if you bent it as one piece!

I did a bush guard like this one using this method. worked PERFECT!

[bluesman2a]

Use a tubing bender.... With a 1" square-tubing die... Only takes about 30 seconds...

I have one that I've used quite a bit, makes for nice looking bends. Check out local fabrication shops and see if they have a bender they can run one off for you on.