How do you bend 1" pipe?

[bad_idea]

With a bender of course..... Figured I would get that out of the way for all you smart asses out there. I enjoyed building an end table for the wife and now I want to build a set of patio furniture for her. I am in the planning stages now. I have a basic set of metal fab tools at home (hobart handler 187, chop saw, oxy/act, 4 1/2" grinder) and access to a well equipped fab shop at work. I would like to build a jig on my weld table to bend some 1" pipe around for the chair backs, a jig for repeatability (planning on 6 chairs). I am concerned about the pipe flattening and am not sure how to prevent this. I would like to keep this fairly simple but if I need to buy a couple tools for this, no harm. Below is a pic of the end table I made (just to show I am fairly capable with steel) and a pic of a chair I am looking at for design ideas.

 

[hunter1151]

Well the way we used to do it with out a bender is to fill the "pipe" with dry sand and bend away.

 

[srmofo]

Sand and a little heat?

what about rolling the bend into it
something like this, but set up with the correct dies for the radius that you want
http://www.harborfreight.com/tubing...-782A-E011-B31E-001B2163195C&mr:referralID=NA

 

[hunter1151]

Yes a little heat..............brain fart, sorry.

 

[KPSquared]

Get a rose bud tip for your torch. Heat it up until the whole section is glowing, then bend away. I've bent like this without a bender. Just clamp something round down to the table that's the right radius and make the pipe follow it.

 

[DanCo]

Sand fire and a steady hand when bending.

Dan

 

[Jack Olsen]

You might find some useful information in this link from Metal Geek.

 

[Ign]

1" pipe as in 1.315 OD? It's pretty substantial, you obviously won't see the radii in your table legs (nice work BTW). I've got a 1" pipe die for my JD2 and have built a lot of non-structural stuff with it. Easiest to find is of course sch40, and it's not cheesey like conduit. There is of course sch5 and 10 in theory, but hard to find - at least for me.

Oh, love the perforated sheet on your chair. That stuff is SPENDY!!

Handrail from 1" pipe w wall returns

 

[bad_idea]

thanks for the info guys.

 

[BD1]

if you are bending schedule 40 pipe I have a Harbor Freight pipe bender that does a good job. I used it to bend 1" iron pipe " U " handles for our flat trucks. Here's a link.

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-hydraulic-pipe-bender-32888.html

if you are in Northern Illinois you can try mine.

 

[Drake9]

Just as a FYI if you fill it with sand and heat it to bend make sure the sand to dry. Dont want to create a pipe bomb.

 

[bauschracing]

There is a site called gotrikes that has plans for a hyd. tubing bender that are easy to go by and are under $20 and is down loaded from an e mail. They use the PRO_TOOLS dies, and a harbour freight hyd. ram (under $100). PRO_TOOLS has a lot of dies from 1/2inch to 2 inch and round or square. If you can weld, cut and drill, it is an easy project.
PRO_TOOLS also has a web site and has a bender similiar to the JD2 but built heavier. It is on sale for $199. My racing partner was in the Tampa area and dropped in their store. He was looking at the JD2 and found that they had one in display for compairing the two side by side. He bought the PRO_TOOL bender on the spot, and I bought some dies and he picked them up saving me freight.
Just something to look at.
Mike
Here is a picture of the GOTRIKES bender

 

[StumpXJ]

I have a go trikes bender as well... Makes bending a snap.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

You don't....you bend tube.

 

[hh76]

You don't....you bend tube.

then why do I have several pipe benders in my truck?

 

[StumpXJ]

You can bend both!

 

[bauschracing]

There are dies for both pipe as well as round and square tubing that is available for this machine.
Mike

 

[CarterKraft]

The HF kinker does a fine job on pipe, you will have allot of waste though on small leg pieces like in your examples.