Rod Bender Stand

[JakeD]

The whole thing started because this buddy of mine has this "shepherd's crook" style bird feeder, and the hooks were short enough that an enterprising squirrel could stretch all the way from the staff out to the bird food. I swear this isn't one of those stories where I'm trying to pawn it off like it was someone else, when really it is mine, either. Like "this one time a guy I know had the crabs..." It really is his bird feeder.

So, anyway, he also has one of those Harbor Freight rod benders and decided he ought to bend a new hook for it that was big enough to keep the squirrels out. I know, this isn't like hotrodding a '34 Ford 3Window, but we had a good time over a few barley-pops. In any event, this thread is really about the pre-project project. In order to bend the rod, we had to build a pedestal for the bender.

We scrounged up some 1/4 inch scrap steel plate and plasma'd out the top and base. Also, it the tradition of men over-engineering stuff, we used 4 inch square tube for the column.

Also, we decided that we would put some pegs on it to hold the dies. Again, we did these up in a fashion that Tim the Toolman Taylor would be proud of. 5/8 steel rod that just fit the ID of the dies. The biggest die must weigh all of 5 lbs, but I tested them by climbing my 210lb behind up on the pegs without issue.

Here it is in it's raw form.

The post pre-project project.

And last but not least, the final painted version of the rod bender. Note, in the background you can see the bird feeder. The big third hook is the contra-squirrel technology.

 

[Jack Olsen]

What do you want to accomplish in your life?
How do you want to be remembered?

Now, what are you going to do today to make it happen?

Dude. For starters, cover your skin when you're welding. The UV bombardment you're giving yourself is upping your chances of developing skin cancer -- which 1 in 5 Americans get in their lifetime without the boost of an unshielded arc.

Public service announcement over.

Nice pedestal.

And nice welding table.

 

[JakeD]

Hehe. I think I may have been tacking them up. I usually wear a leather jacket for anything substantial.

And I'd like to preemptively say that the beer bottle on the welding table was only put there for scale. And no squirrels were harmed in the making of this thread.

 

[LoneGunman]

I guess my shorts, no shirt and "crocs" welding would make Jack bounce off of walls.

 

[Bigrhamr]

The whole thing started because this buddy of mine has this "shepherd's crook" style bird feeder, and the hooks were short enough that an enterprising squirrel could stretch all the way from the staff out to the bird food. I swear this isn't one of those stories where I'm trying to pawn it off like it was someone else, when really it is mine, either. Like "this one time a guy I know had the crabs..." It really is his bird feeder.

So how DID you get rid of those crabs anyway?

 

[Benw455]

Nice welds.

 

[t. jones]

Looks good does it bolt into the grass? To teach the squirrels a lesson just spray some Wd40 on the post, or axle grease, grease lasts about a week.
Thanx Trevor

 

[metal1313]

how did you make the larger curve on the new hook? ive been considering custom making some plant hooks that although visually simple have several bends in them

 

[JakeD]

Looks good does it bolt into the grass? To teach the squirrels a lesson just spray some Wd40 on the post, or axle grease, grease lasts about a week.
Thanx Trevor

I think spiking it to the grass might be a cool temporary way to do it, but the grass you see is not at my house. We were in my garage and ended up wedging a long stick of 2" square tube between long bolts in the base. Then camming that tube between the concrete wall footer and a step in my garage. It's hard to explain but we never bolted it down for this. We just jammed it against some tube so it couldn't rotate.

I'm curious if you've done the grass thing?

 

[JakeD]

how did you make the larger curve on the new hook? ive been considering custom making some plant hooks that although visually simple have several bends in them

That's a good question. The large radius bend is too much for the bender dies. We did it with many small bends. Not ideal but it came out decent. The smaller hook at the end was made with one standard bend.

 

[t. jones]

Jake sorry I should have typed lol in there somewhere, but your answer of wedging base is a good idea. I do not want to drill holes in my new concrete.
Thanx Trevor

 

[eborcim]

Nice welding, I have one of those I need to mount up.

Your buddy needs a Gamo to handle the squirrels

 

[Ennco Bryce]

Not to hijack your build thread, but how do you like that bender? I've been looking at getting one lately.

 

[49tandc]

I saw a neet pic of that bender mounted on some stock that fit into a claass 3 receiver hitch. It gave a stable bending platform, yet portable. A great idea.

49T&C

 

[JakeD]

Not to hijack your build thread, but how do you like that bender? I've been looking at getting one lately.

Well I just used it that once. It seemed pretty solid. I guess if you wanted to make a bunch of repeatable bends it would be pretty handy. I must admit I never really understood the directions for setting the blocks for different bends.

 

[JakeD]

I saw a neet pic of that bender mounted on some stock that fit into a claass 3 receiver hitch. It gave a stable bending platform, yet portable. A great idea.

49T&C

Interesting. You know, I've seen receiver hitch mounted stuff on welding tables. But for some reason I never thought of actually using it on my pickup.

I've been thinking for a long time about getting a JD2 manual tube bender, but I never could decide how I was going to mount it to my floor so that I could remove it after I'm done with it. But heck maybe I could make up a base that feeds into the hitch on my truck. I wonder if that would be strong and stable enough.

Cool idea

 

[car99r]

I have that same bender. I bought the stand and all from HF. I have had it for almost a year now and it has never been used...lol

I bought it to make my own sissy bars and smaller pieces for bikes.

I have always wanted to make some type of mount for it in my garage floor that I could easily remove it and not have a trip hazard when not in place.

Not to hijack a great thread but anyone have any ideas?

 

[jamesemery728]

I have that same bender. I bought the stand and all from HF. I have had it for almost a year now and it has never been used...lol

I bought it to make my own sissy bars and smaller pieces for bikes.

I have always wanted to make some type of mount for it in my garage floor that I could easily remove it and not have a trip hazard when not in place.

Not to hijack a great thread but anyone have any ideas?

+1 on this question. I have had one of these for years and never use it b/c I have tried clamps, etc. to hold it to a workbench w/o much success. Any grand ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PCO6]

I have that same bender. I bought the stand and all from HF. I have had it for almost a year now and it has never been used...lol

I bought it to make my own sissy bars and smaller pieces for bikes.

I have always wanted to make some type of mount for it in my garage floor that I could easily remove it and not have a trip hazard when not in place.

Not to hijack a great thread but anyone have any ideas?

Like you, I bought the bender with the stand. I used it several times for making heavy duty brackets on a utility trailer I built (pic attached). I found I couldn't justify the floor space for it in my 2 car garage. I didn't plan to do this when I bought it but I cut the top 4" off the stand so I could mount the bender in my bench vice when I need it and it works great. I then mounted my throatless shear on the stand. I can store the bender which I only use occasionally out of the way. The shear which I use a lot doesn't need to be mounted to the floor and I can move it around as I need it.

 

[49tandc]

I thought about getting a sonotube and putting in 4' the ground and 3' up outside the shop. Fill it with concrete, rebar & stub up 4 J-bolts. Then make mounting brackets for the bender and maybe a metal brake and bead roller that would bolt up to the 4 j-bolts. The filled sonotube would give you a solid base, but not take up valuable floor space for each tool. You could unbolt the tool and move it back into the garage when not in use and only the concrete tube would be in the weather. A little setup time would be offset by the versatility. Whatcha think?

49T&C

 

[Skyline]

I thought about getting a sonotube and putting in 4' the ground and 3' up outside the shop. Fill it with concrete, rebar & stub up 4 J-bolts. Then make mounting brackets for the bender and maybe a metal brake and bead roller that would bolt up to the 4 j-bolts. The filled sonotube would give you a solid base, but not take up valuable floor space for each tool. You could unbolt the tool and move it back into the garage when not in use and only the concrete tube would be in the weather. A little setup time would be offset by the versatility. Whatcha think?

49T&C

A bender might put too much side low for a sonotune to work well. Folks I've seen that have mounted benders outside have generally gone with larger diameter holes. Hammer a bunch of rebar into the dirt at various angles to give more support. Make sure the whole thing extends below your frost line. You end up with something like a 3' diameter concete pad with four studs sticking out to mount the bender or whatever tool you want.

 

[61scout80]

that squirrel must have REALLY pissed you guys off!


nice project.

 

[JakeD]

I've been thinking for a quite a while about using drop in female-threaded anchors, but never got up the gumption to drill into the floor. Something like this.

http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/modules/prcat/prca_navigation.jsp?OID=-12326

So, I could unbolt the stand from the floor when not needed. Drill it so you can put a bolt in it flush with the floor when not in use, so debris won't fall in and it won't be a trip hazard.

 

[car99r]

I've been thinking for a quite a while about using drop in female-threaded anchors, but never got up the gumption to drill into the floor. Something like this.

http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/modules/prcat/prca_navigation.jsp?OID=-12326

So, I could unbolt the stand from the floor when not needed. Drill it so you can put a bolt in it flush with the floor when not in use, so debris won't fall in and it won't be a trip hazard.

I actually have access to many of those with different designs. However, i was hoping to come up with some type of pin setup. I guess even with bolts using the air ratchet it would be quick to install/remove....

I too am scared to drill into my new epoxied floor....lol