Subject: Re: hoop bending

From: [email-masked] (James Batson)
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 07:01:46 -0500

>         I am looking for plans for making a hoop bender. I want to bend a
>30 inch diameter hoop out of 3/16 x 1 1/2 steel.
>         Any ideas ?                            Thanks Bob Schade

You do not need plans.  All you need is a form made of wood 1 1/2 inch
thick which is a segment of of an arc a little less than 30 inches in
diameter.  Place the arc segment on a plate or board.  At one end of the
arc attach another board 3/16 inch from the arc.  Place the metal in this
slot and bend cold around the arc segment, making sure to not form any
kinks or flats.  The ends are the hardest to form, so I form from a longer
piece and cut to diameter after.

Metal will spring back, so the form arc segment must be less than 30 inch
diameter.  If you have a lot to make, you can make a form out of steel.
Trace a smaller  arc on a piece of sheet metal.  Cut 1/8 by 1 inch angle
iron tabs 1 inch long.  Weld theses tabs to the sheet metal along this arc.
Bend a piece of 1/16 by 1 1/2 inch banding around the tabs and weld to the
tabs.  Use a tab for the stop. This jig can be used with hot or cold metal.

The easiest method to form a circle is to take a bending fork and a fork
clamped in the vise and bend the circle with small equal spaced bends until
the correct diameter is formed.

Jim

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From: [email-masked] (David Hoopes)
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 06:18:26 -0600

>         Any ideas ?                            Thanks Bob Schade
Look around the antique stores and flea markets for an old tire binder.
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David Hoopes
[email-masked]
Lenexa, Kansas (Near Kansas City, Mo)