Smooth curve in box steel

[Mith]

I've never seen it done before, hence my asking. Is there a way to put a smooth curve in 1" box, like a rolling machine you use to put a curve in sheet, only for box steel?

I've been toying with the idea of putting some bars from the roll bar on my tractor curved down to the front to make a cab, I'd like the front screen to be curved so I can see the loader when its lifted (it lifts higher than the roll bar).
I added a picture to give an idea.

Is there a machine to do this, and is it something I can make? Or is there a better way to make the curves, I'd only like to make 2 curved bars for the cab, so it seems a little unnecessary to make a whole machine just to do one job.

Thanks for the help.

[Jim-TX]

There are tools that will do what you need. A big ring roller or arch roller will do it. However, if you only need 2 pieces the price of buying the tool will be a lot more than what you will want to spend. One of the forums I read had a thread a while back on building one, but that's also a lot of work for just 2 pieces unless you plan to do more bending. I'd look into finding somewhere local that can do the work.

[imagineer]

My wife asked that I make a series of garden arches for growing pole beans and other stuff on.

For sake of low cost, I made them out of 1/2" EMT, welded together and skinned with goat fence. The attached picture is the first one I made. To make the curved hoops, I made a quick (really quick) and dirty (really, really dirty) version of a ring roller.

My mandrel wheels are made from laminated +/-6" diameter disks of plywood. I chucked them in my drill press and used a sanding sleeve on a hand drill to "mill" the round groove to contain the tubing.

Where as you're planning on using square tubing, you can make the necessary profile on the bending wheels using different diameter disks.

The bottom two wheels spin freely and the top center wheel has a crank handle attached. The top wheel is held in place in a pivoting cradle and there's a strap going out the bottom with a thumb screw to pull the top wheel down and start the bends.

To put a 180 degree, 30" radius, in the middle of a 10' piece of EMT, took about 10-12 passes back and forth, tightening the thumb screw a turn or 2 on each pass. I also made a simple check gauge to be able to tell when I reached the proper radiused bend.

So far, it's worked well enough to make 30 matching hoops for 6 garden arches.

If I can dig it out of my "to be used later for something" pile, I'll snap a few pics and post them.

[LW Hiway]

Mith, there are a few/several really good and worth the time and money, weekend home built rollers featured here on the site that do not involve the use of gearboxes, gears or chains or hydraulics, pump or jack and very little in the way of specialty items. Some all thread rod, 1" or better ACME thread of a good size, large area nuts, washers, metal caster/roller wheels and some scrap metal. You might consider using the ones that feature the manual hydraulic jacks, but the threaded rod will get you to the bend desired, just more travel trips to do it.

The bends that you want to make can be made using them as the roll you want will practically be in the middle of the span/length, having the ends of the run straight for their meeting of existing structure.

Mith, this is the last bender/roller that was shown here, a thread a few weeks back. I can't remember for sure who made this one, but do remember the thread as having Charlie C. involved and showing one of his.

BTW, for the short term, top end equipment rollers will have bearings that may just last long enough for a few years of minimal rolling, but you may need to eventually go with bushings or pillow/flange block bearings as your construction/design demands.

You will have some deformation of where the tubing has to stretch and shrink due to the relation to the metal and it's ability to take the curved shape you force on it. But, personally, I think that would be fine in your application.


Imagineer I can say that from the picture, you did a real good job of it. Uniform and sized correctly. Not only will that thing be a benefit relieving back strain, all who see it will want their own. Made by you of course.

Very well done indeed.

LW

[cutter]

Here you go, Mith. Some are complex, others are very simple.

Project Index

See thread #9. Knock yourself out.

[Scotts]

Didn't someone on here a while back have a big metal spool for wire that a utility company used? How bout one of them?

Scott

[Jim-TX]

Originally Posted by lwhiway

Mith, there are a few/several really good and worth the time and money, weekend home built rollers featured here on the site that do not involve the use of gearboxes, gears or chains or hydraulics, pump or jack and very little in the way of specialty items. Some all thread rod, 1" or better ACME thread of a good size, large area nuts, washers, metal caster/roller wheels and some scrap metal. You might consider using the ones that feature the manual hydraulic jacks, but the threaded rod will get you to the bend desired, just more travel trips to do it.

The bends that you want to make can be made using them as the roll you want will practically be in the middle of the span/length, having the ends of the run straight for their meeting of existing structure.

Mith, this is the last bender/roller that was shown here, a thread a few weeks back. I can't remember for sure who made this one, but do remember the thread as having Charlie C. involved and showing one of his.

BTW, for the short term, top end equipment rollers will have bearings that may just last long enough for a few years of minimal rolling, but you may need to eventually go with bushings or pillow/flange block bearings as your construction/design demands.

You will have some deformation of where the tubing has to stretch and shrink due to the relation to the metal and it's ability to take the curved shape you force on it. But, personally, I think that would be fine in your application.


Imagineer I can say that from the picture, you did a real good job of it. Uniform and sized correctly. Not only will that thing be a benefit relieving back strain, all who see it will want their own. Made by you of course.

Very well done indeed.

LW

Hmmmm.... I don't recall seeing one that simple. I just might have to make one of those myself. I have a couple of Shop Outfitters ring rollers but they won't arch square tubing. That one in the pic would.

[LeonS]

Back in the day we had a homegrown rounding dye for the press break made of ½" x 1" flat bar w/a ¾" sch 40 pipe welded together, of course the bottom was a very wide die for straight breaks. Now you could build a big ole press for the roll, bend a pipe frame, get a set of srinkers and try to match the corner bend, or you could bend pipe the frame and tack the sheet metal, say 22-16 ga, to the pipe and finish up the weld. The last method is what I would do + add x breaks to stiffen to eliminate oil can, might be a bit noisy anyway.
Good luck
L*S