Bending 1/2 " stainless rod

[No Bail]

I need to make two 45 degree bends in a 1/2 " threaded stainless rod to make it fit my main to kicker connector. What is a good manner of making this a tight bend, and not an arc that a bench vise might produce?

Ideas?

[Danno]

It needs to be secured and bent around a solid radius.

I have a Swagelok SS tubing bender you could borrow but I don't think it will handle solid SS.

[seamslayer]

Make a jig using 2X4 and heax head bolts, and use an oxy-aceteline torch to heat the area to be bent. Once orange bend the rod. The key is to keep the area being heated relativly small, as this will give you a nice tight bend.

[skaha]

we used to use old disck brake drum, fill tube with sand to both hold heat and reduce chance of wrinckles to make roll cages. (really old used burning bark to heat the tube)

--you might get a plumbers spring for bending at a hardware store. Before plastic used on copper pipe. the pipe slides inside the spring, again this is to get even pressure on the pipe reducing chance it willl buckle.

[fishkisser]

If you do not want any radius bends at all ,have a fab shop cut and weld it to keep it angular ...

[No Bail]

Originally Posted by seamslayer

Make a jig using 2X4 and heax head bolts, and use an oxy-aceteline torch to heat the area to be bent. Once orange bend the rod. The key is to keep the area being heated relativly small, as this will give you a nice tight bend.

Another use for my wife's glass torch!! Thanks for all the responses.

[danhath]

Another option would be a commercial pipe bending tool you can probably access one of these tools at your local rental center. Or may a friend that is a plumber. What I don't like about heating metal to make bend is you lose some of the temper and straigth. Also some metal working shops have equipment to bend rod stock to make U bolts that could do what you need. I use to use one at a shop I worked at in Salem.

[BrassMonkey]

No Bail,

Try Custom Metal Fab just down the street from you on Hwy 30 they have a big yellow sign that says "WE BEND" on the fence.
Just my

[No Bail]

Thanks for all the replies.

I went with a smaller rod, 3'8" from an old boat setup that I can take off quickly. I'm going to have my bracket redone by another Scappoose business and that will solve some of the problems of clearance on a right hand turn with the handle on the T-8 hitting the 150 cowling.

I'd rather use the larger rod, but I'm not sure how the big motors will steer if I have the kicker up and still attached. I ran it once with one big motor up and it did fine so I'm guessing it would work OK. I'm trying to get to the point of having the rod on at all times, and then using the troll master for speed control. Cheapest setup for the most comfort. Next time I'll do full controls at the helm for the kicker.

[IDWITHELD]

Mapp gas torch will do the job.