How To Bend Conduit Without A Bender
Clamp one end of the pipe to a form. For this step, you can use a wine barrel planter and then add a rounded block to get a tighter radius. Most likely, you will need a lot of leverage to bend the pipe, especially if it is just a shorter pipe—it would require you some muscle to get it bent. Without lube, the rollers start to get marred up and the bolt becomes almost impossible to turn. Now place the tube between the rollers of the bender and hand tighten the top bolt to snug the top roller down to the tube. Roll to the center of the bend. Now take a big wrench and CRANK down on the bolt about as hard as you can.
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Whether you are trying to make a round counter, a guitar, or need to bend wood for any other purpose, it is worth knowing what the basic methods of doing so are.
In this article, I will take you through five of the most used techniques for turning straight pieces of wood into beautifully bent ones. Among others, we will cover kerf-cut bending and lamination bending. We will also look at what the best type of wood to use with each of the methods is.
Bending Wood: 5 Common Techniques
Of course, there are a ton of different methods of bending wood. Ultimately, they all follow the same principles, but they all vary in levels of difficulty and how much time is required.
Method 1: Water Bending
Perhaps the most common method, water bending has been used for many years. You’ll need a leak-proof tank large enough to fully submerge the wood. Heat the water in the tank up, put in the wood, and wait for the wood to get soaked and heated. Remove the wood, put it on your form, and start the bending process.
This is an iterative process, so it’ll take a few tries before the curve is held. Use adhesives and let the wood fully dry when you like the curvature.
To learn more about the process, read my detailed article here.
Method 2: Kerf-Cut Bending
Using a table saw, cut parallel slots along a piece of wood. You want to make sure they’re not too deep, so the wood doesn’t crack or break. Space the slots equally and when you have enough kerfs, start bending. When the desired bend is achieved, fill the slots with adhesive and let it set.
Method 3: Steam Bending
This process is similar to water bending. Start with a stovepipe inside of a large, insulated box. The stovepipe needs to be large enough for your wood. One end of the pipe is open, and the other end has a feed port for your steam source.
Hook up your steam source, insert the wood, and wait for the steam to start making the wood malleable. When the wood is ready, take it to the form, use c-clamps and hold-downs on either end of the wood. Press the wood firmly against the guides on the form, secure it, and leave it there overnight. When the wood is unfastened, it will have the curve of the guides on the form.
Method 4: Lamination Bending
In this method, you’ll start with thin pieces of wood. You’ll glue those thin laminates together. Before the lamination adhesive is cured, take the wood to your form and tightly secure it with driven screws and C-clamps.
Make sure it’s secured tightly against the form.
When the lamination cures, it will have the desired curvature.
Method 5: Heat Bending
In this method, you’ll be using a hot pipe or bending iron to bend your wood.
Soak the wood in water, then take it to your hot pipe, pressing it hard against the heated surface. This will take multiple iterations to get the desired bend. After you’re close to the bend you need, take the wood to your mold and securely fasten it.
This method is similar to steam bending or water bending, but it doesn’t require you to heat the wood while it’s submerged.
Choosing the Right Stock
After learning about the different types of bending, you will definitely want to make sure you have the right type of wood for each.
What Is the Best Wood for Water Bending?
For water bending it’s very important that you pick a piece of air-dried wood with the right species. Hardwoods are always the preferred type of stock for bending because they’re more accepting to be bent. You would like a plank of wood with moisture content over 25%. Use woods like maple, ash, beech, spruce, mahogany, oaks, or hickory.
What Is the Best Wood for Kerf-Cut Bending?
You definitely want hardwood for kerf-cut bending. You want grain consistency in the wood you pick. Popular types of wood would be poplar, maple, ash, European beech, spruce, or mahogany.
This method requires strength in the wood, and softwoods would splinter and fail.
What Is the Best Wood for Steam Bending?
Steam bending usually works better with hardwoods as well. Ash, oaks, hickory, and beech are the best for this method. Additionally, a really green kiln-dried softwood might also work to be steam bent. It’s just too easy for softwoods to snap and refuse to bend.
What Is the Best Wood for Lamination Bending?
For lamination bending, you want to make sure you use a thin piece of wood. You can work with similar species like in the previous methods.
What Is the Best Wood for Heat Bending?
Finally, heat bending follows the same principles as steam bending. As such, you should pick hardwoods like hickory, ash, beech, and oaks for this method whenever possible.
Summary
As you likely know by this point, roughly speaking, there are three ways to bend wood.
You can either heat a wooden board up to an extent where it becomes bendable, you can cut kerfs into a piece of wood to provide space into which the board can collapse, or you can use thin pieces of wood that are easy to bend on their own and stick a few of those together to form a board of your required width.
If you go with the first method, you can heat the wood up either by submerging it in hot water or by steaming it in a sealed box.
Whichever method you choose, you will do best by choosing hardwood for your project. Some of the most popular species include hickory, ash, maple, and oak.
Prefer to hire a professional?
I am in the midst of building my own hoop house. it's 30' wide and 95' long. The many 'build your own greenhouse' websites that sell hoop benders don't make a 30' bender so I'm making my own. The first version is a 4'x 8' sheet of plywood cut in half length wise and screwed together. I stretched some masonline out to a 15' radius and traced the arc on the plywood. I used the cut out from that to add a 3rd ply in the middle of the two sheets and set it back about a half inch so the there is a groove where the hoop can rest while bending.
I gave it a try on saturday and everything works fine, except the hoops do not form a 30' diameter. not even close. I'm using 2 24' lengths of 1 5/8' top rail to create the hoop. the obvious answer is that the hoops snap back a bit after bending and so I'm guessing the radius of the bender needs to be less than 15'. the question is, HOW MUCH LESS!?! the approximate diameter when the hoops are assembled on the ground was 41'. I know that the diameter when assembled should be a foot or two wider so that the hoops will have some tension when setting them, but this is too much.
does anyone have a suggestion of what radius to try to achieve my desired 30' diameter. is there maybe an equation? i've looked quite a bit but i've not found anything on the interwebs. does anyone have a link to point me in the right direction??
I found a website that mentions a 10% spring back which means i might want a 13.5' radius. I'd hate to cut a new radius and end up with it too narrow!
Thanks for the help!
The arc length of a semi-circle is 0.5 x pi x diameter
In your case 0.5 x 3.1416 x 30
A total length of approx: 47ft 1.5inches
....but that would mean a height of 15 feet
If you use that arc for the first 5.5 to 6.0 feet [for the wall] then bend the rest
to an arc that gives you a height of 10 feet or less, that length could be a little
shorter.
Then it might be easier to cover with 30ft wide green house plastic, with separate
plastic sides that you could roll up.
One thing I don't understand: a diameter of 41 feet?--or did you mean a length of
41 feet?... length of 41ft would be a 26ft wide by 13ft high semicircle-shape greenhouse.
As suggested, to get to 30ft width, you might have to 'flatten down' at the top.
Also on a width like that you might want to run 4x4 posts upright every 8 ft down the middle
with 2x6 boards on either side at the top for support at the center of the roof....I heard it snows
in Denver.....
http://www.mathvillage.info/node/159
perimeter of semicircle:
first video shows length of the 'curvy part'
second video shows adding the base for the 'total' perimeter
How To Bend Pvc Electrical Conduit Without A Bender
I think I would be tempted to just get a conduit bender.
Then you could bend 90°, 60° , 45° etc, bends.
If you do cut a new radius and its too tight, it will be easier to fix than your current problem.
Eating Bindweed
Eating Buckwheat Greens
Paul explains why I spend time here,better than I could myself.
.... a 32-foot length of pipe can be bent to make a 30-foot diameter hoop for a greenhouse. A radius of 15 feet results in a diameter of 41 feet....
The way I figure it, you need two pieces almost 23.5 feet long joined together to make a semi-circle with a diameter of 30 feet.
What formula/calculation do you use? I used 0.5 x 3.1416 x 30 for the length of the semi-circle arc and .0.25 x 3.1416 x 30 for the 2 lengths needed to make that semi-circle
hoop.
Andrew--you are right...at a diameter of 41 feet, you will need two lengths of 31-32 foot long pieces joined together.
Problem is...that is the measurement for a greenhouse41 feet wide.
Don't you want it to be 30 feet wide?
Andrew Roesner wrote:Hi All!
I am in the midst of building my own hoop house. it's 30' wide and 95' long. The many 'build your own greenhouse' websites that sell hoop benders don't make a 30' bender so I'm making my own. The first version is a 4'x 8' sheet of plywood cut in half length wise and screwed together. I stretched some masonline out to a 15' radius and traced the arc on the plywood. I used the cut out from that to add a 3rd ply in the middle of the two sheets and set it back about a half inch so the there is a groove where the hoop can rest while bending.
I gave it a try on saturday and everything works fine, except the hoops do not form a 30' diameter. not even close. I'm using 2 24' lengths of 1 5/8' top rail to create the hoop. the obvious answer is that the hoops snap back a bit after bending and so I'm guessing the radius of the bender needs to be less than 15'. the question is, HOW MUCH LESS!?! the approximate diameter when the hoops are assembled on the ground was 41'. I know that the diameter when assembled should be a foot or two wider so that the hoops will have some tension when setting them, but this is too much.
does anyone have a suggestion of what radius to try to achieve my desired 30' diameter. is there maybe an equation? i've looked quite a bit but i've not found anything on the interwebs. does anyone have a link to point me in the right direction??
I found a website that mentions a 10% spring back which means i might want a 13.5' radius. I'd hate to cut a new radius and end up with it too narrow!
Thanks for the help!
Using those results, you are only getting a finished height of 10.6 feet. You need to keep your current jig but pull your bending a little past so it springs back to the radius. Until you have a 15 foot height you'll be long on the width.
Using those results, you are only getting a finished height of 10.6 feet. You need to keep your current jig but pull your bending a little past
so it springs back to the radius. Until you have a 15 foot height you'll be long on the width.
If the pipes have been bent so that the total width is 41 feet with a height of 10.6 feet, then the pipes were bent too far to start with. Maybe
moving the pipe in the jig every 3-4 feet and doing multiple bends on the 24-foot piece will give a 15-foot height and 30-foot width.
R Jay wrote:
Using those results, you are only getting a finished height of 10.6 feet. You need to keep your current jig but pull your bending a little past
so it springs back to the radius. Until you have a 15 foot height you'll be long on the width.
If the pipes have been bent so that the total width is 41 feet with a height of 10.6 feet, then the pipes were bent too far to start with.
Not if he wants a finished width of 30 feet....
Hi Roger
I suspect that there was only one bend at the 12-foot mark and it went too far--giving the
10.6ft height and 41 foot width
Gradual bends along the 24-foot length--and using your suggestion of going slightly
past so it springs back--will give a 15-foot height and 30-foot width
R Jay wrote:
Hi Roger
I suspect that there was only one bend at the 12-foot mark and it went too far--giving the
10.6ft height and 41 foot width
Gradual bends along the 24-foot length--and using your suggestion of going slightly
past so it springs back--will give a 15-foot height and 30-foot width
My assumption was a continuous bend the full length based on his description of how he designed the bender.
to a 15' radius and traced the arc on the plywood. I used the cut out from that to add a 3rd ply in the middle of the two sheets
and set it back about a half inch so the there is a groove where the hoop can rest while bending.'
I don't know about a continuous bend...it is a fair-sized jig. I can see one person hanging on to a foot or two hanging out
from one end while the other person bends the other extending 12 feet [?], then flipping ends to bend the rest....making
the major bending around the 12-foot area....just my assumption.....
How To Bend 1/2 Conduit Without A Bender
top rail joined to make a total length of over 31 feet. Bent in a hoop, the ends were made for a 20-foot wide hoop house.
The woman was short on her width by around six inches, if I remember right, so she pushed down on the top of
each pipe to spread the ends. In that way she was able spread it out from 19.5ft to get to her 20-foot width.
Hi Roger
I can't follow your line of thought...maybe you can have a look at the jpg below
and tell me where I am wrong.....
Bending Tube Without A Bender
Hi RogerOP says that the result of his bending, the ends of the 'hoop'--the diameter--was 41 feet
Your reply to him was:
Using those results, you are only getting a finished height of 10.6 feet. You need to keep your current jig but pull your bending a little past
so it springs back to the radius. Until you have a 15 foot height you'll be long on the width.
To the statement that this seems to a problem of over-bending, your reply was
Not if he wants a finished width of 30 feet...
If the OP wasn't bending his top rail far enough, wouldn't the final result--when he laid it on the ground--be less than 30 feet wide
and also would be taller that 15 feet?
The OP stated that he wants a 30 foot width frame. He built a jig to give a 15 foot radius. The ONLY way a 15 foot radius will make a 30 foot diameter is to complete a SEMI-CIRCLE. Not a semi-OVAL like in your drawings. If you want a low ceiling, arch top frame, you have to change the radius of your bends to target a much wider diameter and then not complete the semi-circle and lose height along the sides, or install knee-walls resulting in higher center height.
Your diagram is NOT a complete bend to the jig of the entire length of the rails as would be need to get to 30 feet width. It is over bent on the ends and almost no bend at the 'ridge'. While this is a very desirable shape for a low height greenhouse, it is NOT the result of a complete, simple, semi-circle bend of a top rail hoop frame bender, by default.
Not sure what you are trying to accomplish with your somewhat confrontational replies, but I just had my 7-year-old proof the content of my previous replies, and the instruction is spot on. I'm signing off and going back to actually BUILDING greenhouses. It's one of the many things I DO.
Hi Roger
My diagram is what you described as what the OP had done--trying to bend on a 15-foot diameter jig. The OP claims that instead
of being 30 feet wide, when he laid it on the ground it was actually 41 feet wide/diameter.
I was only using the dimensions you told the OP--that he had made a 'hoop' 10.6 feet high and you wrote that he had to bend it further to
make it 15 feet high.
Sorry if that seems confrontational....it just doesn't make sense.....and since I am planning to build a hoop house on my property later this year,
I just want to understand.
It is unfortunate that you get upset with people that are not as smart or experienced as you.
I hope this helps, I bent my tubes in a similar manor as you. I tack welded a strip of metal to the top of my workbench then pulled the tube against it to form a continuous bend. The tube I was using was 1.31' OD galvanized top rail, 17 ga. I adjusted the form radius by trial and error, here is the results,
Form radius 134' resulting radius 313' (2.33 spring back)
Form radius 59' resulting radius 81.4' (1.38 spring back)
Form radius 99' resulting radius 166' (1.68 spring back)
Form radius 88' resulting radius 141' (1.6 spring back)
Between each attempt I used a new tube because I though a pre-bent tube would throw off the results.
My goal was 137' radius so I considered it good enough. What I learned from this is the amount of spring back is not fixed so you may need to use trial and error the way I did. If bending bar stock is any indication, then bending larger tubes should spring back more. So, I would guess 1.8 spring back for my first attempt. To get a 15' radius I would use a (15/1. = 8.3' radius form.
Good Luck,
John
Conduit Bending For Dummies
posted 2 years agoTemplate system issues
Each bar will have different spring action in them depending apon how it is bent.
John Daley Bendigo, Australia
The Enemy of progress is the hope of a perfect plan
Benefits of rainfall collection https://permies.com/t/88043/benefits-rainfall-collection
Free Conduit Bending Charts
http://www.metalgeek.com/archives/2005/05/01/000047.php
A chunk of 1 3/8' 17 ga. tube should be close to the 1 1/4' 14 ga. tube this fellow has bent. For a 30' hoop (15' radius), he is suggesting an 8'6' radius jig, very close to the 8.3' radius suggested above by John Steel.
My need was also to determine the radius of a jig to bend fence top rail for a hoop house. I intend to use a series of 2x4 chunks placed in the appropriate radius screwed onto a hayrack deck to make my jig.......... Yeah, I know there are commercial jigs for sale but what fun is that??