wooden tube bender die

[graffian]

I wanted a flattened 3-3/8" centerline radius tube bender die, for 1/2" tube.
The tube is a mudguard stay and it follows the profile of the mudguard pretty closely[hence flattened], I am told you can spot repros cos they don't fit.
I did think about making a metal die, if it had been a round die[lot's of use] I might have.
I glued 4 scraps of plywood together and bandsawed the chunk of wood to the centerline radius of the curve. I routed the grove for the tube.
It worked great, the tube fit's perfectly. No idea how big you can go with wooden dies, but very useful to know this works.

 

[Angusdog]

Now that I like! Seems so simple and obvious for occasional use, cheap and effective.

 

[armalites]

Not only has it done a great job of bending the tube but it looks cool too!

 

[madkayaker]

I bet there is a market for the correct looking pipe

 

[Wallace]

Nice looking bend with no marks, did you use marine grade ply? I've made sanding drums in a similar way with spray glue, they work really well too.

 

[MattF]

Wood is a vastly under-rated material, these days. It had many a use in days gone by which people wouldn't naturally attribute to it nowadays. Bearings and pulleys being two which spring to mind. Should think it would be quite good in that application as it will have some slight amount of compression, so any slight surface deviations won't transfer to the metal being bent as marks.

 

[chevy2]

I'd imagine the way to stop the former splitting if going bigger would be to fit flat steel plate on both sides of the former with multiple bolts all around as i'd guess it'll want to open outwards,
but then bigger stuff would more than likely compress the timber inwards,
i suppose they have their limitations?
Nice job on doing it in timber with out of the box thinking.

 

[graffian]

I'd imagine the way to stop the former splitting if going bigger would be to fit flat steel plate on both sides of the former with multiple bolts all around as i'd guess it'll want to open outwards,
but then bigger stuff would more than likely compress the timber inwards,
i suppose they have their limitations?
Nice job on doing it in timber with out of the box thinking.

I was wondering about it splitting and I was going to stick six M6 bolts through it. But I had to grind some wood off to get it in between the bit the roller is on, so I tried it as it was, I couldn't be arsed to spot face bolt holes.

The wood was scraps out of the back of a mates[roofer] truck.

 

[MattF]

It might well make it worse if you tried strengthening it. As it is now, it'll flex overall. Put bolts through or plates on, and you're likely introducing weak spots and concentrating pressures to the point where something is more likely to give.