Pete F
30th Jan 2016, 07:32 PM
I've been crazy busy with work, but recently got bowled over with some freak virus. After 5 days in bed with a pounding headache and feeling like I'd been run over by a roadtrain I was ready to take advantage of the break in normal transmissions to spend some time in the workshop hacking up my lungs while making up Tom Lipton's Rod/Bar bender. Most here would probably know of Tom's Youtube channel and his Blog, mainly the former these days. I have an enormous amount of respect for Tom, like me he doesn't suffer BS, but manages to pass on really quality tips and techniques to others, typically without the crap of so many other channels. I've been privileged to find a career I enjoy immensely, and it's very clear so has Tom, and that enthusiasm shows. The only downside is that Tom has cost me a fortune in seeing tools I think would be a great addition, and end up buying. They invariably are just as good as he says, the ultimate probably being what I call "Tom's wonder whacker", a Cermet insert tool that hacks of anything in its path at about a squillion rpm, leaving behind a glass smooth finish.
As far as this little project, not much to say really, does what it says on the box. Thanks Tom!
I guess if more details are wanted, the nylon bushing should be bearing bronze, but I didn't have any that size and wouldn't waste it on a project like this anyway. Instead I 3D printed it in Nylon with 50% infill. It makes the action slightly firm at the moment, but it will likely loosen up with time anyway. I added the additional fence holes to give a bit more versatility. Otherwise I think it's all according to the drawing on Tom's site, except I converted it to metric. All materials were just what I had to hand. The angle was an old lintel I rescued from the dump. The rest of the materials are 1020 steel I use for most things around here, except the 2 pins that are 4140 as I thought they could do with the strength. I've made up two mandrels so far and they are case hardened. No particular care went in to them, I just took the bar stock down to the nearest sensible size, bored it and parted off. The large one closed up enough when hardening to require lapping the bore , which was an unexpected PIA. I'll make up more if/when required. The welding on the handle isn't quite a tragic as that shot implies. Having said, I have no idea what the crap was coming out of those pipes, but it was giving me hell to TIG! The handle was off an old Rigid pipe tapping head, so I probably don't want to know what it was!!! I couldn't wait to close that seam off and I think I went through 4 tungstens on that little section with contamination.
360746
Rod Bender Parts
360747
Rod Bender Complete
360748
I've just included a piece of random small rod I bent up. It was very soft and I don't think even required the handle. I think this bender could handle 10 mm rod without too much sweat. The reason for the odd angle on the handle is to allow it to reach around behind the bender and lever it forward. The whole thing probably didn't need surface grinding to within an inch of its life, but hey, sometimes I find it the easiest way to peel off the scale. I also probably fussed too much over accuracy, but when I'm building something to somebody else's drawings I'd rather spend an extra little while and finish up within 0.01, than to discover on assembly that something doesn't fit! It's not exactly complicated, but that's just the way I caution. Oh the one mistake was I didn't read the callout for the fence material thickness until after I'd hacked off another piece of that lintel. It should be thicker, and although I have some plate here suitable, it doesn't feel right to cut it up for something I could make from scrap.
We'll see how useful it is now it's finished. I'll say one thing, Tom makes bending up rod look very easy. In fact I think often you need to do it in a specific sequence or you'll get yourself caught up and snookered. I was bending up a bracket ,worked out a sequence, then got completely lost as to where I was half way through and whether I'd made a bend the wrong way. Sometimes it's not as easy as it looks :wink:
Pete
As far as this little project, not much to say really, does what it says on the box. Thanks Tom!
I guess if more details are wanted, the nylon bushing should be bearing bronze, but I didn't have any that size and wouldn't waste it on a project like this anyway. Instead I 3D printed it in Nylon with 50% infill. It makes the action slightly firm at the moment, but it will likely loosen up with time anyway. I added the additional fence holes to give a bit more versatility. Otherwise I think it's all according to the drawing on Tom's site, except I converted it to metric. All materials were just what I had to hand. The angle was an old lintel I rescued from the dump. The rest of the materials are 1020 steel I use for most things around here, except the 2 pins that are 4140 as I thought they could do with the strength. I've made up two mandrels so far and they are case hardened. No particular care went in to them, I just took the bar stock down to the nearest sensible size, bored it and parted off. The large one closed up enough when hardening to require lapping the bore , which was an unexpected PIA. I'll make up more if/when required. The welding on the handle isn't quite a tragic as that shot implies. Having said, I have no idea what the crap was coming out of those pipes, but it was giving me hell to TIG! The handle was off an old Rigid pipe tapping head, so I probably don't want to know what it was!!! I couldn't wait to close that seam off and I think I went through 4 tungstens on that little section with contamination.
360746
Rod Bender Parts
360747
Rod Bender Complete
360748
I've just included a piece of random small rod I bent up. It was very soft and I don't think even required the handle. I think this bender could handle 10 mm rod without too much sweat. The reason for the odd angle on the handle is to allow it to reach around behind the bender and lever it forward. The whole thing probably didn't need surface grinding to within an inch of its life, but hey, sometimes I find it the easiest way to peel off the scale. I also probably fussed too much over accuracy, but when I'm building something to somebody else's drawings I'd rather spend an extra little while and finish up within 0.01, than to discover on assembly that something doesn't fit! It's not exactly complicated, but that's just the way I caution. Oh the one mistake was I didn't read the callout for the fence material thickness until after I'd hacked off another piece of that lintel. It should be thicker, and although I have some plate here suitable, it doesn't feel right to cut it up for something I could make from scrap.
We'll see how useful it is now it's finished. I'll say one thing, Tom makes bending up rod look very easy. In fact I think often you need to do it in a specific sequence or you'll get yourself caught up and snookered. I was bending up a bracket ,worked out a sequence, then got completely lost as to where I was half way through and whether I'd made a bend the wrong way. Sometimes it's not as easy as it looks :wink:
Pete