Thread: Kitchen stools

Hi forum - looking at making some square bottom kitchen stools using 30mm or 35mm shs, Was going to incorporate a back for them by making the rear legs longer, but I need to bend the shs by about 20 to 30 deg. 1.what is best way of bending them - have an old compac manual pipe bender. Or should I cut a wedge out and bend a weld?
2. Suggested method for welding. I.e. Simple butt up then mig? Or notch the joints. I am new to tig (have done little - apparently I need to do some km before I work it out…)

notch and weld. bulk cleanup with a grinding wheel, then a lick up with a fibre disc to get those crisp edges.

Make a form/shape to the angle you wish to bend to, you can heat bend the tube or use tube bend or clamps and heat. The angle won't be that hard to form but I suggest make the form 2 or 3 degs more as you will get spring back.

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Butt & weld

You tubers seems to make a dolly to suit the shs, but have a rod tacked in the inside curve of the dolly. I think this sort of controls the kink.
Now thinking to cut the rear legs at seat height, weld the square top frame for the seat bottom then weld on the back separately at an angle. Might put some 65 x 35 across the back - where the base of the seat is, then weld the angled piece on top of that.

The rod in the former caves the side with excess material in to make the bending easier.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the aesthetic for furniture.

I have in the past bent SHS around a former to put an incline on it like you are trying to do. I cap an end, fill it with dry sand, compact the bejeezus out if and seal the other end.
It takes a lot of heat (lots of heat, a MaPP torch won’t cut it, you need Oxy and a fuel gas) and some patience.

So you heat and bend around the former. Does the sand stop the kinking so you get a smooth curve?

Yes, the sand stops the tube from collapsing and maintains the shape.
On 30 or 35mm tube you’ll need a lot of heat and probably a lever.
The sand needs to be very dry, any moisture boils off during heating and creates a pressure vessel full of hot steam….bad..very bad!! I use playground sand, before I fill a tube with it I put it into an old baking tray and put it in the barbecue for a bit. The sand needs to be really compacted, I weld a plate on one end, then cut a plate a blonde one under the ID of whatever I’m bending, fill the tube with sand put the plate on top, then weld a plate with a nut welded to it on the end. Put a bolt into it then get the 1/2” rattle gun at full noise onto it until it stalls the rattle gun.

Time consuming, but you can get decent results with a 40mm thin wall tube if you can get enough heat into it. Beyond a 40 you have trouble because moving that much metal becomes very difficult. Last time I tried to bend a 50 like that the tube collapsed from the heat.

Ill go to the shed in a bit and grab you a picture of the handle on my oxy trolley, I did that the same way, smaller tube, but it’s the only thing I have on hand that’s been bent that way.