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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9684
Location: So. Cal | I need to bend 5/8" diameter solid copper bar to create new spot welding arms with enough depth to spot weld my 300C air cleaners together. What tool can I use to do this effectively? Most tubing benders aren't strong enough to bend solid bar stock. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7410
Location: northern germany | Heat? |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9912
Location: Lower Mainland BC | Bench vice and a 5 foot length 1" Iron gas/water pipe slipped over the 5/8" rod and then pull down.
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Expert
Posts: 1479
Location: Pacific Northwest | Electrical conduit bender? Is there a blacksmith shop or a metal fabrication shop nearby? You may need heat like Sid said. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9684
Location: So. Cal | Metal fab shops are a joke. Those guys have less tools than I do. I know because I visited a lot of them looking for someone who could do bead rolling for me. They typically can do one thing really well; and nothing else.
I am worried about a conduit bender because those are typically thin walled steel. I don't think a conduit bender would be up to the task for this. But maybe a pipe bender would work? I am trying to find a solution that doesn't involve heat if I can help it, but it may be unavoidable. I envision making other versions of these spot welder arms so I prefer to find a good solution to make it work better. Do you think this pipe bender would be strong enough? Not sure where I could mount it to use it though; maybe to the loose frame from my parts car?
(Pipe Bender.jpg)
Attachments ---------------- Pipe Bender.jpg (64KB - 172 downloads)
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Location: North Australia | Hey Nathan, why not cut the bar into appropriate lengths, section it to half circles at the ends to make elbow joints and drill tap lock bolts to clamp the elbow joints. This way you can alter the angles easily for different jobs? You could then have a number of different lengths for different jobs. You could also cut the ends to make rigid angles (I mean so they cant slip, ie mortise the ends)
Steve.
Edited by 60 Imp 2019-06-12 9:32 AM
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 9684
Location: So. Cal | I would worry about the extra electrical resistance of the connections. This bar carries a lot of current and extra resistance could damage the machine or at least cause the weld to perform poorly. Manufacturers don't use solid copper unless they have to as the expense is really high. |
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Expert
Posts: 3779
Location: NorCal | #5 rebar is 5/8", so a Hickey Bar would probably work and they're only about $25 at Northern Tool.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200635657_200635657 |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 406
Location: Hilltown, PA |
When I worked in a shop that did custom exhaust we used the hydraulic pipe bender for all kinds of things . . .
Bending bar stock
Guy made a chair
Pressing bushings
Straightening things
If you have a shop in the area that does custom exhaust they could probably do it in 5 minutes
Gregg |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8947
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | hickey bar would work and if you can slide a piece of tubing over the 5/8's copper , heat and bend as you ,,,,,, or you could heat and bend in a vice of which
i've done many times with rods . even real easy using a soldering torch to heat --------------------------------------------later |
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