Re: Bending flat bar

Okay, bruce.
If you DO want to buy a tool, get the Harbor Frieght bench mounted Hossfeld "look-alike" which is on sale for as little as 49.95 or so from time to time.
If you want to do it with absolute minimum tooling, do this:
Find something hard and relatively flat. Lay two pieces of something hard, flat, about 1/4" thick, and smaller than the above on top of it, about 2 inches apart.
Cut your workpiece a couple of inches longer than the final arc needs to be, since this process won't bend all the way to the ends.
Lay your work piece on top of the two pieces so it bridges the two pieces. While holding on to the workpiece so it doesn't fly around or hit you in the face, hit in between the two pieces with a hammer. The metal will bend there. Practice this first with light blows until you get the feel of the process.
Start this process close to one end of the workpiece. After you get the first bend, advance the work piece just a little, let's say 1/2", and strike again. You will now see some more bending going on. Keep doing this, while checking your radius against a circle of the correct radius that you have scribed onto a piece of anything.
You may find that you can advance the workpiece more that 1/2" at a time and still maintain a decent curvature.
Continue bending and checking until you have made no more than 1/4th of a circle, a little less is better than a little more. Now start the same thing from the other end.
If you get to a point where the tail end of the workpiece is in the way of the hammmer, bend the workpiece sideways a little; you can straithen it back later. This probably won't be a problem since you are only making a semi-circle.
You can probably see that, if you overbend, you can turn the workpiece over, so the hump is UP, and hit down to undo some overdone or misdirected blows.
Since you are new to this, I suggest that you don't use heat, and for this material, I don't think it's necessary. The other posters that mention heating are, of course, correct in doing so, but since you say you new to metalworking, the heat adds a dimension of complexity that you may not need right now.
This simple method works very well and has been used ever since the first metalsmith went beyond jewelry. We (blacksmiths) often use this same process (with heat) to bend things the hard way.
A typical use is to bend 1/4" X 1" or so to form a perfect ring, forge welding the ends together when we are done bending. Farriers who make their own horse shoes, may use this process every time.

If this explanation isn't clear enough, email me off list.

Now, if you get into this and LIKE it, let us know. We can connect you with a blacksmithing organization almost anywhere in the world where you can get training and support. (Yes, even if you DO use metric linear measurements!)

Pete Stanaitis
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bruces1@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Thanks for the reply.

I'd like to bend 2.5mm x 25mm flat steel bar "the easy way", in a
semicircle with a radius of approximately 150mm. I only need to bend
two pieces. My budget is extremely limited. We are talking USD50 or
less, so unfortunately a Hossfeld bender is not an option. I know that
for anything serious, buying the right equipment is the way to go, but
this is purely a one off hobby project, where the goal is to learn a
little bit along the way, and there are no time constraints.

Before I started searching the web, I wondered whether I could simply
bend the bar by forming it around something hard of the correct
radius, like a pipe, with a mallet. The radius and shape of the bend
doesn't need to be balls on accurate.. it is only be a matter of
aesthetics. What kind of results could I realistically expect with
this approach?

.

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