Thread: flame bending video

Here's a video showing flame bending some rectangular tube. It's for a bumper/brushguard I'm making for a F-250 pickup. It's not as visually arresting as I had hoped, but what the hell. I'll post a picture of the brushguard once it's finished. flame bending time lapse - YouTube

Its a cool video- but six hours?
Whats your shop time billed at?

I run parts like that in about five minutes on my angle rolls, bill for an hour at a hundred bucks an hour, and everybody is happy.

This is a job for a friend, no bill, just barter. Angle rolls, oh yeah they would be nice, but too pricey, too bulky, and this piece had three different radii.

three different radii, no problem. there is a crank on the top of the angle rolls.
I guess it is the difference between me being unemployable- as in, 30 years of self employed- so I have to make money on what I do, versus somebody with a job.

I like flame bending, its very cool. I have used it myself from time to time- its great for fixing weld warpage on stuff that is already assembled, or stuff to big to fit in any of my benders.

I have this funky old self published paperback, called Flame Straightening Technology, by John P. Stewart- he still sells it, but he wants eighty bucks for a copy now- it has a lot of the tricks of this technique in it.

I've got JP Stewarts "Distortion Control", an excellent reference on a subject that is not always easy to understand. I've only been self employed for five years now, but don't you worry Ries, I have been well compensated for all the time I have put into this project. One day I'll be able to afford a sexy angle roll, but hell, I just got my JD2 tube bender this winter. Here's another pic of some flame bending.

I have only ever used flame bending for larger and more subtle bends - corrections. A tig torch, ran as high as you can, but as low as to avoid forming a puddle is a real quick way of putting heat lines in things. A lot faster than a flame on anything sub 1/4" thick. You can put tighter hotter lines in and that dramatically speeds up the bending.

How do you make sure you don't get it too hot? AWS says 1200 deg. is as hot as it should go. I've considered that method, but for bending tube you have to heat wedge shaped sections completely through the thickness of the material, unlike line heating where the heat stays more toward the surface. Anyway, here's the end result.