Need to bend a small metal rod

Maybe build or buy a small bending jig like this??

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

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Place in a vise. Slide pipe over the end that sticks out. Push or pull as required.

This method can even be set up to be repeatable.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net

Or . . . . for a sharper bend, whang it with a sledge hammer. Bugs

LOL!!! Nice..

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

Unbelievable. LOL. That is a great idea! What do you think about the section I'm going to bend first with a propane torch? Worth the extra time?

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

Errr... I didn't say that right.

What I mean... what do you think about HEATING the section I'm going to bend first with a propane torch? Worth it? Sorry.. just woke up.

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

If the temper of the steel isn't a huge concern, it may prove to be a lot easier to heat the steel rod in the bend zone (1" either side) with a propane or Oxy-Acetylene torch till red hot and somewhat plastic, then bend it in a vise as suggested above. When good and hot, that rod will fold like a flexy straw.

If you do need to re-temper, get it bent the way you want and then heat again and quench in a bucket of water. If the ultimate strength of this rod is very important, find out exactly what type steel you have and follow the specific tempering steps required - may need to be oil-quenched.

-->--

Thanks, Bruce & everybody else. I ended up going to home depot & getting a

5/16" x 36" mild steel rod. I used an angle grinder to cut off roughly 11 inches and I saved the rest of the rod in case I need it later (why throw away $$?). I stuck the edge of the rod in the vise & secured it. I then heated the area I was going to bend until I felt it was hot enough (not glowing red, but I felt it was hot enough) and used the "pipe" from my vehicle jack & stuck that on the end & made the desired bend. Worked like a charm! I thought I was going to have to take it to a metal bending jig or something, but nope! A little heat & a vise & pipe did the trick. I *probably* could have done it without heating the rod first, but ah well... heating it was more fun. I was actually needing to bend it because I didnt' feel like paying $15 for a single exhaust hanger from Randall Ford & I didn't even really wanna spend the $10 for an aftermarket hanger which I'd hafta figure out how to rig up... plus making a custom hanger didn't seem *that* difficult so I thought I'd put the welder to good use. Heating, bending, and welding all in all took about 20-25 minutes and now my exhaust is very stable again (I only had 1 side w/ a hanger for a few days & wanted to stabilize the other side asap). Btw, the steel rod was $3.08 with tax.

So again, all of your recommendations/suggestions were awesome & I appreciate it a ton =). Have a great day. Thx for saving me a few bucks!

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

If you didn't even get it glowing, you didn't really do much to it. To really see the effect of heat on steel, you need to get it up a good 2000F (yellow) or so. The things you can do...

Between hammers, heat and leverage... steel is a wonderful hand-worked material ;)

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

The effect will be pretty obvious at 1100-1200F, where yield will be 30-

50% of yield at room temperature. At 2000F it'll be 5% or less. But it's true that there won't be much change before the steel starts to show some color.

Ned Simmons

I can't really explain it... it was "red" (starting to turn red), but I didn't keep it there so it'd be GLOWING red... but I would imagine that it was a little easier to bend at least than if it was cold. It was about 30F outside.

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

Estimating temperature by color is very sensitive to the surrounding light level, but if you saw any red at all you probably did make it a bit easier to bend the bar.

Scroll down to find a color chart..

and a graph of reduction in yield vs. temperature.. Ned Simmons

Whoah! Awesome, Ned! Thx =). Btw... for kicks, I took the remains of the rod... put it in a vise.. bent it.... it was a *little* more difficult I think, but not much more difficult. Oh well. Propane torch was fun anyway.

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant