Rebar Bending

Here are a couple of links. One page I was on gave Home Depot as a cheap source for a Rebar Hickey (bending tool)

I have a small retaining wall to build. All worked out & designed etc,

Hi MachineMan Thx for links, the $200 ones are the ones I already found & are out of the budget but the fishiron ones look cool, in fact sparked an idea I think I can use to make my own out of some scrap. Many thx.

I've used the Harbor Freight $50 "compact bender" to make tight bends on cold 5/8" rebar such as for handles:

I think I used the square die, which yielded a radius of about 1 inch, and a sore back. It does a lot of other cute stuff with all the various dies. Quite a bargain. I would think anything you might improvise would best be a subset of this, and for $50, why bother. You'll need a sturdy, well- anchored mounting surface.

I made a couple for pool steel guys. They were like the number 4 on a die with one missing that's where the bar handle goes. I used 5/8" plate and drilled 3 holes through it and welded in bars so that they stick out on both sides.

Rebar is made from scrap steel of low quality. This stuff has HUGE variability in its quality. Some stuff will just snap when you try to bend (must have way too much carbon and imperfections). Other rebar will bend around a post like butter.

I weld blades to rebar to make fence posts - had to toss one lot into the concrete floor as welding on it made a brittle spot that would snap under load. Never had another problem.

Karl

no

whatever the plan calls for. if it calls for a sharp bend (0 radius) make it as sharp as you can.

your call. how strong are you?

might work. be careful with high mechanical forces like that.

I bought a rebar cutter/bender from Harbor Freight 4 years ago for $99 with free shipping. I don't know if that was a sale or regular price. It's poorly designed and built and I would never think of using it for anything where time was $, but it gets the job done just fine. Cuts and bends #4 with ease. Cuts and bends #5 with some hassle. It's officially rated for #6 (3/4") but that is unrealistic. Should work fine for your purposes.

Bob

Harry, I've been bending #5 bar with a couple pieces of 3/4" black pipe with good success. It helps to have a coupler of reducing bushing on the end of the pipe to keep it from splitting. #4 bar doesn't seem to be any problem with that. The bend radius can be controlled somewhat by the distance between the two pieces of pipe, although it's hardly scientific. Cheap, though! No need to spend any money on a tool that you may never need again.

My wife and I have made all the bends for the corners of the leave-in-place modified foam blocks for our house, and we built the shop the same way. I have her stand on the one piece of pipe and the end of the rebar, so it can't slip in the one piece, then I pick up the second piece, placing my foot on the opposite end of the one she's standing on. Works pretty well if I must say so myself. The only problem is that if you have to make a second bend, you may not be able to do that because you can trap one piece of pipe on the rebar. Otherwise it's a good system.

Good luck,

Harold

I should have mentioned that rebar should always be bent cold, never hot. I believe code requires that it be able to bend that way, but could be wrong. I'm pretty sure code does not permit hot bending, and for obvious reasons. At any rate, I've made some pretty tight bends by my method and haven't had even the slightest indication that there was any cracking, even with a tight bend. In spite of the fact that rebar *enjoys* a bad reputation, it has to meet certain criteria in order to be used for it's intended purpose.

Harold