Bending 1/8" square Stainless Bar Stock

[Bingster]

Hi. I'm new here and in fact am a woodworker who is in the process of releasing a line of high end furniture. I am blending wood with metal for trim
pieces and have a minor problem I need help with.

I need to bend 1/8" square stainless bar stock around numerous radiused corners. Now, on these corners I guess they would equal a 3/4" cylinder. I'm not sure how exactly to describe them.

Picture a large rectangle approx. three feet by two feet with the corners radiused. So it's a 90 degree bend basically.

Well, I could not seem to find 1/8" square aluminum bar for the trim but I did get the stainless and it arrived today. This bar stock will be inserted into a groove that is just deep enough to allow 1/16 of the bar stock to protrude above the surface of the wood. Multiple bars will provide an Art Deco motif on the wood.

In a simple bend test I found that by trying to bend the bar around a corner on the bench with my bare hand resulted in the stock twisting as it bent. I ordered a bench bender from Grizzly thinking I could make the bends that way but cancelled when I realized that I would either need some way to accurately bend the bar to fit the corners or bend the stock directly on the wood as a form.

So that's my question. What is the best way to approach this? I thought that one way might be to attach the stock in the groove along the straight sections and when I came to the corners clamp the stock tight and bend the stock around the radius. It seems feasible if I could find a way to bend this stainless without twisting it and keeping it square to fit the groove.

Any ideas would be most welcome. Thanks.

[garagefela]

Hi there,
Have you thought about putting some hacksaw slots close together at the point of bending to get rid of some of the material?

It may take a bit of experimenting in how many cuts you may need and of course you can't go too deep or they may be visible when it is installed.


Cheers M

[Boots]

The reason it is twisting is because there is nowhere for the metal to go on the inside of the radius. Cutting with a Vee bit where you will be bending works well, but if you can't then you might have to get the ole hacksaw out and remove the metal that way,,, like the above fella states. The Metal on the outside of the radius has to streach if you don't remove any metal from the inside of the bend. It's rather hard to streach Stainless.

[Geof]

Make, or get made, a bending mandrel with a groove to accept the stainless rod; this way it is guided and twisting is prevented. Also slip it into a small tube so your bending effort is concentrate right at the location adjacent the the mandrel. For the neatest bends what you really need is a little roller bender designed for the size of rod you are using.

[Bingster]

Those are some great ideas.

Will a small Grizzly bender bend this stock without it twisting? I have no experience with bending like that.

Also, it occured to me that because the design will be interupted on each side by other decorative elements, I need only concern myself with one bend for each section of stainless stock.

The main thing now after getting a good bend is cutting the stainless stock square without distortion.

What will do this for me? I have been using an angle grinder in one of those "chop saw" type accessories: cutting it off that way. But the ends of those pieces don't show and so it was okay. But I can't have discoloration or distortion of the metal.

Again, in the good ole Grizzly catalog there is a small shear that might do the trick. It's a simple handle model. What do you folks recommend for a good cut? Can you direct me to a good little shear that will do the job and not cost and arm & a leg? Just an arm would be okay!