# Bending stainless steel rod



## 58954b (12 Sep 2008)

Hi all
I need to bend a stainless steel stud into a U-shape to make a U-bolt.
Can you explain how to go about this or can I just secure it in a vise and hammer away?


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## jasonB (12 Sep 2008)

Will depend on the diameter of the rod.

Best to grip it in the vice sticking up together with a suitable piece of thicker steel bar of the dia of the "U" held horizontally and then bend it round that.

Jason


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## 58954b (12 Sep 2008)

It's 8mm so not much 
I want to make something like this as I cannot source one locally


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## MikeG. (12 Sep 2008)

It will depend on the grade of the steel as to whether this will work with stainless steel. Some will be so tough that you just won't bend it, and some can be brittle and even snap. This would be an easy job with mild steel.

If it is already threaded, your next biggest problem is not wrecking the threads during the bending process.

If this is a length of ss threaded rod from a builders merchants or similar, then it will be cheap enough to have a gamble with. I would clamp between two pieces of scrap wood in the jaws of a well secured engineer's vice on a strong bench, and place a putlock (c 4 foot long piece of scaffold tube) over the exposed end (with the thread well wrapped in cloth).

Then grunt a lot, and sweat a bit, and push a bit, and you may persuade it to go somewhere near where you want it. If you resort to hitting it with a lump hammer, firstly, you will have to protect the thread somehow, and secondly, you will have to dampen the springing effect. The hammer and steel will just bounce around a lot. You need to hit it very near the bend, and not out on the free end of rod.

Best of luck.........what are you making?

Mike


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## 58954b (12 Sep 2008)

I want to make two of these as I was trying to shift my satellite dish's location and they rusted so badly that I sheared the bolt end...But I can go with a flat middle part on mine rather than v-shape.


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## Oryxdesign (12 Sep 2008)

Unless you already have the material you could just buy a couple from these guys

http://www.bendfast.co.uk/pages/products.html


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## Hitch (12 Sep 2008)

Fit a suitable former to something solid, and a stop, bend the length round the former and cut back the sides to length afterwards.

Leave the end of the studding long so you have something to pull it roiund with.

The former will need to be smaller than the size you want to account for springback. 

No hassle, it wont snap, and you should just about be able to do it by hand.

Like this.


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## andycktm (12 Sep 2008)

........or you could buy a couple of stainless exhaust clamps from halfords


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## Woodmagnet (12 Sep 2008)

andycktm":2ojmpkx6 said:


> ........or you could buy a couple of stainless exhaust clamps from halfords



+1 :sign3: :lol:


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## chunkolini (15 Sep 2008)

A simple way of doing this.
Stick a piece of heavy tube in a vice horizontally, put the bar in and slip another piece of tube say a 2 or 3 feet long over the other end of the bar and haul on it gently in a series of tweaks so you make a row of very small bends to give an even curve.
I do lots of this stuff, I even have special tools for bending bar and strip and use this method most on smaller pieces.

Chunko'.


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## Gower (15 Sep 2008)

A boat chandlers should have ready made stainless 'U' bolts of different diameters but the cost might be prohibitive. Or, how about galvanized? 
Just a thought.
Gower


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