Bending a silver steel rod?

[Deadeye]

I'm making a replacement clamping lever for a drill press collar. It's 5/16 silver steel rod and I need to put a 50-60o bend in it.
I'm worried that if I just put it in the vice and heave/bash it, then either I'll get nowhere or I'll snap it?
I don't have access to anything remotely like a furnace and only a little blowtorch.

 

[Bingy man]

I’ve googled the equivalent in metric at 7.93 mm so if you purchase an 8mm external bending spring you should easily achieve this . If concerned then heat gently and with gloves and a suitable cloth place spring over the warm / hot Rod and bend as reqd.. a decent plumbing shop should have the spring for a few pounds ..

 

[redhunter350]

I cannot quite visualise what you wish to make -- or is it the clamp lever for the quill ? If so why use Silver Steel ? yes its stronger but BMS should suffice.
However heating is not necessary and with SS could be problematic, if its BMS heating will not be a problem and a gas torch will work OK.
I would just clamp in a bench vice with protection to prevent marring as far as possible then use a close fitting pipe as a lever to apply the bend. It will be tough and you will need a fairly long tube, you could also use a hammer on the outside of the tube -use large heavy lump hammer.

 

[Fergie 307]

8mm mild will bend relatively easily cold holding one end in a vice, and is quite strong enough. You will only need heat of you want a very tight radius bend. In that case you will need to bend it around something. You could put two short pieces of 8mm in the vice, a short distance apart. Then heat the section you want to bend and place the heated rod in between those in the vice, with the heated section against one of them and pull it around it until you have your desired angle. The hotter it is the easier it will be to get a nice tight bend. The other rod acts as a stop for the free end. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Bingy man]

Nothing to fancy reqd here - this spring will support the pipe and prevent it kinking . Agree with @Fergie 307 if it’s a tight radius bend .

8mm Pipe Bending Spring External
£2.82
gasproducts.co.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If it's a tight bend you'll be lucky to get any spring off again.

 

[TimV]

Maybe some of the small pipe benders used for microbore copper tube? (If that radius is small enough for your application)

 

[Richard_C]

Don't worry about snapping it - unless you bend it, bend it back, bend it back again etc. I would just put it in a vice, possibly squeezed in with a 'post' of some kind, and whack it with a hammer to get it started in the right place. Depending on material and what you want to do with the rest of it, I normally bend first and cut to length after - so you have a big long piece to tug on. You say 50-60 degrees, so it sounds like 'about the rights shape for a handle' will be OK, its not a precision job. Try it, what can go wrong?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Maybe some of the small pipe benders used for microbore copper tube? (If that radius is small enough for your application)

They wouldn't give enough leverage.

 

[Deadeye]

I cannot quite visualise what you wish to make -- or is it the clamp lever for the quill ? If so why use Silver Steel ? yes its stronger but BMS should suffice.
However heating is not necessary and with SS could be problematic, if its BMS heating will not be a problem and a gas torch will work OK.
I would just clamp in a bench vice with protection to prevent marring as far as possible then use a close fitting pipe as a lever to apply the bend. It will be tough and you will need a fairly long tube, you could also use a hammer on the outside of the tube -use large heavy lump hammer.

It's part 24 on here
https://cdn.imagearchive.com/ukworkshop/data/attach/62/62779-Driltru-Mk2.pdf

Using SS because it's to hand and I've already threaded it!

 

[Fergie 307]

Nothing to fancy reqd here - this spring will support the pipe and prevent it kinking . Agree with @Fergie 307 if it’s a tight radius bend .

8mm Pipe Bending Spring External
£2.82
gasproducts.co.

Bearing in mind that is designed for bending soft copper tube I very much doubt it will work with a solid steel bar.

 

[Fergie 307]

It's part 24 on here
https://cdn.imagearchive.com/ukworkshop/data/attach/62/62779-Driltru-Mk2.pdf

Using SS because it's to hand and I've already threaded it!

You can bend SS in exactly the same way, but it is much tougher so you will need heat to get any sort of reasonable radius. You want a narrow flame so you are just heating up the area you actually want to take the bend. Don't quench it, just let it cool naturally afterwards. You will also need to mark the position of the bend carefully relative to the thread, so it is in the correct orientation once it is screwed in.

 

[ChaiLatte]

You will also need to mark the position of the bend carefully relative to the thread, so it is in the correct orientation once it is screwed in.

I was just to post the same. If you are standing on the quill spider side of the machine I reckon the table lock should be about 5 o'clock when tight (thus 1 or 2 o'clock when loose).

Saying that, you can tune its position somewhat by altering the washer thickness or rotating nut 41 by 60 degrees.

 

[Deadeye]

You can bend SS in exactly the same way, but it is much tougher so you will need heat to get any sort of reasonable radius. You want a narrow flame so you are just heating up the area you actually want to take the bend. Don't quench it, just let it cool naturally afterwards. You will also need to mark the position of the bend carefully relative to the thread, so it is in the correct orientation once it is screwed in.

Thanks everyone n... off to "have a go"!

 

[Bingy man]

Bearing in mind that is designed for bending soft copper tube I very much doubt it will work with a solid steel bar.

I used to bend 1/2 3/4 inch black iron with nothing more than a bench cleat . I really can’t see how a piece of 8 mm rod would be difficult especially if heated . Obviously the radius and size of the bend is probably the deciding factor + the strength of the op .

 

[Fergie 307]

They wouldn't give enough leverage.

Phil is right. I have these for bending small copper and cupro nickel pipes for brake and hydraulic lines. They are nothing like strong enough for bending steel bar, which is what the OP is trying to do. I have a big hydraulic bender for that, but still use the method I have described for a quick bend in a fairly small diameter bar. Especially good if you want a tight radius, as you do for something like a handle.

 

[Fergie 307]

I used to bend 1/2 3/4 inch black iron with nothing more than a bench cleat . I really can’t see how a piece of 8 mm rod would be difficult especially if heated . Obviously the radius and size of the bend is probably the deciding factor + the strength of the op .

Yes, a bench cleat type set up is exactly what I am advocating, subject to what the OP has available to him. 8mm will bend like liquorice if you get it to a dull red, easy enough with a blow torch.

 

[deema]

SS is a form of tool steel, heating it will harden it and make it brittle. You need to make a proper bender, plenty of uTube stuff on how to make them.

 

[ChaiLatte]

SS is a form of tool steel, heating it will harden it and make it brittle.

I suspect that even the most illiterate Victorian village blacksmith would disagree with that.

If I take a piece of silver steel and hold in my grubby hand until it reaches body temperature, will it become harder? Maybe I can put it in the airing cupboard if I need it even harder. What hardness (or brittleness) will it achieve if I leave in the oven for 20 mins at 180 degrees?

Please peruse link below and reconsider:

https://archive.org/details/01hardeningtemperingheattreatment

 

[wurglesnash357]

I suspect that even the most illiterate Victorian village blacksmith would disagree with that.

If I take a piece of silver steel and hold in my grubby hand until it reaches body temperature, will it become harder? Maybe I can put it in the airing cupboard if I need it even harder. What hardness (or brittleness) will it achieve if I leave in the oven for 20 mins at 180 degrees?

Please peruse link below and reconsider:

https://archive.org/details/01hardeningtemperingheattreatment

This seems unnecessarily snippy and not what I'm used to on this site.

Les