advice on bending steel

[Jake883]

hi. im looking to bend steel to make brackets and sissy bars and other things. when i see everyone making a sissy bar, they use an acetylene torch. im curious would a metal bender with appropriate dies be fine to cold bend a sissy bar? i know that cold bending makes the steel harder and more brittle in the bend areas while heating it and letting it cool slowly distributes the stress. does it matter if i bend it cold just for a sissy bar? thanks

[farmall]

Bending bars cold is fine and many tighter bends are done cold along with decorative twists etc.

That said every mechanic should score an oxy-acetylene torch because they're a spectacular bang for the buck and do MANY useful things. OA equipment is an easily, inexpensively expandable welding, torch bending, cutting and heating system not requiring electrical power and OA welding works on stainless and aluminum too. Torch brazing is impressively strong, and torches are outstanding for fine work (the reasons jewelers use them).
Cold bending is fine but do yourself a favor and spend some time on the Weldingweb forums (they are to welding what Chop Cult is to chopping). Torch bending is ideal for making tight bends very low effort. I buy used, US-made equipment and any major make (Victor, Smith, Purox/Oxweld/Linde/L-tec family, Harris etc) has plenty of support.

[golfish]

I've seen my buddy weld short pieces of round stock and the like to a steel table top for bending. He'll heat up the section he wants to bend with a torch. I wish I had 1/4 the talent he has.

[Jake883]

thanks farmall always helping out. i plan on buying an oxy acetylene torch soon however ill be moving soon and the less to move the better. ive used oxy acetylene plenty of times and bent steel hot but i havent heard too much about cold bending so ty for the clarification.

[shank1kole]

I bend a LOT of shit cold using a HF small hydraulic press ($100 at the time)with steel and wooden blocks.

[Grillbond]

I also use hydraulic press mostly

[TriNortchopz]

saw this done; for accurate 90 degree bends, you can cut about 3/4 of the way through, bend it, then fill the outer corner gap with weld.

[confab]

hi. im looking to bend steel to make brackets and sissy bars and other things.

No experience with them yet, but one of the neater tools I've seen recently was a die break set that fit in a vice. They had a larger and more elaborate outfit you put in your hydraulic press.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015U6KCH4...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[DoomBuggy]

I have a 6" set of these, you need a strong vise to use them, they work pretty well.

Next I want to convert the one I have to work on my hydraulic press.

[7and7is]

How about