I have some galvanized sections for a hoop greenhouse which need to be bent and/or straightened. The tubing is 2" OD. Any suggestions how to bend or straighten the pipe?
- posted
15 years ago
bending galvanized pipe
Loading thread data ...
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Is this galvanized pipe or thinwall tubing or...?
What radius of bend/how long are the tubing sections?
Not a lot to work on here for context...
--
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
It's galvanized pipe. Uncertain of gauge. Pipes are 10' in length. As a guess, not sure of radius of bend but would guess 3-6'.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
As in Sch 40 galvanized water pipe, EMT, ... ??? How much takes to bend will be pretty much dependent on what you're trying to bend (as in "doh" :) ).
Most homebrew greenhouse sections I've seen have used 1-3/8" galvanized top chain link fence rail which is 18-16(?) gauge. Googling will undoubtedly lead you to many sources for such.
OTOH, if you're really talking 2" pipe, that's a lot more serious piece o' work and you'll need a real press and appropriately sized dies.
Harbor Freight has a hydraulic press that's stout enough, but it's designed more for making bends (as in corners) rather than the general sweep you'd want for the greenhouse. I suppose w/ some trial and error and practice you might get there, but it would be pretty difficult to duplicate bends that way I think.
There are certainly bending presses (mostly roller) that will do it w/ the heavier material but I don't know of any that aren't pretty pricey. I haven't done any searches, but it sends like a much larger piece of stock than required for the application and consequently, more of pita to bend, especially if you really want a smooth radius (which I would presume for the application you would).
Sorry I don't have more specific ideas...
--
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
That pipe is overkill, IME. But, you can pitch the roof and use straight pipes ?
2 inch PVC is easier to get the radius...maybe not that big.- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
2 inch pipe, 10 foot long, six foot radius.......You're going to need a lot of leverage. You better find a way to extend the lever arm.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Use a section of pipe. :-\\/
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
on 7/15/2008 10:39 AM franz fripplfrappl said the following:
You're not going to bend that size pipe with anything but a machine made for that purpose. If it galvanized, it is likely a steel or iron pipe. Trying to bend it with any lever arrangement will likely fold the pipe before it bends into any usable curve. It has to be machine rolled into a curve. Try to find a local machine shop that can do it. If you lived near me, I would send you over to "Orange County Choppers" to see one of the Teutuls. They do that all the time. :-)
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
I think you need to find out what kind of tube ( 2" OD is tube, Pipe is ID until 13" then it's OD) Do you what schedule it is? Are there threaded ends? My thoughts would be to heat it up ( red hot) might not be to good for the galv. Bend around a form, would be hard to do. You might try a metal shop they should have a hydraulic bender.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
franz fripplfrappl wrote in news:PE2fk.5910$ snipped-for-privacy@flpi145.ffdc.sbc.com:
Rent a galvanator bender.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
A local contractor tool rental place may have an electrical conduit hydraulic bender available. 2" OD is probably equal to 1.5" trade size.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Stop at a local muffler shop. They have the equipment to play the game.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
snipped-for-privacy@ece.villanova.edu wrote: ...
That's a different kettle of fish than 2"... :)
"swaged"
There's a whole cottage industry (some not so "cottagey") w/ various forms of the kits. Quite a number use the fence rail w/ hand formed rounded tops. It's a different matter to bend it by hand relatively easy as compared to a 2" Sch 40 section of pipe which sounds like what OP may have...
--
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
I have 2 14'x96' greenhouses with 1" galvanized water pipe bows on 4' centers. Each bow is a 21' pipe with 3 bends, about 45 degrees, to make a gothic arch with 3 corners. These $800 greenhouse kits came from Schwarz and Sons in Wilmington DE. They sell pipe and noticed that some of their customers were turning their pipe into greenhouses, so they started doing that too. They make the bends by hand, with 2 people and some 2x4 blocks screwed to a large piece of plywood.
I use that swedged pipe for roll-up sides.
Nick