Cadflat Tube Bender Project.

[Oddbod]

Yes, my bandsaw trolley has worked out really well and next side project will be to add wheels to my recently acquired sheet metal guillotine.
Not that I will use it daily, so it is best made mobile to maximise shop space and it is a heavy sucker, so wheels seem to be the way to go.

In the meantime the mail man has shown up and and I am in the throws of getting some progress done so I can post some more pic's very soon, so stay tuned...

[Oddbod]

Finally, I have a bit to show now.
This build is a pretty adhoc process as I have no plans or drawings and I am just kind of drifting along with it.

I have acquired the last of my sprocket needs, but as usual it comes with a need for a keyway and also a larger hole to be bored in it.
As my small lathe does not have enough swing and the sprocket teeth will hit the bed, I needed to phone a friend with a larger lathe so today we machined out the larger hole to fit my idler shaft and and now have a pair of flanged bearing blocks to support it once setup.

I also have another flanged bearing block that I am using on my large reduction gearbox out put shaft which i think I mentioned was my intention previously.

The hole in my lathe chuck was not large enough to accomodate my idle shaft material (being 1 7/16" diameter), so again I had to rely on the generousity of my friend to put it in his lathe and machine centres at both ends for me and then bore out an 11/16" hole about 2" deep as I need to cut a 20mm course thread (as I have some M20 threeaded rod I will use to make a hold down bolt) in it as a means to hold down my forms when in use.

Sorry about jumping from inches to millimeters but it seems to be the way of the world these days for me when making something out of nothing and using what is available to me...

Before I sign off, I will say that I find it quite difficult and time consuming to load pic's on this Forum.
Other different interest group forums that I belong to I have no hassles loading pic's.
So for now if there no pic's attached to this post give it about 8 hours as it is bed time here and I dont have the motivation to persist tonight should I have problems, but like Arnold Schwartenegger, I'll be back...

[Oddbod]

I have been waiting for 2 hole saws to arrive in the mail which have now turned up, one of which will be used to cut a 37mm large hole in some circular plate off cut discs that I got from my local scrap yard as I intend to use them for my rotating table as well as spacers and adapters to accommodate the various forms I intend to use.

I was lucky enough to find a cast aluminum half circle form for a cheap price which will save me many hours of machining and it nearly matches the diameter tube which I anticipate I will use often.

Being aluminum, I am concerned it may split under load (with the heavier wall tube I anticpate bending) so I have decided to use a couple of those circular discs to sandwich it top and bottom as a means to support it.

As I mentioned the form radius was about 1.5mm too small for the tube I had in mind for it, so I have used my grinder with a flapper disc to take a little meat off it all round and then hand polished it with sand paper.

My selected tube now fits and I hope will work out nicely.

The other hole saw will be used to make some larger holes in my support arm that will carry my pair of flange bearings and the idle shaft.

It will be much clearer to all concerned once I make a little more progress and have pictures to show.

[RiverPatrol]

Pretty ingenious.

[Oddbod]

Thanks, I will definitely take that as a compliment.
More soon.

[Oddbod]

I have a little more progress heading in the right direction.
Definitely not earth shattering but it is stuff that needs to be done.

I found a large piece of scrap RHS material that I intend to use as a cantilever member off the side of my main chassis as a means of providing clear movement of tube when doing a 2nd bend as some situations while require clearance for the bending material.

I needed to set up a pair of flange bearings with one on top and the other underneath and create a hole for my idle shaft to pass thru.
Not rocket science, however it gets a little tricky trying to get holes etc from each side to match up exactly with one another.

I got within 0.5mm from what I can tell so I am happy with that.
I am using M14 bolts to match the flange bearing holes and have tapped threads into the RHS as space is limited and nuts would not fit.

[Oddbod]

Scored a box of odd forms for a mandrel bender from an estate sale, I am hoping it may help make my mandrel life a little easier when the machine is built.

[Oddbod]

I've been focusing on the top plate for the bender which will finish the table off, but also support my additional 3rd bearing on the large gearbox.
I am using what I have where possible and I had a piece of 16mm steel plate with an unknown history.
It is much thicker than required but what the hell.
I needed to find the centre to match the shaft from the gearbox and cut a hole for the shaft to come thru.
Trying to be accuarte was challenging .
Lucky me I did not quite score a bullseye but was darn close.
The hole I cut is a whisker off center but will still work.
The next challenge was get the flange bearing to align with the shaft and transfer hole marking across to the plate, being extremely accurate etc...

Unfortunately, for me this plate must have been exposed to heat and maybe quenching some time in its life as it was just so hard in places, mostly where I wanted to drill and use the hole saw.
It was no mean feit cutting a 65mm diameter hole using a hole saw thru a piece of 16mm plate and that was before considering its weight.
It was hard work nad way less fun that I could have hoped for.
Eventually I got the big hole cut and then 3 of the 4 flange bearing holes.
There is always that surprise around the corner when venturing into the wilderness and mine was that my pedestal drill lacked enough throat depth to reach and be able to drill the 4th hole.

'Thank God for friends with well equipped garages.
Yep, had to phone a friend and last night we nailed the last hole.
Just when I thought the hard part was done, next step was to tap and thread the 4 holes for 5/8" UNC bolts.
Again I had all the gear, but tapping thru that hard plate was a real gym style work out, so much for building my upper body and shoulders.

Anyway, that is where I am up to right now and will take a little time to contemplate my next steps which will be mounting and connecting that idle shaft and sprocket to the main table and getting all the chain the right length etc.
There is also an additional keyway required which is not at the end of the idle shaft so, just when I thought I was going well with doing keyways, I now need to figure out a way to cut in this new keyway part was down the shaft.
Internal keyways I am on top of, but those external keyways on the shafts without a milling machine test me...

Sadly, you only got 1 picture as the others would not be accepted...

[RiverPatrol]

Still amazing work. Sorry about the pictures issue. One day I'll get around to upgrading the site.

[Oddbod]

No problems, I just dont have too much time to fool around with the ones that wont load.
It would be good if one day you can upgrade your system, but I understand it aint always easy and I accept the fact that I am only a very minor part of what happens on this Forum, hell I dont even own a Nissan Patrol.

Pictures do help make many posts more interesting and easier to comprehend at times.

Funny thing is are there amy other members out there besides you and Esteban, it surprises my how quite this place can be...

Thanks for tolerating me and my weird project stuff.

More progress soon, not everything happens as seen, there are second goes and mishaps that dont see the light of day.