Can 1½” black pipe be bent? I need a cheap sturdy handrail for some concrete steps and that seems like the best thing. The acute angle would be 55º. If so, what sort of place would have the machine to do it? (I know about Kee Klamps. They’re expensive, I don’t like the look, and they won’t work for the acute angle.)
Also, what’s an easy way to make a hole in the concrete to mount the rail? It has to be floor-mounted.
Replies
welding shop for the bend...
steel fraficatin shop...
core bit for the hole...
sub it all out to somebody set up to do / does that type of work...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Thanks to everyone who replied. I took IMERC's advice and hired someone. I found a fabricator who specializes in fences and railings about half a mile from my house. I walk by his shop nearly every day. I don't have an estimate yet, but I hope it's less than $200. The Kee Klamps came to about $230.
Go to your local muffler shop and have some pipe custom bent for you.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Parenting has always been a mix of sage life advice and inexcusable laziness.
Any electrician that does industrial wiring will have a conduit bender that will easily bend that pipe.
A diamond core bit for the hole and fast setting anchoring mix to set it.
The hole should be about 1" in diameter larger than the pipe.
Hhhmmm..maybe this won't be so cheap after all??
You really think a conduit bender can haul black pipe without folding it and ruining the bender? I'd want it red hot first
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
You and Dave 45 have never seen 2" rigid conduit bent by an electrician??????
I make 1 1/2" & 2" bends in black pipe all the time for railings and support posts for commercial gate keypads with an electricians conduit bender.
A power conduit bender will bend black pipe that size like a wet noodle and make a perfect bend.
So to answer your question...yes, you can do it without ruining the bender and firing up the forge.
See, you learn something every day don't you??
I regularly make the statement that I learn something new every day. Thanks.But all of what you just said was left out of your first post. To begin with, you didn't say anything about a powered bender. I have never seen on eof them either. Also, this thread is based on Black pipe, not conduit. It was somebody else who mentioned that the rigid grade of conduit is equivalent to a black pipe.What I had to go on is only my experience in doing demo with old black pipe from gas lines. thanks for elaborating to fill in the blanks.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I wouldn't bet on a conduit bender handling black pipe. Conduit has much thinner walls and is more malleable than black pipe.
If I wanted a "custom" handrail, I think I would check out the local muffler shop first. Lord knows that they could bend it into any shape you could imagine. - lol
There is 3 different classes of metal conduit. EMT, IMC and Rigid Conduit.I have not looked at the specs, but I suspect that rigit is the same or similar as black pipe.But you don't bend it with a simple hand bender.http://cableorganizer.com/greenlee/bender/camtrack-conduit-bender.htmhttp://www.pro-tools.com/302.htmA place that does custom muffer work would be the place to go to..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
My impression is that black pipe is probably not annealed like rigid, and it's not likely to want to bend nicely.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Keep it up Bill and you will lose your A-hole status, the only prob. I have with your post is that muffler shops use steel tubing not steel pipe. I don't think that their equipment would handle pipe. Have a good one.
Actually is should be Smartazz, but I am too lazy to change it.And I have enough credentials for that term <G>..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I will vote for you if you stop making intelligent comments, I don't think that they are allowed on this forum >sic
Harbor Freight sells a cheap pipe bender.
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The other thing to remember is that pipe is not the same as tubing. If you approach someone to do the bending for you, you have to ask specifically about bending pipe. Pipe is measured inside diameter, tubing is measured outside diameter.
Glamorous
Edited 5/17/2007 6:49 pm ET by dustinf
that one crushes pipe....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
that one crushes pipe....
My HF doesn't. Surprisingly functional for $70. PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
When we lived in Salem, NY, the rail was an old cow barn stall divider - exactly the right shape. There were several others around town...
So, find an old farm...
even if a bender would bend it without flattening the bend, I don't think you would like the LARGE radius it would make!
but some bender shoes are marked I.P.S. but I personally have not tried bending plumbers stuff in a mechanical bender
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, wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
Sch 40 pipe and sch 40 conduit are the same material and thickness. A hydraulic conduit bender will do it. We do it all the time at work.
you bend black pipe all the time ?.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
Well, I don't, but the mechanics who work for me do. We do it most commonly for railings, but have also done it for piping in a system that handles abrasive slurry in which a long, smooth bend lasts longer than fittings or sharp bends.
I see
which bender do you use?
Greenlee, Enerpac, Gardner-Bender, Ensley ?.
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., wer ist jetzt der Idiot ?
One of them is a Greenlee. The other is so old I don't know the name without looking at the label.
A conduit PIPE bender WILL do it, but the bend radius on 1.5" pipe is huge.
If you want a tighter bend than that you need special equipment- or just butt-weld an elbow onto it and grind it flush.
I buy 1 1/4 I.D. pipe from Crane supply. They also have 45 and 90 degree elbows and they are cheap. I used it at my own house in conjunction with 5/8 bar to make railings. That way I have the same railings inside and out. I did not have to bend anything and the pipe is pretty cheap. A little cutting and a little welding is fun once in awhile for a carpenter.
Have a good day
Cliffy
yes you can bend it.... steel supply house has black pipe that is not rated for "pipe" but is the same thing less the black crud... and it's cheaper cause it's not "tested" but used all the time for rail.... the hyd bender someone posted a pic of will bend it... they run em onsale at harbor freight for $49
the first few dirt track cars i built had black pipe roll cages... whats an extra 200lbs in a racecar right?
you do not really want to heat before you bend it... it will crush cause no way you can heat that much area of pipe evenly...
any sparky with a hyd bender can bend it in 15 min... a muffler shops dies will not fir pipe... a 2.5" tube die might fit 2" pipe but they are made for 11ga & under... it might crack his die...
p
Commercial electrical outfits use a hydraulic pipe bender that will bend pipe easily.
Greenlee, I believe is the brand of bender I have seen used .You might try calling an outfit to see if they will bend the pipe for you at a small cost.
mike
Nah, you gotta go to Tube Turns in Louisville.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Just fill the pipe with sand before you heat and bend it. This will keep it from forming a flat spot on the outer radius of the bend.
Pgaboeing
I have built, full cages in a small race cars JUST the way you descibed.
Not a big deal. Make a jig and bend to what ever shape you need.
Edited 5/19/2007 4:55 pm ET by VAVince