DIY Easy Metal Bender

This bender was put together with a minimum of welding, and could be assembled with no welding......more on that later. All the materials came from my scrap bin and are as follows:

The base is 1 1/4" square tubing, the upper beam is 1 1/4 X 3/8 " flat bar, both 9" long with 1/2" holes drilled in both pieces, 1" on center. 1/2 X 6" bolts hold the main frame together. A 3 1/4" length of 1/2" pipe maintains the width of the main frame at the far end (picture #2). The swing arm is made up of two sections of 1 1/4 X 1/4 X 8" flat bar and welded to a piece of flat bar to maintain a width just under 3 1/4" to fit inside the main frame. It is also drilled 1" on center to match the main frame. The stub handle is a round 7/8 X 6" welded to the swing arm.

You can use almost anything as a bending die, some examples are shown in the first picture.

You need not use the exact materials listed above, just use what you have on hand or can locate free.

A stub handle was used as this makes it easier to store, mine hangs on the wall when not needed. Add a pipe if you need a longer handle. I chose to use square tubing in the base as it makes vice mounting very easy.

You could make this a no weld project if you wish.

The arms in the first picture could be attached together with bolted angle brackets and the stub handle could be a 1/2" diameter bolt through a length of pipe of your choice.

You could also, instead of using the angle brackets, cut a slice off a "C" channel and bolt that in.

I could only locate a couple of projects that used this bender, but there are many more