Hi,

I have a charity job that involves the making a very simple hair pin fence. I am unsure of the fastest and cheapest way to bend the hair pins. I do not have any benders other than a conduit bender. They will be made from 1/2 diameter steel rod the bend will be 180 degres with about a 2 inch radius or roughly 4 inch diameter. I need to make about 40 feet of the fence. Thanks

karl

60 pieces? I bet you could build a wood die and bend them cold using a pivot and a 2x4 as a lever.

The die would probably be at the end of its life when you finished if you used stud lumber.

Phil

get a 3 " plumbing coupling and make a bending fork, simple.....fast .......clean. Will be ok with the 4" code

I did a similar thing back when with a sch40 pipe as a mandrel. (Nominal 1-1/2" is just shy of 2" dia.) Heat the middle & keep the ends cool. Bend. Done.

Assuming your fence is two horizontal rails with pickets at the code specified distance, You can fabricate the fence with the bent pieces welded onto the top rail, as though they were one piece. Just have the pickets inserted into the punched holes in the top rail leaving one half the hole in the rail for fitting the bent pieces in place.Shorter pieces to bend, easier to fit, and maybe faster. I am always looking for a way to avoid heating the middle of a long bar.

Assuming your fence is two horizontal rails with pickets at the code specified distance, You can fabricate the fence with the bent pieces welded onto the top rail, as though they were one piece. Just have the pickets inserted into the punched holes in the top rail leaving one half the hole in the rail for fitting the bent pieces in place.Shorter pieces to bend, easier to fit, and maybe faster. I am always looking for a way to avoid heating the middle of a long bar.

1/2" diameter bar is easily bent cold, no need for heating, just a jig and roller lever bending fork pivoted from the jigs centre..

A length of pipe that slips over the stock makes for good leverage without having to make special tools. This is actually pretty straightforward process.

Frosty the Lucky.