Hi I'm trying to bend round rings out of 5/16 inch round stock. I'm making trellises for a garden. The sizes would be from 8 inch to 30 inch. I tried my roller for flat stock. The kind that has 3 rolls and groves in the ends of the rolls. It made the rings but is destroying my roller. A friend has a wagon wheel roller but I haven't gone to get it yet. Does anyone have any suggestions. All the rollers I see only do up to 1/4 inch.  I would like to make more then a few these. Thanks Chris

You want to do the bends hot or cold?

A piece of 1/2 round stock bent into a u sticking up in a secure vise.   Feed the stock pull to bend keep feeding and bending.   Draw the curve you want bend to the drawing.   5/16 should be able to be bent cold.  If you are doing many same size build bending jigs.

Hi Glenn and 781 thanks for the response. I'm trying to do it cold. I will try the bending jig in the vice and keep it flat. I didn't keep the tubing  flat the first time I tried to bend green house arches. I have quite a few of these to build. Thanks again Chris 

Greetings Sprig, 

If your friend has a wagon wheel ring roller that will do the job with ease cold . Mine has the groved dies for round stock . I have made many and 5/16 cold is no problem ., Good luck

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

If it is just plain unforged /stock bar, and if you have any quantity to do, check out a ring rolling company. For small batches I have found that they can often supply perfect rolled rings at around the same price I can buy the stock before I start to bend.

The big boys we have in the UK are the Anglering company and Barnshaws. Their websites are quite interesting if you like big bits of bent metal...

Alan

A Hossfeld Bender would do those sections easy, cold.  And so much more.  Spendy to get going but sometimes you see them on craigslist.

Bending 5/16" cold you will likely get a lot of spring back in the stock.

I bend hot 5/16" into rings almost daily and have tried it cold before, it sprung really bad. 

May not matter for your application, just an fyi.

 

I would do them hot. Roll them around a piece of pipe that is the inside diameter you want.

Do as many revolutions as you can.

Cut them all at the same time with a hacksaw and slide them off the pipe(that you rolled them around).

Here are some photos of rings I made sometime back using the technique that anvil described.  I cut mine with an angle grinder and 1/16" cutoff wheel.  I believe my rings were 3/8" HR rod.

 

Tire bender is made for this job.