My dad wants to bend some forks for a recumbent. It's in the experimental stages. Does anyone in the pdx/metro area have a tubing bender they would be willing to loan? Thanks!
Chrome moly. The radius: unknown, probably doesn't matter too much. I assume a larger radius is stronger.
The bend radius is set by the die and is not adjustable. There is a product called cerrobend that you can fill a tube with to get a good bend. It then melts out at a low temperature. You can also fill the tube with sand or shot and cap the ends to contain it to get a smooth bend without collapsing the tube.
Yeah,,and how many times have you followed those procedures and had guaranteed and repeatable results? Please show step by step photos of your products. Sand,,,:huh pack it! you know where!
Try a local custom muffler shop or in PDX, or a shop that builds up off-road jeeps or rock crawlers. Take a piece of tube to try some sample bends. Would likely be of a radius about 5x or 6x tube OD. Bigger radius is bigger die (expensive.) CrMo is high yield point stuff, hard to do at home. Having the right tools for this sort of material is the only practical way. Happy bending!