Forgive me if I sound paranoid, but are you a metal working hobbyist looking to expand your tools and capabilities? or are you looking for a way to talk about your product?.....if not, I apologize in advance. But I have seen lots of first posts like this one in my time as a moderator here on the forum.
I will bite a little bit until we know more about you...
WELCOME TO THE AWS WELDING FORUM!!
I don't have theirs but I have a similar bender that I am happy with. They perform very well within certain boundaries and with lots of practice. If I don't use it regularly I forget how to do most of what I need to do and have to experiment a lot.
I think theirs is a little expensive though I am not one to advocate buying 'cheap' tools and equipment.
Have a Great Day, Brent
metalartist
When I was doing ornamental iron,(at night, out of my garage, in the 70's), I just drilled some holes in the table to the sizes I wanted.
And I also bet mine was a lot less expensive and a lot more satisfying.
Just my ¢¢’s
Good Luck
Marshall
PS
John
It isn't paranoia it's experience.
I'm a welder for long time and i'm been aroun to ornamental work seen's i was a child because of my ancle and him or I never buy a scroll bender I made it my self all shapes and sizes because I belive to be a thru ornamental iron work fabricator you can be able to do your own ''tools and set ups'' at list that what I'm been toll.
For smaller stuff you can just use a couple pieces of angle set horizontally with round bar mounted vertically. Put two of these together and put in a vise. I will admit, I'm not all blacksmithy with making my own dies, etc., for making scrolls and I did buy a metalcraft scroll bender. It works really well and have used it for some projects but it is pricey for the large one but it will bend 2"x1/4" flat bar, up to 5/8" square. I can layout my scrolls on the computer and go down, cut the material and get what I need pretty quickly. Sure, it's not "old school" and if I had to do it that way I could if I wanted to but if I can use the machine to do it a bit quicker then that is better, don't make it worse or any less of a scroll. Besides that my space is limited and will most likely rarely use the same scroll pattern, size so having a bunch of different pieces laying around, hanging on walls and the time invested in making them, I can buy the bender. I'm sure there is a way to roll tube or bar "old school" but how many of us out there actually do that? Typically we have a roll machine or take it to someone who does. Just my .02
Shawn
I had an "old timer" who came to work for me, heres some of the B.S. he spouted, #1 "welders never clean handrail thats what laborers are for" #2 " why did you spend all that money on a pipe bender ? You can buy any fitting you need from a supplier!" #3 What a wast of money (pipe roller), I can fill the pipe w/sand and heat and make any radius I want!!!!! # 4 I have always welded handrail w/6010 why use a wire feeder? #4 A "TRUE" blacksmith makes all his tools, jigs , ETC. To this I respond "Yeah when steel was .08/lb. and labor was $1.00/hr., fuel was cheap, cars were fun to drive,and we didn't have cell phones" but we live in a GLOBAL economy and if you don't learn the BEST/ ECONOMICAL way to do something (sometimes the old way) you CAN"T stay in business because you can't COMPETE!!!!! ( the old timer finally realized if you want to retire, just stay home)
So true.
We are WAY BEYOND all the 'When I Was A Boy...' stories. I'm getting close to being one of the 'old timers'. And, there are things I can't afford to add to my shop's inventory. BUT, there are many things that need to be done totally different than even just a few years ago in order to keep cost down, production and quality up, and customers happy.
Those who can't keep REASONABLY up with technology and economy deserve to be going out of business.
There will always be a place for ingenuity in our trade. But there is also a place for progress and common sense. Few of us do TRUE wrought iron in railings. But there can and should be as much craftsmanship and pride in a well done job as the best blacksmith ever had.
Have a Great Day, Brent
Well as far as "homemade" ones go.....I have done the pegs on the table.....made a powered bender with a hydraulic motor stuck thru a table with slotted attachments on it and a movable arm beside it to adjust the radius as you go, it worked pretty well but you really had to pay attention to make matching sets. Have done the same thing with a hand crank version out of roundbar out in the shop a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it is just me, but I kinda like the look of the stuff that is not perfect...you know it was handmade and has a little love in it. It is a whole lot easier just to let them pick stuff out of the King catalog.
By Cumminsguy71 
Date 03-14-2011 12:25
Edited 03-14-2011 18:01
I just priced out a job to a guy. He wanted scrolls in the railing but instead of being in there the normal way he wanted them 90 degrees to the rail. I figured out how many, 36, then I figured how tall, how big on the lower/upper hoops and began my search thru the major suppliers. Found nothing that would work for what I was making. Shot the guy a price to hand make all 36 scrolls to my specs.....funny, never heard back from him!! LoL!! My little bender still leaves alot to human error, you eyeball your stopping point, steel spring back, does not end up perfectly flat, on and on. It's more or less somebody built the dies for me and gave me a way to roll it.
Oh, and can't and won't bad mouth the old school ways, on my budget old school ways are how I get things done!!
