Bending Stainless Steel Flat Bar

Bar and flat bending of stainless steel round bar flat bar sheet and plate can be bent using a press brake bending machine or ring rolling.

Bending stainless steel flat bar.

I think dimensions wise your bending brake will work but i don t know if it will be able to put a clean sharp bend in 3 16 bar you think. Choose the right steel alloy. If you do not have access to a press brake your other option is to use an oxy acetylene torch to heat the rod and then bend the heated area of the rod. Bending the metal when the area along the line is bright orange turn off the torch and set it aside.

Some over bending will be required to counteract spring back of the bend. If it didn t break from the tight radius of the bend. As you bend a stainless steel sheet the bend area cold hardens increasing the amount of pressure required to finish the bend. This makes bending stainless steel with common hand tools difficult and a sheet metal brake is often required although one technique to bend stainless steel using hand tools works well on shorter length bends.

When you bend a stainless steel rod mechanically with a press brake you create a bend that has a true radius. Press straight down with one hand on the end of the metal applying uniform firm pressure to bend it on the line left. If doing a big bend i would heat with a torch first. Due to work hardening bending should be done quickly.

Bending flat material and bars flat sheet plate and bar products can be bent using the press brake or bending machine. The stronger the steel the more the bend will approximate a v while the weaker the steel the more the bend will look like a u. Stainless steel is even harder to bend. 304 is a relatively ductile stainless and will bend to some degree.

A cold rolled bar is shinier than a hot rolled bar but is also harder to bend. Of the two ways heating the stainless steel rod is the most commonly used way to. The work should be executed as quickly as possible due to work hardening characteristics of stainless steels and a degree of over bending is necessary to counteract the springback of the bend. Bending it could would work harden it and strengthen it substantially.

Most steel bars are either hot rolled or cold rolled. Dan i don t know the exact dimensions yet but it ll probably be a 2 x5 flat bar 1 8 or 3 16 thickness i edited the pic.