Up-date on bending a pipe

[Crem]

Here is an up-date on bending that 2 1/2" pipe for a boom pole. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. One shop would have bent it for $40 but I didn't want to spend that. I didn't have a large hydraulic bender on hand so I went to both a muffler and an electrical shop and neither one wanted to touch it. I guess that I don't blame them as the wall thickness is pretty good on that size pipe. I decided to bend it in a tree crotch and bent it until it started kinking in two areas. A helper holding the pipe in the proper place in the tree would have helped with that part of the bending. To finish the bend I used a chop saw to saw about 1/2 way through in the places that I needed more bend and used a come along hooked on each end to force the bend. Then I welded up the sawed areas. I found out that even though I had a manufactured pattern to look at, it takes some effort to get everything lined up properly and a quite a bit of hard work cutting, welding and cleaning it up. I still think it was worth building as it is heavier duty than the bought one. I had all of the materials on hand in my miscellaneous scrap. It ended up weighing 25 lbs more than the store boom.

 

[Crem]

Here is the pole in use with my MF 165 that could overload it. I do have a heavy duty boom pole for this tractor that can lift enough to raise the front wheels but it is heavier to attach and is more awkward for smaller jobs.

 

[Ken-Pa]

Looks very professionally done . You earned the privlige to be proud (sweet). I too enjoy challenges like fabricating things for using on my Ford tractor . I built my own subsoiler , drawbar V ,reconstructed an original 8n bumper to look as good as new & am reconstructing an old set of disc . Its fun & challenging . Rewarding when finished also . God bless

 

[Anonymous-0]

Move the chain down the pole and increase the lift, why couldn't you put it in from the back without lifting it so high.These things have a swl and the front wheels leaving the ground would be a worry.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Farm equipment shop bent my pipe no charge.I fixed the owners tv for years previous.I bought one of their bandsaw mills when I needed one.

 

[S.Crum]

Nice job!
As others have said, just be careful of the load. You can make those tractors real light in the front real fast. Very exciting if your moving, NOT!

 

[Crem]

Bendee, you are right on loading it from the back of the trailer and hooking further down the pole. I just wanted to see if it would clear the trailer racks and that tractor can easily handle the weight back there. I normally only go as high as needed and then keep it close to the ground when transporting. I did load it on the trailer from the back with my son's New Holland with a shorter pole.

 

[Crem]

Here is the smaller tractor and the load is hooked further down the pole. The reason the load is so high is because I was checking out the operation to see if everything worked OK with the new pole. I added a grab hook at the middle of the pole so that it is easy to adjust the height of the chain. I believe that it was Hobo who came up with that idea and posted it on another boom pole discussion.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I saw that trick about the come-along in a video of a guy building a street rod frame.Your job came out real nice!

 

[Commentator]

Greenlee or Gardner Bender hydraulic bender for rigid electrical conduit. Larger electrical contractors have them.
bender

 

[Hobo,NC]

Yep it was something I stumbled across,,, the stabilizer bar trick comes in handy also

http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?p=1930178&highlight=#1930178

 

[Crem]

Hobo, thanks for posting that link. Your picture shows the grab hook better. That is a very handy idea. I use a choker strap quite often when lifting odd loads and was thinking that I should have made a hook to attach the strap. I have a good sized swivel hook with the lock that I am going to install on the end of my chain and now am thinking that would hold the loop of the strap at the height and location needed. Does anyone have a better idea for attaching the strap?

 

[Crem]

Hi Commentator,
Those benders shown at your link are nice and also expensive. Before I retired I used them a few times and never liked the job because of not using it much and trying to get the bend in the right place. I asked one electrical contractor and they looked at the pipe and didn't want to bend it. I think that water pipe actually has a little thicker wall than rigid conduit. I can see their point as they are geared up to getting their work done. If I walk in with a pipe, they have to disrupt what they are doing and if they don't do too much of the larger stuff they have to set it up and figure out what I want etc. It can get too disruptive for what they can get out of it. I am going to look around at swap meets for one of those cheaper benders but have to watch it as most of those only will bend up to 2" pipe. This one was a 2 1/2" pipe.