Yes, I did note such arrangements but felt it was over kill at the time.
I guess once I give mine a run I will know more.
Mine would not cut staraight at all when I first acquired it and this is may very 1st experience with bandsaws period.
You jusyt go with your gut on somethings.
If mine cuts better than before I will feel I have gained something, but then again as a novice I maybe just dreaming...

 

Shortbus, can you offer me a cutting tip design to use in my radius cutter?
I have a piece of 8mm square tool steel that will be my starting point.
I have only ever ground up 1 cutter before and it did the job, but I'll never know if it was right.
I'd like to be as correct as possible this time to save wasted time and effort, since it is going to take some time cutting in small cuts.

I've been debating whether to make this a 42mm or 48mm OD concave radius.
I think I've settled on 48mm for now. If it works out doing 42mm next would be easier...

 

I haven't ever used a radius cutter made like that, but if doing it I would start out with grinding the cutter similar to a threading tool. But with a smaller included angle, like maybe 45degrees instead of 60. You will need relief angles on both sides, And a small radius instead of a point.

It may take a few tries to get the correct sharpening figured out but the above should be a good starting place.

As far as the radius its self goes you don't want it to be the same as you tube, you need some clearance to allow the bend not to grip the tube too tight. Too tight will make for more force to do the bend.

 

I'm not making much head way lately.
Been way too hot in my shop.
Most days over 40 degrees C forecast, but way hotter than that in my shop...

 

Been way too hot in my shop.
Most days over 40 degrees C forecast, but way hotter than that in my shop...

I'll trade you some cold for some of your heat. Was 18*F/-7.8C here today. But then I have a couple of gas wells on the property and get free gas, so I keep the shop at around 68*F/20C.

 

I am the opposite, no gas here for free, so I have 32 solar panels and a Tesla battery.
On a perfect sunny day I can produce over 60kW of power and generally about 50% of that gets fed back into the grid for credits.

Wish I had 2 Tesla batteries as one just aint enough when demand is high at night for a/c.
I use gas heating in winter, which is much cheaper and since our winters are mild all is good.

Never had an Electric Bill over $100 (every 2 months) since installing it all, which aint bad considering included in that, the Power Company hits us all with a $50 meter reading charge.
I'd read meters all day at $50 a house...

 

Never had an Electric Bill over $100

Even with all of the welding and machining I do my electric bill is only between $50 and $60 per month.

 

Fortunately you dont live in a country that costs the earth on almost every purchase.
I'm sure you recall some of my previous posts where I have mentioned what things cost.
I have friends without solar panels paying around $500+ every 2 months for their electricity.
Our car annual registraion fees are close enough to $1,000 per year.
I assume you are getting the idea as to where I am coming from now...

 

Never made it back to the main game of my tube bender, as I got distracted with another side project that had been on my mind for quite a while, but components were not available from my usual sources.

Well, that changed the other day when I got a pair of trailer jockey wheels for $10 each.
I chopped the wheels off and added a foot and a couple of pieces of angle iron to the sides and with a coat of paint and some Tek screws, I now have some drop down legs that prevent my guillotine from rolling and also takes the weight off the wheels.

I scored all 8 of those double roller castor wheels in another deal for $20 which included the metal that I recycled into the current configuration.
I hate waste...
They will carry weight, but it just seemed dumb to expect them to sit in the one spot mostly with all that weight on them.

With that behind me, I head directly back to my bender project and continue to pray for milder weather.

 

I am going call today fruitful Friday, as I have finally gotten my big chunk of metal running in my lathe and my radius cutter setup to make my initial cuts.
I probably was over thinking this task, but I guess it was better to err on the side of caution with so much at stake.

I tried making my own cutter tip out of what I thought and do believe to be tool steel, but it failed not because the shape was wrong for cutting, but it just wore out so darn quick. It did cut quite well, but just was too soft.
I fear, I could have affected its hardness while shaping it...

Not to be beaten, I had a small set of ebay cutters in a set and decided to sacrifice one of the holders by grinding the stem down in size to fit the square hole in my radius cutter post.
That way I could also replace cutting tips as required.

I installed this cutting tool into my radius cutter and while not perfect, it does cut quite good.
Initially, I discovered that my tool body/frame was flexing, which was annoying , so I braced it with a spine gusset and and another bracket gusset which improved accuarcy and performance.

It had been mentioned to me previously, that in my small lathe I should expect chatter/vibration during cutting.
So far I have not, but early on I experienced a little gouging by the cutting tip, but it turned out that my cutting tip had come loose or was not fully tightened from the start.
That fixed, I have been able to remove an impressive amount of metal during each cut when compared to my lathe size and capability.

I am figuiring I am removing about 3mm depth every 45 minutes.
I have about 9mm removed to date.
The time taken is related mostly to the fact that I have had to run a slow speed due to the large diameter of the project and also because of the small amount of HP I have to turn such a large mass while cutting.

What is obvious now, but I had not really given any thought to, is that the deeper I cut into my radius, the greater the surface area I am having to cut.
This said, even though the surface area is increasing, so is my improved ability and confidence, so between that and as I have cut in I have increased my lathe speed slightly which is now giving me a better cut in a shorter time, so I remain at about 3mm for 45 minutes.

Heat from cutting is minimal which is good and a surprise benefit although I actually hate it, is the laser cut line across my cutting face which clicks on each rotation, this turns out to be a great breaker of swarf, so I am not getting a continuous feed of swarf that can be annoying and clog up my cutter.

I do believe that, if I had the ability to maintain a faster speed, then chatter might have been an issue...

 

I'm not making much head way lately.
Been way too hot in my shop.
Most days over 40 degrees C forecast, but way hotter than that in my shop...

Enjoy the warmth… I’m in the red area along the coast

 

Yep, I hear you djsfantasi.
I am assuming those inch readings is snow???
I like snow in postcard pictures...

You just got to be so careful what you wish for these days weather wise.
You want a cool change and you end up with a foot of snow.
Same here, you'd like an nice warm, sunny day and you get 40+C.

It is much cooler this last couple of days, but then we get hit with humidity and boy do I hate humidity.
However, the dry AZ style heat is headed back our way in a day or two, can't complain after all it is the middle of summer and that heat should help kill covid stuff...

 

I am pleased to report that my major machining project of the bending form for 48mm (1 7/8") OD tube has been completed.
I still have much housekeeping and cleaning up to do and in this current hot weather where I am located it ain't much fun in my shop.
Once tidied up, I will start this same process over again for 44mm (1 3/4") OD tube and that will satisfy the goals set by me at the beginning of this project.

There always remains the possibility that I may produce other size forms, but for now that will do me.
I must confess to not enjoying this process all that much.
The main joy comes from finishing each one, which means one less to do!!!

I dont see any point documenting a similar repeat machining exercise, so I will be off the radar for a while or until I have some further progress to report.
No doubt the 44mm form will require less material to be machined off and now having a little experience behind me I guess it will proceed quicker this time...

My buddy is keen for me to do a 1 5/8" form that suits exhaust pipe for making extractors, but for now I have shied away from doing any more forms.

Once these forms are done, I anticipate the need to machine some roller guides, so with a bit of luck I am hoping one pair of these roller guides will suffice for all tube sizes that are in the range that I am working with.

In the meantime, the drivers side electric window on my 1960 F100 has stopped working and sadly for me it has left me with an open window. Not the best situation since I run a/c in it and of course it is difficult to secure when I leave it any where.
So if anybody happens to be a electric window guru speak up.

Initially, I figure the auto electrician who wired the electric windows for me cut the wires a tad short and door movement was pulling on the wires. A couple of slams of the door and jiggle of wires blindly in the door inner space seemed to work in the past.
However, this time I discovered the wire lead with a small plug on the end had disconnected and dropped away from the window motor.
I spent the morning cutting the plug off and extending the wire loom by about 6 inches to ensure that there would be no tension during door movement. I put my cell phone camera in the door space tpo determing where the plug was and its orientation and felt I was good to go for a reconnect.
I reconnect and no response, the window winder did not operate...
Hmm, scratching my head, I took a test light and connected across the removed plug and when the switch was activated the light came on, so I figure my power supply to my electric motor is OK.

Anybody have any thoughts as to what else I should be looking for?
The F100 is used often but nothing like a regular car and hence the electric windows have not seen all that much use.
If the motor is shot, are all motors similar or do I need to look harder to find a match?
The electric window setup came as a universal fit kit off eBay a few years ago and I would hold my breath expecting any help from the Seller even if I could locate him, plus that was purchased when I was in the States and now I am not...

 

The former looks pretty good, but from the ones I have it doesn't go close enough to the tube center line. But try it and you can modify it if you get buckles in the bend. Have you thought of making the roller guides(?) with a "V" shape, instead of a dedicated radius? That way one set of rollers would work for many sizes of tube. The bottom, inside of the "V" doesn't need to go to a sharp point and can be a flat at the bottom, more like a "U" than a "V".

On the window regulator, are you sure it's the motor its self? Or is there a broken gear? taking the black plastic looking cover off would be my first move, to see if the gears are good. The motor it's self is probably a standard thing, but the worm gear on the shaft will be the problem, motors don't come with them.

That said I have a Chevy Colorado truck that the lift mechanism broke on and while waiting on the part, I lifted the window up by hand and put a wedge between the door opening and the glass. It kept the rain out until I found a new regulator.

 

The former looks pretty good, but from the ones I have it doesn't go close enough to the tube center line. But try it and you can modify it if you get buckles in the bend. Have you thought of making the roller guides(?) with a "V" shape, instead of a dedicated radius? That way one set of rollers would work for many sizes of tube. The bottom, inside of the "V" doesn't need to go to a sharp point and can be a flat at the bottom, more like a "U" than a "V".

On the window regulator, are you sure it's the motor its self? Or is there a broken gear? taking the black plastic looking cover off would be my first move, to see if the gears are good. The motor it's self is probably a standard thing, but the worm gear on the shaft will be the problem, motors don't come with them.

That said I have a Chevy Colorado truck that the lift mechanism broke on and while waiting on the part, I lifted the window up by hand and put a wedge between the door opening and the glass. It kept the rain out until I found a new regulator.

Shortbus, I hear with regards to my center line depth.
I am kind of between a rock and ahrd place in that regard.
I used the biggest drop out that would fit my lathe, yet I am also aware that I must maintain as large a radius as possible to have any chance of bending 48mm OD tube.
I did want to go in deeper with my cut, but decided to just make it to center of tube for now.
The possibility is that I could weld a curved length of square bar around the edge to create that extra side wall support depth.
A test bend in the future will decide that for me I guess.
Even at 100mm radius, which is what I have right now, I expect that I could be in trouble, but who know, time will tell.

With regards to the roller guides, I like your idea and will try to impliment it.
I need to go junkyard hunbting once more to find some suitable round bar stock.
My wife is always amazed at some of the rusty metal I bring home and then after one cut with the lather it looks like new underneath.

The window winder motor just wont run. It seems to be elctrical.
Worst part is that since the motor will not run, and the location that it ended up in is going to be difficult, but not impossible to remove and remove it.
A local guy here tells me my motor looks a lot like a Ford Falcon unit still in great supply so I will get my motor out on a cooler day and start vehicle wrecking yard searches or maybe even eBay on this occasion if I can find one similar looking without going to China...

 

I finally got my drive motor out of the door space, found that it was a sealed unit and so just a motor swap was less likely an option.
I wore out some shoe leather and tire rubber counter knocking around town.
Very unhelpful, this younger generation, just got stonewalled mostly with NO's and no interest at all, but I did get a couple of rough leads.

Needless to say I found a like minded car guy behind one counter, younger generation that snuck thru the cracks, obviously raised well.
He tells me he will find something similar that may work.
True to his word and restoring my faith in human nature, he came up with a close match, which will still require some mods, but what the heck, I now have something to work with.

I still dont know what year Toyota it is off, but the model is called a Kluger over here...
So, in the next couple of days I will have it all sorted I guess.

In the meantime, I have prepared my next metal drop out piece for machining into a form that will hopefully bend 44mm (1 3/4") diameter tube.
These drop outs ain't getting any lighter.

 

Sorry folks, no progress to speak of.
Got my 3rd Covid jab and I've spent the last week in hospital.
No fun at all and my recovery is not expected to be all that fast.
So, I'll be back once I am feeling better.

It seems I dont do vaccine stuff that well.
All 3 jabs have had side effects, but this 3rd has been by far the worst.

 

Sorry to hear that your in the hospital, hope you get well soon. I have a daughter in law in the hospital with Covid, not doing too well though. They have her in a coma and on a respirator now, she's been there for over a week.

 

Thanks to the folks who have sent me their best wishes.
I am still only 60% recovered now.
It's been slow and tough.
I'm just not ready to get back into my shop yet.
Then I still got to get past the Dr and the wife...

Wish me luck with those two.

Russ.

 

Glad to see you back, I've been worried about you. In the case of my daughter in law she ended up passing away. But even that happening wasn't enough to make my 3 boys get the vaccine.