Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I would like to know what type of tools are used to fabricate aluminum square tube bends like this:



Is there something that I can buy at HF to do the job? Just trying to get an idea of what it would cost to tool up for something like this. I realize there are industrial size tools to do this, but what could a DIY use that would be cost effective? I have no idea yet. Any metal fabrication tradesman out there?

For the large gentile curves, make a "bucK".... Take sheet of plywood, line out curve and screw down wood blocks along line and gently coerce tubing to follow lines by using pressure and gent taping with wood blocks and hammer....

For sharper bends either conduit bender of may be harbor freight bender will do.... Not big monster bender but the lighter bender for ornamental iron work...

Dale

Cliff,

A neighbor and I built a couple of rail sand buggies a few years ago using a bender similar to this. We borrowed it from another VW nut. His had an assortment of mandrels and dies for round and square tube. http://www.jd2.com/

As Dale mentioned, for thinner aluminum tubing you are not going to need much force for gentler curves. For longer, sweeping curves you'll probably end up with a better result if you do make your own form.

For tight corners, something simple like this hand operated unit is probably best. A conduit bender would work, but most are only for round tube/pipe and are only moderately accurate at best (your eyes are just too far away from the bend angle markers when standing and pulling on the handle).

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3755

Shop around. I can't find anything online, but I swear I have seen units like this come in kits with different size and radius dies for both square and round tube for $100 or less. Hand units like these will be capable of bending mild steel, so aluminum would be no problem.

You can get a unit from harbor freight with a 16 ton ram jack...but unless you want to fold your trailer in half, that's a bit overkill.

Dirk

here are some sources

http://www.vansantent.com/model_3_bender.htm
http://www.midamericanonline.com/company_profile.html
http://www.jd2.com/
http://www.metalbendingtool.com/product ... sp?extra=7
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/to/index.html

If you look closely on that trailer, any tight curves are round tubing connected to the square tubing. So the tight bends could be done with something like a conduit bender, and the others by bending them on a buck.

fill the tubing with sand and tape the ends securely and find a tree the same circumference as your bend and have at it..

If you want the real thing try this one. Hossfeld Bender It's considerably more pricey than the knock offs above and the dies can be real expensive but they work really well once you get the hang of it. I've used one quite a bit and it does have a wide learning curve! Getting 2 pieces the same can be just a bit tricky.

I've used Jim's technique too, however the chances of getting 2 pieces the same with it are some what slim.

My opinion of the sand method (except for maybe a "one time" bend) is if you want to play with sand, is go to the beach....

Dale

I would guess the square/rectangular tubing was bent with a roll bender that utilizes three shaped rollers. The real deal, a powered one, is probably not affordable to anyone unless he has a fabrication shop to make money off of it. I had a local wrought iron fabrication shop trial roll a curve in 1" square 16 gage aluminum tubing but the rollers were not set up correctly, it put a nice curve in the tube but deformed it in cross section and made it a bit of a parallelogram. This was the right concept, just the wrong set up of the equipment. You needed to be there to meet the guys that gave it a try...the shop owner wasn't around and probably could have done it correctly. Their machine was similar to this one, but electric powered:

http://bii1.com/specs/ringroll/bii-m10.htm

The forum member who made that aluminum framework probably had access to a machine like that.

Bruce

Thank you all for the tips, and links! I will read, and archive the info and links for future reference. My project wish list is long, and only dreaming at the moment. I do have a 22' aluminum trailer project stripped down to the frame, and ribs. Looking at the structure, it seems simple to construct. I guess the details are in the actual design.

Here are few photos for future inspiration, you probably seen these photos posted before. The owner lives in a neighboring community, and hope to meet him and the trailer in person soon.

Tinstream:

This frame is made of steel, aluminum would be rust free!



This is the interior of my trailer project.

You might want to look at homebuilt aircraft websites for ideas/ techniques. Even better would be to find someone who has built or is building an aircraft. I'm sure a project like yours would get some of these craftsmen very eager to help out.