First pair of homemade handlebars..

[upside]

Grabbed some 7/8 tube stock from the hopper at work this morning and fabbed these up after watching some football.

Not 100% perfect but not bad for my first shot at it. let me know what you think.

 

[Tomterrific]

When I saw the subject line I suspected a real horror show but those aren't too bad. Good job with the style.

 

[upside]

Lol, Thanks. I think with a lil more finessing and some PC they should end up
just fine.

 

[jd750ace]

I like it. Not only is the bottom bend hard to make without collapsing the tube, It contributes to steering flex. Looks like it will feel like a superbike or Daytona bend, but be a bit more rigid with the "hard joint" at the lower angle. Looks good.

On the subject of bending tubing, does anyone know if sand packing works as well on steel as it does on aluminum to prevent flattening and excessive wall compression/stretch?

 

[hotrdd]

I've also wondered if I could jsut fill the tube wiith water and cap the ends? OR is sand better?

 

[livingdeadmc]

Lol you've never seen a water heater go have you? Don't use water use dry sand only if your gonna apply heat to make your bend....

 

[jd750ace]

sand is good for the heat, and much more dense, especially if you get that fine white sand they use in fish tanks. If you vibrate the pipe, pack it with a dowel, and then tape over the ends (you will need some excess length) and smash them flat in a vice, then hammer the ends tight as hell with a ball peen hammer, the tube will stay round and consistient on both the inside and outside of the bend. For a quick look on how to do it, watch Flight of the Phoenix, the original. Does not cover closing the ends up for density retention though!

When you are done, cut off the crimped ends and pour out the sand.

 

[Cafe-Dave]

Dry the sand in your oven until convinced it really is dry. Weld a flat cap on the end of the tube you are going to bend. Fill with sand, hit it with a hammer lightly, fill some more, etc until full. Weld a flat cap on the open end. Drill a small hole in the cap, just in case you didn't get the sand dry.

Heat, bend, Squish, whatever. Works nice making small stuff.

 

[angus67]

looks good, but did you grind off the welds to smooth it out? Are you sure you only grinded the welds? Not dissin your skills, but make sure those joints arent paper thin, eh?

 

[jd750ace]

You're supposed to mount them to an upper door casing and do 30 pull-ups on them to "load test" them!

Cafe Dave, I missed the part about drying the sand, but if you crimp the ends, any moisture can escape. I do it with aircraft plumbing, so I can't weld caps on, but I hear ya! I crimp my ends in a vice and then hammer toward the sand to pack it even tighter. I use the "commerical" pure silica sand, like they used to use in ashtrays, back when smoking was legal.

 

[Cafe-Dave]

It works great making hydraulic and fuel lines, thin wall stuff. If you're trying to bend big DOM tubing, welding a cap on will be easier than trying to squish 0.065 wall tubing.

 

[upside]

looks good, but did you grind off the welds to smooth it out? Are you sure you only grinded the welds? Not dissin your skills, but make sure those joints arent paper thin, eh?

yeah, its hard to see in the picture but there is still high spots where i didnt completely grind the welds flush with the bar. like you said i didnt want to go too thin, most likley ill never use these bars they were just a prototype to learn from. ill be atempting a few more bars here shortly, hopefully progressing in quality and design.

 

[jd750ace]

Too bad everyone doesen't own a good TIG machine and know how to use it well. TIG is the shit for precision welds.