Bending rebar - How do you do it?

[Ted]

If you have to bend rebar to fit into your formwork, how do you do it? I bend it round the towbar on my truck but I don't think it would do my truck much good if I had to bend the real thick stuff (3/4"+).

There is a tool called a Berkeley Bar Bender that I have heard is good for placing accurate benmds in rebar but it is still a manual machine and it is supposed to be hard work to bend the thick stuff. I have looked for one of these on the internet but just seem to find lots of bars for benders in California!

But I have found this contraption:

http://www.protoolsexpress.com/cart/images_products/31360_big.jpg

Which looks more expensive than a Berkeley Bar Bender!

What do you use to bend rebar?

[seanandruby]

why dont you buy it already bent? you can make one with sleepers or something you can drill holes in. place offcuts of 20 ml rebar upright in approprriate places for your bend and bend with some sort of sleeving i e. scaffold tube. its a lot of hard time consuming work. 25ml takes some bending m8. good look.

[Ted]

I have only seen it bent 90 degrees. What if you need to bend it so one piece is 6', then 90 degree bend then 1.75' then 90 degree bend then 6' then 90 degree bend then 1.75' to take you back to beginning - ie a rectangle of rebar to give strength to the perimeter of a slab?

[lutonlagerlout]

if i have to bend it i use the lugs on the skip
we normally buy in L bars or U bars that have been specified from an engineers drawing
TBH i have never seen a lot of bending on site ,mainly cutting and wiring
cheers LLL

[Dave_L]

Digger bucket and blade, works a treat!!*




* More so on a hired machine

[Ted]

Skips, towbars, diggers, railway sleepers etc are all good ideas

trouble is I am looking to put real accurate bends in and am looking to bend more then 180 degrees with each length...

[Dave_L]

Then surely that is work for a machine shop with a press-break.....

[Ted]

http://www.constructioncomplete.com/Con ... anual.html

I have found some manual rebar benders online. Trouble is buying from the US is pricey; fortunately the pound is strong and the dollar weak!

I want to avoid farming out rebar bending to a shop; take too lond, cost too much. I think it is woirth getting one of these machines. Just can't find them available in England. No-one seems to have heard of them.

[andpartington]

ted
good old flebay

the top one might be just the thing I think bit pricy and I would wont to see it working before I spent that sort of money

[Ted]

That looks a good tool - it even bends 1 1/4" rebar which I have never used. But it costs a fortune. I wonder what they cost new! Think the cheaper manual one may suit my pockets more. Thanks anyway.

[andpartington]

I guessed that would be the problem but.
It all depends on how much u will be using it. I have never used rebar but I can imagine the problems
Its the dogs dangly bits but u would have to have a genney with u

[lutonlagerlout]

would these be any good ted??
just a thought
regards LLL

[andpartington]

just the job that lll
lol
andy

[bkdavies86]

Why not just hire one? as if your not a steel fixer i'd doubt you'll get full use if it.

Just an idea, a groundworks firm i know get all there steel cages produced off site. Its great as it keeps the site clean, the connections are welded and turns up when you call it off.

Or like the others said, buy it in pre-bent or there is a firm Tomasa (i think) based in horley, surrey who will bend steelwork to specific requirements

[TarmacLady]

Boys, drop me a PM if you need any assistance or advice getting things from the States -- I'll help any way I can.

I know nowt about these companies, but I also found: barbenders.co.uk
toolmart.co.uk