How to machine this part?

How long does the bender shoe have to be? How deep can you bore on your lathe? Long enough that you could bore the square stock quarter the length, then split the two bored pieces making them into four pieces? Did you watch TOT’s build of his Hosfeld bender? I’m pretty sure he addresses this, but it’s been years. Most benders I’ve used had a shorter shoe, maybe you could get away with a shorter two piece?
 
C-Bag said:
How long does the bender shoe have to be? How deep can you bore on your lathe? Long enough that you could bore the square stock quarter the length, then split the two bored pieces making them into four pieces? Did you watch TOT’s build of his Hosfeld bender? I’m pretty sure he addresses this, but it’s been years. Most benders I’ve used had a shorter shoe, maybe you could get away with a shorter two piece?
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well, the shoe has to cover the length of hte bend or you get collapsing/crushing of the tube. I have thought of doing a different type of bender where the shoe is actually a smaller die roller. that keeps the support right at where the bend is formed yet doesn't have to be pulled through with the tube as the bender does it's work....
 
great white said:
a smaller die roller. that keeps the support right at where the bend is formed yet doesn't have to be pulled through with the tube as the bender does it's work....
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Bingo, I would make two, one to guide, one at the bend.
 
great white said:
Needs to cut at least 1018 steel…
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It doesn't say it is carbide, but the photo sure looks like it is carbide. If so, it will cut steel. May not be the most pleasant experience, but I bet it would work with some hogging out some of the material first.
 
WobblyHand said:
It doesn't say it is carbide, but the photo sure looks like it is carbide. If so, it will cut steel. May not be the most pleasant experience, but I bet it would work with some hogging out some of the material first.
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Looks to have brazed on inserts, but no way of knowing if its hss brazed to mild steel or carbide. Given the price, I’d lean towards hss….
 
WobblyHand said:
Well, HSS will machine 1018...
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True, but I‘ve always found hss tooling made for wood working are pretty much “topped out” using it on aluminum.

Probably has to do with the cutting surface angles as much as anything else…
 
@MrWhoopee's solution, a woodcutting router bit should work, if you rough it first with a ball endmill so you're not taking more than a .005 or so cut. I'd certainly try that first.

Another option is to rough it out with a ball endmill. Then turn it up on its side so the long axis is aligned to the X-axis on your mill, and the open face is facing to side (not up like shown). Then use a fly cutter with a ground HSS form tool matching a section of the 1.125" curvature. You'd need to hand grind a few HSS form tools (depending on the width of the tool blank). You can flip your form tool over, run your mill in reverse, and do the other part of the radius (top vs bottom).
 
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