how to straighten out warped steel bar?

[CT Jay]

Thanks for all the advice and great ideas, guys.

One more question......I've been thinking for a while now about getting a plasma cutter. There's something about having O/A torch equipment in my untrained hands that makes me hesitate in going the torch route, as a non pro, along with dealing with refilling or exchanging tanks and all that......I have shielding gas for the welder, but I'm not concerned there about igniting the shed or blowing myself into the next life out of ignorance and lack of training.....

....but my question now is.....can I also use a plasma cutter to generate high heat, as with an O/A torch, without cutting, as a feature of the device in order to do things like heat & straighten out that bend in the steel bar?

 

[BXpanded]

Thanks for all the advice and great ideas, guys.

One more question......I've been thinking for a while now about getting a plasma cutter. There's something about having O/A torch equipment in my untrained hands that makes me hesitate in going the torch route, as a non pro, along with dealing with refilling or exchanging tanks and all that......I have shielding gas for the welder, but I'm not concerned there about igniting the shed or blowing myself into the next life out of ignorance and lack of training.....

....but my question now is.....can I also use a plasma cutter to generate high heat, as with an O/A torch, without cutting, as a feature of the device in order to do things like heat & straighten out that bend in the steel bar?

No, they're called plasma CUTTERS for a reason.

 

[BXpanded]

If it's just a 3/8 flat bar it should bend pretty easily.
1 Try a chain and floor jack.
2 Lean it against a tree and push with your loader.
3 Use a cutting disc on your grinder and make some slices across the bar, Pull it fairly straight and weld.
4 Make multiple passes across the bar with your MIG. Do it with some forethought and make them serve as wear beads so you don't need to grind them off.

 

[Bison]

Put it under a hydr press or use a sledge hammer

Support 3" away each side of a tooth and put press on the backside of the tooth.
Bends are right at the welds(shrinkage)

Take it 1 tooth at the time and you get it straight as an arrow

 

[troutsqueezer]

Looks like you've got a lot of equipment hanging around. Got a log splitter? It'll bend that easily.

 

[Shield Arc]

Here is some heat shrinking on some 12-inch beams that got away from me during the welding.










I used batter boards, string line and plumb bobs to monitor alignment.

 

[CT Jay]

All you guys are great.....I should have made a dozen ugly warped toothbars to keep me going at all the suggestions ... (except barbecueing the thing on the grill...couldn't explain to wife).

So, here's what my options are....and aren't...

- Don't have O/A torch

- Don't (yet) have plasma cutter

- Don't have a log splitter - - just a chipper (useless for this job)

- Don't have railroad rails

- Don't have hydraulic press

- Already tried cooking the thing with propane weed torch - no go

- Already tried FEL push, but tractor's not heavy enough

- Do have metal bender, but can't get the toothbar into it -- too wide for the bender

- Do have some 6 ton bottle jacks

- Do have 7 ton Warn winch

- Do have big sledge

- Like to grind (but that'll get old pretty fast)

- Like to hear the sizzle when I mig weld (and the auto-darken helmet amazes me with every trigger squeeze)


So, I've narrowed it down to two options....and in this order I'll try them, as follows....

1 - jury-rig up a bending kluge, using a tree, a wide square 2" board to protect the tree, some plate, two bottle jacks, a couple of 6x6 wood blocks, some clamps, some hardened chains, and maybe the winch.....and s-l-o-w-l-y reverse-bend the thing until it either complies, breaks, or accomplishes nothing. (pics to follow).

2 - - I'll cross line-score the bottom of the bar at the existing weld points as per bxpanded's suggestion (he makes great & solid accessories, which means he knows stuff) ..... then weld a bunch of mig wire cross-wise onto the bottom, at each shank point, one at a time until each section gets dull red, and see if it shrinks to compensate for the existing warp......and then grind through a few discs worth to get the repair weld off.

If both methods fail, I'll wait for the book to arrive that Shield Arc recommended (ordered Amazon today) and see what else I can try and screw up...

 

[digger2]

I vote for the hyd. shop press too.......and you wont have to grind any welds off.
Its not the most high tech way of doing it but it will work,and you can go nice and easy with it, a little at a time.We do alot of that kind of thing were i work.Plus.....since you dont already have one..now would be a good time to get one.They really do come in handy.I think a inexpensive 10 ton would take care of your problem.AND......its cheaper than a O/A setup.
Digger2

 

[/pine]

since the bar was distorted by heat I would think the best way to return it to it's previous (molecular) state would be using heat...

If someone mentioned it I didn't see it...but I think all it would take is some charcoal briquettes...burning white and arranged in small piles where the heat needs to be applied... and then using either a compressor or a bellows and turning each pile into a mini forge...

 

[Egon]

compressor or a bellows

A heat gun would also work for an air source. That and the charcoal should get it white hot!:thumbsup::thumbsup: