Ultra-cheap metal structure?

[terry.dinerman]

Do you think it would be possible to put a 90 degree bend in a pipe like this with a Harbor Freight bender without kinking it?
YARDGARD 10-1/2 ft. 17-Gauge Steel Top Rail for Chain-Link Fence - 328913DPT at The Home Depot
12 Ton Hydraulic Pipe Bender
The bender doesn't have a 1 3/8" die...would the 1 1/2" work?

Terry, you said you built one out of schedule 40 pipe...what diameter did you use?

I used 2"....

1. Using batter-boards or steel layout pins, lay out and square up your structures perimeter on the ground.
2. Lay out your "hoop" inside this perimeter. Lay out the center points of your eave-line bends and the peak on the ground with some stakes.
3. Run a stringline around the stakes
4. Spray paint the line
5. Remove the string - If done right, the string will leave a clear mark in the middle of the paint swatch
6. Lay the pipe down next to the long axis.
7. Mark the center of each bend on the first pipe as you go. Record the measurements and repeat on each pipe.
8. Center up the bending shoe on these marks on every pipe to assure consistency between hoops.
9. Use additional stakes to keep the pipe on the line as you move along the pipe with the bender and bend each angle to the paint line
10. Slight over-bends may be required to accommodate the spring-back from the elasticity of the pipe, so bend to the line, relax the bender, check the bend and re-bend as necessary.

The structure I built was a lean-to, so only required a single 20' join of pipe for each hoop to provide 12 foot of interior clearance and an 8 foot eaveline. Larger hoops could be bent in halves and either welded or sleeved and bolted together

If you stitch the edges of adjoining sheets together with pop rivets or small nuts and bolts every 4-6 inches, you may find your structure is quite rigid.

The lean-to used a standard 26ga sheet with a drip edge made of 26ga "J" channel and did not need any cross bracing. The pop rivets were quick and a dab of silicone made it all water-tight.

Good luck and Be Safe!

T

 

[aczlan]

The structure I built was a lean-to, so only required a single 20' join of pipe for each hoop to provide 12 foot of interior clearance and an 8 foot eaveline. Larger hoops could be bent in halves and either welded or sleeved and bolted together

Do you have any pictures of this lean to? Dad is looking at doing something similar, so we are looking for ideas.

Thanks

Aaron Z

 

[tommu56]

I think bending the tube will be harder to get good results (my electrician back ground) I'v tried it with EMT.

Look at a tarp canopy frame put cut the horizontal pipes in half and add more legs and rafters to make it stronger.
My wife used them at her craft sales and I added the extra legs and rafters to make pipes shorter to fit in her trailer but it made the frame soooo much stronger. it was unbelievable.

then put the metal on it
some thing like this and make the truss frames about 4-5 ft apart

COMPLEX FITTINGS FOR 1-3/8" OD TUBE

 

[zmoz]

Here's a quick and very rough sketch I made of what I want to make:

The sidewalls are 6' high, the roof angle I just guessed, 14' wide x 24' long. The "hoops" are spaced 4' apart so that one 12' sheet of steel could cover three of them. Everything else would pretty much be 1 3/8" pipe except the purlins would be 2x4. What do you guys think?

If I bent the pipe like this, I would only need 3 peices per hoop, (at 10' long) vs 4 peices plus extra parts to use fittings. The 10' length leaves a bunch of waste. I just wonder if the HF bender could handle that? Obviously the angles wouldn't be as sharp as they are in the sketch.

I can't really make trusses because I need the peak height to be somewhat low and then I wouldn't be able to fit a vehicle in there.

 

[terry.dinerman]

Love that "Sketchup"...!

 

[boggen]

do a search for "DIY green house cover" and/or "DIY pool cover" and/or "DIY pond cover"

each one will most likely bring back a different set of results.

many folks build green house style pond covers.
many folks build green house covers for year round gardens and like.

many kits out there, and more so simple fittings you can get that give different angles that a green house cover or like might need vs trying to use standard tees, 90s, 45s, 22.5 degree fitings. and you just supply the pipe.

 

[tommu56]

Don't forget the benders shoes are sized for pipe size

Tube size you are looking at is 1.375 od

between 1" and 1 1/4 pipe sizes
it wont fit the shoe properly and will most likely kink it.
pipe
size OD.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1/2"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] .84[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 3/4"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.05[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]1"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.32[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]1 1/4"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.66[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]1 1/2"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.90[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]2"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 2.38

[/FONT]

 

[zmoz]

Don't forget the benders shoes are sized for pipe size

Tube size you are looking at is 1.375 od

between 1" and 1 1/4 pipe sizes
it wont fit the shoe properly and will most likely kink it.
pipe
size OD.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1/2"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] .84[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 3/4"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.05[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]1"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.32[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]1 1/4"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.66[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]1 1/2"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1.90[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]2"[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 2.38

[/FONT]

That's the major thing I've been wondering about. What if I used the 1.5" pipe die? Maybe with a peice of 1.5" steel pipe sliced in half on it? Or can I buy a die or different bender that might work better? I like the idea of these 1 3/8" fence rails, ten feet is cheaper than 1" EMT and about half the price of 1" schedule 40. But what is the "proper" way to bend them?

Obviously I'm not building an exhaust system so it doesn't have to be a perfect bend, but not totally kinked....