Ideas for bending cattle panels?

[Egon]

You may can find a barrel or fuel tank, tree, rear tractor tire or such that you can use to bend the panel around.

t

Makes me think that a wooden wire spool would also work very nicely. Could be set up in a number of ways and should make a nice smooth bend. Fix the spool and use it like a pipe bender.

 

[kthompson]

t

Makes me think that a wooden wire spool would also work very nicely. Could be set up in a number of ways and should make a nice smooth bend. Fix the spool and use it like a pipe bender.

Very good idea.

 

[chim]

I'd try something like this. Lay the panel on flat ground with a 4x4 under it that you can chain to the top of your bucket. Press the cutting edge of your bucket at the bend point and curl while maintaining down pressure. It may require re-hooking the 4x4 depending on how much rotation the bucket has. Pardon the crude drawing.

EDIT TO ADD: If that doesn't pull a tight enough 90 degree bend, you could substitute something like a piece of plywood for the 4x4 that extends from the chains to the bend point to avoid the "belly" that could happen on the piece you pull upward. The piece on the ground is probably OK.

 

[BHD]

set two heavy posts, the distance you want apart, (maybe chain cross the top of the posts)

take a curved some thing, ( a few inches short of the width of the posts, and hook a chain on the curved thing, and pull the curved thing through the posts with the panel between the posts and the curved thing,

since there are long wires on one side and the short wires on the other, and the long against the posts, and the curved against the curved, thing.

the some thing could be an (old cable spool with some 2x4 nailed on the out side curve, to put even pressure on the inside of the panel).

 

[BHD]

another thought is to put two posts in about three inches apart, put the panels in between the the posts, and pull on one end and bend it some move it and bend a little more and keep moving it and bending every little bit until you have the bend you want, may take two or three people to get enough power to ben the panels,

 

[Creamer]

They bend very easily. I would just set two steel posts 4' apart and then tie one end to one of them and bend the other around to the inside of the second. Then you can just start pushing on the sides until you get the bends where and how you want them. A third T-post on one side may help to push against. It all depends on how precision you want but 10 minutes should get you a couple of panels bent.

 

[ustmd]

They do bend easily. When I buy them at TSC, I bend them into this shape to get them in the bed of F350.