Making a roll bar - ideas needed

[Dangermouse]

Hello all I need to make a roll bar for my Porsche 356
Like this


any ideas?

I tried some copper wire but found it hard to get the curve right.

thanks
David

[MrAdept]

Carve the shape into something hard like oak and then stretch the wire over it rather than just bending it perhaps.
Does it need to be metal - could you use styrene rod?

Mark

[chris]

I'd just bend a length of thin brass tube over a former such as the bottom of an egg cup, neck of a soft drink bottle, handle of a screw driver etc. etc. When you are happy with the shape just solder on the leg at the rear, araldite it in and you can race that bad boy with confidence!

Hope this helps,

Chris.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

He means brass rod. If you do it with tubing it will kink up and make you nuts. But that's definitely the best way.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Can't argue with any of that.

Here are a couple examples using plastic rod. I use anything that looks right to my eye. So it might be Evergreen brand or just using leftover sprues from model kit.





Plastic seems to just work better for me. I can adjust it easily enough and equally easy to glue support bars.

The advice about using some sort of jig is really great advice. I have used the tops of the small Testors paint jars to make corners for roll bars. Just leave the lid in place and wrap around halfway.

Good tips guys. I guess brass rod would be a much stronger alternative. Might try these tips on my next one.

[jmsh54]

Greetings, that blue sort of jig thing in the picture is very helpflul for making roll bars or any other curve in brass rod that you have to make. I think it came from Micro Mart. Got three of them one year for Christmas. Be happy to send one your way if you want it. Harry those Corvettes are very cool. Regards, John



Used it to make the roll bars on all three of these cars.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Yep that is from Micromark. I have one and I keep looking at it and realizing the thing I want to make can't be done on it. Its getting to be a big joke. I take it out, look at it and then reach for the metal crafting pliers every time. I laugh at myself every time.

[jmsh54]

Well I like it. Works pretty good for me. John

[FootScoot]

[The Blue 7]

How 'bout 1/8" Solder ? :think:
Bends easy over any shape.
Same stuff is used to make Headers.
Just a thought.
........ B-7

[RazorJon]

what FootScoot said is true, nothing looks like metal but metal, I have a bender but will try the hard water trick :banana-rock:

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Ken, that is the world beater of an idea. Where in the world did you come up with that? For big tubing you can fill with sand, but I never heard of anything like that trick for small tubing. I will definitely try it. I have several tubing benders around here, but they just don't do a good enough job, so I quit fooling with them. They are meant for brake lines and fuel lines, anyway.

[FootScoot]

The idea is old. I got it from the show "How It's Made" on the Science Channel. They were making trombones or tubas and that is what they put in the tubing to bend it, so I thought why not and it works. They also used pitch in some of them, but I figured that would be messy and where would you find it. :)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Another modern innovation, I guess. It figures that someone figured out a better way. When I worked in the basement of a music store in downtown Memphis, one block from the river, (roaches the size of a big mouse), fixing horns, I learned that it was done with fine wet glass sand and that the bend in the tubes on brass instruments were the most critical part of the build. In those days you could see the tiny scratches in the interior surface, especially in the tight radius tuning tubes of trumpets and cornets. Of course, I didn't build the horns, I fixed them. The manufacturers used to send people around to see my shop from time to time. They told me about this stuff. When the brass tubing was dented, I had a whole cabinet full of mandrels to massage the dents out. Those mandrels must have been 100 years old.

[Dangermouse]

thank you all

I knew that folks on this forum would come through

might start with plastic because I am sure I have some spare sprue lying around and see how I go.

John thanks for the offer of the bending block I am sure I would find it useful - might be a bit far to send it :)

cheers
David