How to bend a profile pipe for a greenhouse: basic methods

How to cook a square arc

Due to the fact that the metal structure is much thinner than wood, there is more natural light in the greenhouse. Also, this material is more technological. When building an arched greenhouse, the profile must be bent. It is bent for an arch that runs vertically from the base upwards, and in the middle, in an arcuate way. For example, if you choose a Mitlider greenhouse, the strength of the frame will be ensured by connecting the posts and beams. In domed greenhouses, the structures consist of polygonal frames (aluminum / metal), but it is rather difficult to assemble them yourself.

The very same frame material is chosen "for the construction" of the entire structure and its dimensions. If you are going to build an arched plan greenhouse, the frame of which is made of metal, not drywall, prepare:

• flexible rods (for half-arcs) - one and a half meters long, in the amount of 12 pieces;
• for a structure with a height of 1.8 m - 10 pieces of rods, the length of which is 2 meters, and the diameter is 30 millimeters;
• it is necessary to start making the frame in order to determine the holes for the rods, sometimes it is necessary to bend a square pipe, in which the cross section is 20 by 20, and the diameter will be three meters.

You will need the following tools:

• bending machine;
• shaped pipes;
• tape measure, simple pencil;
• Bulgarian;
• welding.

You can make a bending machine yourself, it is actually on it that you need to bend the profile pipe. Scroll it with the handle. It will take a lot of effort, even when the wall thickness of the material is about two millimeters, because this is not like folding drywall! If you don't have a machine, you can bend it with your hands. Secure the pipes running parallel. Draw the arc of the required radius directly on the ground, attach the product and bend it so that it becomes exactly the same as in the drawing. The next arc must be bent according to the pattern of the first.

The pipe must be cut into equal parts in advance with the help of a grinder, and then bend according to the pattern. In those places where there were notches, process with spot welding. The lightweight and strong profile is easy enough to connect to the planes. In addition, it is able to withstand a fairly large lateral load.

Using a pipe bending machine

Anyone who has tried to bend a profile pipe is aware that this is very difficult. It is much easier and easier to work with drywall, but not in this case! Here to the rescue - a special pipe bending machine or a hand-made method. Also one way is fire. One part of the pipe is heated, then bent with a lever at a certain angle. The disadvantages include the appearance (upon completion) - rather unaesthetic and the fact that it will take a lot of physical effort, because this is not drywall!

Of course, using a pipe bending machine, you can bend the pipe much more accurately, faster and easier. Holding on to the handle, the profile stretches along the machine rollers, while the other of them presses the material, which deforms it.It is much more "pleasant" to bend the product in this way, when it passes through the pipe bender, turns into an arch, moreover, of the radius that was given to it. Using a hand held machine, products can be bent to warm up the greenhouse during cold weather.

Make a pipe bender. You will need:

• 3 pieces of roller;
• special bracket with a clamping axis and a lead screw;
• metal table;
• template and blank;
• steel pipes with a diameter of 0.7-1.5 cm;
• channel and welding;
• concrete mortar.

Bending methods

You can bend pipe rolling for a greenhouse in a cold or hot way. Both options are available. If you heat it with a gas burner, the plasticity will be much higher. But if the pipe has a small cross section, it is already easy to bend it, without exposure to high temperatures. Thin-walled pipes are flexible and easy to bend. There are no specific recommendations regarding the heating of materials, with the exception of a pipe with a diameter of more than one hundred millimeters. But if the pipe is square or rectangular, you need to work with them a little differently.

If the profile height is less than ten millimeters, you need to bend it cold. If the height is from forty millimeters, then heating is indispensable. With regard to the bending of the material with a height of ten to forty millimeters, everyone decides for himself how it is convenient for whom and in what way, because this is not drywall, after all, you need to bend! If you have a special device for bending the pipe, then you can do without heating.

Video "How to make a pipe bender and bend a profile pipe with it"

A lot of necessary information about the pipe bender to eventually make the frame for the greenhouse.

Cold method

If the profile height is up to ten millimeters, it must be filled in. You can use sand, rosin or a tightly wound spring for this. You can do it yourself, for which you will need: a bending plate, a vice and a mandrel, a bend profile (you can either make it yourself or purchase it in a store).

With heating

Material that does not lend itself to the cold process must be heated at high temperatures. The pipe is pre-filled with sand for uniform bending and quality of work. You will definitely need tarpaulin mittens. Scraps (logs) will be needed for a pyramidal plug, ten times longer than the base. The very area of ​​the base of the plug should be twice the size of the hole that it will cover. Try on how the plugs sit, then make longitudinal grooves on one on each side. At the future fold, you need to anneal the workpiece.

Prepare a filler from medium-grained construction sand (it must be sieved thoroughly, several times through a sieve with cells of different diameters, first 2 mm, then 0.7 mm). Next, the filler must be heated when exposed to a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius. Fill one end of the pipe with a plug, put a funnel on the other. The workpiece must be installed perpendicular to the ground, or at an angle, it all depends on the size. And fill it with sand through the funnel. In order for it to thicken, tap the pipe with a mallet. A dull sound means fullness.

Then close the end of the pipe with the second plug through which the sand was poured. Clamp the product in a pipe clamp or vise. The welded joint should be on the side. Shape the pipe very carefully. In one step, bend it not sharply, but always vertically or only horizontally. Everything worked out. The plugs can be knocked out (burned out) and the sand can be poured, the material for the greenhouse frame is ready!

Video "How the pipe bender works"

In this video, you can see the sequence of actions that must be taken in order to bend the pipe.