Bending Aluminium (Alloy) Non Boaty Job

[savageseadog]

I'm trying to make a Roof Hook for a ladder

. How do you bend alloy tube without kinking or weakening it please.

 

[alanporter]

I have bent aluminium tube by sealing one end with a tight-fitting bung, filling the tube with dry sand, then sealing the other end. Gentle heating the area of the bend area while the tube is slowly bent. The sand filling completely stops kinking.

 

[fireball]

Or find a friendly plumber who will use his pipe benders for you ....

 

[macd]

If you decide to heat the ally, first smear it with a thin film of soap such as fairy liquid. When this goes chocolate brown, stop heating, cos shortly after it'll melt. The metal is much easier to bend this way and will stay pliable for a while after it has cooled.

 

[Searush]

DIY shops sell the pipe-bending springs quite cheaply. If you do use a spring, again, use heat & over bend slightly before bending back to correct shape. This over bending & return will allow you to get the spring back out of the tube which can be a very difficult thing to do! Incidentally, use a strong wire attached to the spring to get it out as string or cord will probably break - leaving the spring trapped inside!

 

[vyv_cox]

Are you sure that this device is sufficiently strong in aluminium? My commercial unit is galvanised steel and fairly meaty. It's not the sort of thing you want to fail on you!

 

[andrewbodenham]

Any material that you can bend as a DIY job is unlikely to have enough strength to stand up to the potential loads applied to a roof ladder hook. As this is a safety-critical application I strongly suggest that you use properly designed and constructed equipment, which will have been tested to ensure an appropriate factor of safety. Screwfix do a bolt-on ridge hook for £27 to convert an existing ladder. That's not much to pay for peace of mind.

 

[tcm]

good call. I dunno what will happen to alumium section upon heating and bending it but i bet it doesn't get stronger. Get the purposemade tools for this sort of application, save the inventive diy for non-life threatening stuff imho.

 

[savageseadog]

Thanks for the comments, I was wondering about the strength of the finished job, well you only die once /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[rogerthebodger]

I our equivalant to B&Q we have various short length of threaded water pipe.
3 lengths of pipe and 2 elbows for each side screwed together in a U and there you are.

Strong and cheap.

 

[Appleyard]

Having seen the results of a similar home made item failing(not me guv,honest) ..Don't even think about making one .As previous replys have said..they are not expensive The S/fix one is only £30 ..half a tank of petrol!! and has wheels built in which make it a cinch to use. We have used one similar for about 30 years and it has paid for itself 100 times over .orrabest!!

 

[savageseadog]

Pretty good idea but I can weld steel but decided not to use it on the grounds of weight. The last thing I'd want is a lot of weight at the far end of a roof ladder. Have you actually used it?

 

[rogerthebodger]

Made some thing simular to allow ladder to be used to get up lower part of mast before I fitted mast steps.

Houses in SA are most single story and with low pitch / flat roofs so no need for roof ladders.