Bending stainless steel

[Chanquete]

One of the stainless steel sheaves on the rudder turnbuckle is about 4 degrees out of alignment. Can I heat its stainless steel support and bend it without reducing its structural resistance?

 

[vyv_cox]

Assuming it is 300 series heating will not reduce its strength. However the strength of these alloys is about the same as that of mild steel, so there is a good chance it will bend cold .

 

[coopec]

How heavy is the SS?
Stainless steel is very hard to bend.

Bend it 4°?

 

[Chanquete]

It is SS 304, with a thickness of 3mm

 

[Charlie Boy]

You would have to get it very hot to make a difference and it may discolour after. As Vyv said, try it cold first

 

[KAM]

Easy enough to bend cold. I do it quite often. Heating it may change it's corrosion resistance properties and involve a lot of extra work cleaning up and repolishing.

 

[Stemar]

Easy enough to bend cold. I do it quite often.

So do I. Not always deliberately...

 

[johnalison]

I had some s/s that needed straightening that was beyond my abilities. I arranged a day for the local chap to come and deal with it. It was suggested that I might like the stay away from the boat that day. I heard from someone else that the equipment used included a very long bar of wood and a lot of force.

 

[coopec]

One of the stainless steel sheaves on the rudder turnbuckle is about 4 degrees out of alignment. Can I heat its stainless steel support and bend it without reducing its structural resistance?

4° is a minuscule amount to bend so bending it wouldn't be a big deal.

I've got a tube/pipe bender with a hydraulic ram so I can handle simple bends (one off) but if I want to biuld something like a pullpit I'd get a professional everytime

 

[KAM]

I once bent a set of stainless hoops for a spray hood by hand using suitable bits of the house and blocks of wood for leverage. Turned out quite nicely.​

 

[Chanquete]

I Thank you all for the helpful suggestions!.
I will try cold bending...