Automated #3 3/8" x 24" rebar bender??

[RebarBoy]

Hello Homemade Tools Community!

I am brand new to this website, I was searching for a rebar bending jig and discovered this site, its very cool. I thought maybe there would be someone in here that could help me design and build an automated rebar bending machine. I have some medical issues that wont tolerate too many manual bends before shutting me down so perhaps there is a way to bend the material hydraulically via foot pedal rather than my muscle.

The rebar is 3/8" x 24" and Im looking to make a "u-bolt" shape out of it with a 1 1/2" radius, over and over again.

I would greatly appreciate any advice you may have towards this project. My Dad, former Marine, said why dont you load the bars into a "clip" and feed them into the bender like rounds are fed into the chamber? That would be super cool but Im ok with manually feeding them one at a time for now.

Thanks again.

Greg Straight - sunny South Carolina - USA

[Jon]

Hi Greg - welcome to HomemadeTools.net

This could be a very interesting project. I'm going to move this discussion into our Tools in Progress subforum, where hopefully you'll be able to get some good ideas.