Twisting 1018 cold rolled | Problem Solving | Forum

Mike J said
Hi Lynn, Yes nomalizing will make it easier but nomalization should be performed evenly to make an even twist. I usually use a two handed twisting wrench and a "movable" support to hold the end I'm twisting at the same hight at the vise holding the other end.

Mike

Hey Mike:  Thanks for the reply... I normalized the bars today... put them thru the forge on rollers... tried to heat evenly and let air cool... Had to straighten most of them 'cause there is not a flat or level floor in my shop and getting rollers and supports at the right height is impossible...  Started trying to straighten on the anvil, but soon realized that the Hossfeld was faster, easier, better..  Then chucked up the bar in the post vise, supported both ends with a roller, stuck a 10 foot piece of 1" pipe over the bar, and used two 32" cheaters on my twisting wrench...  Only twisted one bar... mind you these are 12 foot bars of 1/2" square...  6 complete twists and beautiful!!! Came out even and perfect!!  Lot of freakin' work by myself...  I have my friend and student, Alan, coming over tomorrow afternoon to help twist the rest of the bars... He's a big, much younger guy than myself, so shouldn't be too difficult to twist the rest of the bars...  I'll put up some pic's tomorrow...

Lynn

Hey Eric:  So happy to hear from you!!!   Hope you are well, my friend...  I did talk to Davy...  He used to have a motor powered machine that could twist 20 foot bars cold... He no longer has that...  He also told me that he has not twisted A36 or hot rolled in 20 years...  The steel we buy now is not the same we could get even 10 years ago...

I had good success twisting these 1/2" square bars, 12 feet in length... I did normalize them before twisting...

Davy has become a good friend, like you, and I very often call him for info... I am not really ignoring local resources... I just want to try first, to figure it out for myself..

Eric Sprado said 
Lynn: As usual, you are ignoring local resources. Our friend David Thompson,many years ago, used to do lots of twisting for commercial stuff. He still,I believe,has his benders that he made from old transmissions etc.. Talk to him!!!!