Has anyone on the list made his own Bimini top? I'm screwing my courage up to the sticking point on the sewing but how do you bend the tubing? Regards. Larry

Larry - I have built bimini top frames and extended life line stanchions around bow pulpits. The results turned out quite well. One has to go slowly when doing the bending. In your work, take into consideration the effect the bending is going to have on the location of the end of the tube. I used the mechanical type of tube bender, such as used by electricians for bending conduit. You will want to locate the die that most closely fits your tube OD. Perform the bending operation very slowly. If one goes too fast, there is danger of collapsing the tube. I have been told that some of the old timers would fill the tube with sand prior to bending, as an aid to avoid collapsing the tube. I have not done this, so I do not know how well it works. Hope that this helps. F. A. Meloy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry N. Brown" <lnb@charter.net> To: "Trawlers-and trawlering" <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2005 6:52 AM Subject: T&T: Biminis > Has anyone on the list made his own Bimini top? I'm screwing my courage up > to > the sticking point on the sewing but how do you bend the tubing? > > Regards. > > Larry > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering > > To unsubscribe send email to > trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word > UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Bending the heavy wall stainless steel tube needed foe a Bimini is not easy, even with the proper machine and training. I use electrical conduit and a hand (foot?) bender that you can rent or borrow, make the frames longer than you think you need, then bend and fit using the ss hardware you will use when completed. Fit, cut try, stand back, try again until you are happy then take the tubes to a professional. You can sew and re-sew without a big investment but, the Frame work must be right or you will never be happy. MARCY Cha Shing 37 On Mar 19, 2005, at 1:18 PM, Nick Meloy wrote: > Larry - > > I have built bimini top frames and extended life line stanchions > around bow > pulpits. The results turned out quite well. One has to go slowly when > doing the bending. In your work, take into consideration the effect > the > bending is going to have on the location of the end of the tube. I > used the > mechanical type of tube bender, such as used by electricians for > bending > conduit. You will want to locate the die that most closely fits your > tube > OD. Perform the bending operation very slowly. If one goes too fast, > there > is danger of collapsing the tube. I have been told that some of the > old > timers would fill the tube with sand prior to bending, as an aid to > avoid > collapsing the tube. I have not done this, so I do not know how well > it > works. > > Hope that this helps. > > F. A. Meloy > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Larry N. Brown" <lnb@charter.net> > To: "Trawlers-and trawlering" > <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> > Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2005 6:52 AM > Subject: T&T: Biminis > > >> Has anyone on the list made his own Bimini top? I'm screwing my >> courage up >> to >> the sticking point on the sewing but how do you bend the tubing? >> >> Regards. >> >> Larry >> _______________________________________________ >> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering >> >> To unsubscribe send email to >> trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word >> UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. >> >> Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World >> Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering > > To unsubscribe send email to > trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word > UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. >

Mark is certainly correct, in that making the bends is not especially easy. However, if one is willing to go through the learning curve on the bending process, then the results can be very satisfying. Practice a little bit on some scrap tubing until you get the hang of the operation. Hope that this helps. F. A. Meloy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark G. Ketcham" <ketchdesign@comcast.net> To: "Nick Meloy" <mulatfl@worldnet.att.net> Cc: "Larry N. Brown" <lnb@charter.net>; "Trawlers-and trawlering" <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2005 12:50 PM Subject: Re: T&T: Biminis > Bending the heavy wall stainless steel tube needed foe a Bimini is not > easy, even with the proper machine and training. I use electrical conduit > and a hand (foot?) bender that you can rent or borrow, make the frames > longer than you think you need, then bend and fit using the ss hardware > you will use when completed. Fit, cut try, stand back, try again until > you are happy then take the tubes to a professional. You can sew and > re-sew without a big investment but, the Frame work must be right or you > will never be happy. > MARCY > Cha Shing 37 > > On Mar 19, 2005, at 1:18 PM, Nick Meloy wrote: > >> Larry - >> >> I have built bimini top frames and extended life line stanchions around >> bow >> pulpits. The results turned out quite well. One has to go slowly when >> doing the bending. In your work, take into consideration the effect the >> bending is going to have on the location of the end of the tube. I used >> the >> mechanical type of tube bender, such as used by electricians for bending >> conduit. You will want to locate the die that most closely fits your >> tube >> OD. Perform the bending operation very slowly. If one goes too fast, >> there >> is danger of collapsing the tube. I have been told that some of the old >> timers would fill the tube with sand prior to bending, as an aid to avoid >> collapsing the tube. I have not done this, so I do not know how well it >> works. >> >> Hope that this helps. >> >> F. A. Meloy >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Larry N. Brown" <lnb@charter.net> >> To: "Trawlers-and trawlering" <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> >> Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2005 6:52 AM >> Subject: T&T: Biminis >> >> >>> Has anyone on the list made his own Bimini top? I'm screwing my courage >>> up >>> to >>> the sticking point on the sewing but how do you bend the tubing? >>> >>> Regards. >>> >>> Larry >>> _______________________________________________ >>> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering >>> >>> To unsubscribe send email to >>> trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word >>> UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. >>> >>> Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World >>> Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. >> _______________________________________________ >> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering >> >> To unsubscribe send email to >> trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word >> UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. >> >> Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World >> Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. >> >