There are three types of rebar bending machines: manual, hydraulic, and electromechanical. Hand-operated hickey bars are the simplest and cheapest, while larger machines are usually electromechanical and built to customer specifications. The task at hand determines the best machine to use, with hickey bars being suitable for occasional use on smaller diameter bars and hydraulic or electromechanical machines being better for larger jobs. The most powerful machines are stationary and expensive, and can also cut rebar.
In general, there are three types of rebar bending machines: manual, hydraulic and electromechanical. The simplest machines, hand-operated hickey bars, are readily available and inexpensive. Hydraulic machines are slower and shorter-lived than electromechanical devices, but they are also less expensive. Manufacturers of large bending machines build them to customer specifications, making each machine slightly different. These giants are almost always electromechanical.
The task to be performed determines the nature of the bending machine. For occasional use on smaller diameter bars, a hickey bar is usually the best choice due to its low cost. A hickey bar is a simple lever arm — a long steel bar — with a slot or pins for gripping the armature at one end. Arm strength and body weight are used to apply force to the other end of the hickey bar to bend the armature.
For a tight turn, two hickey bars can be used. These simple rebar benders can be used on rebar up to 5/8 inch (1.6 cm) in diameter. Hickey bars with cutting capabilities are also available.
For bending more than a few pieces of rebar, an electromechanical or hydraulic machine is a better choice. Some of the hydraulic machines are quite portable, weighing as little as 33 pounds (15 kg) and are designed to be held by hand. These machines are designed to bend rebar left exposed after concrete has been poured onto a rebar web. With these machines, bending up to 180 degrees is possible.
When the contractor bends the rebar in preparation for installation in a mold, larger machines are usually chosen. Larger benders are usually trucked in and don’t usually leave the truck bed until the rebar is in place and the machine is put back into storage. These machines run on diesel fuel, allowing them to operate in powerless workplaces.
Even large machines on site can handle rebar up to 1.18 mm (30 inches) in diameter; larger diameters need to be bent out of place. The most powerful programmable multipurpose folders are large, stationary, and expensive. These are usually bolted to concrete floors in industrial buildings where they do both bending and cutting. Offsite rebar benders often double as pipe benders, but even these can only create 180-degree bends.
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