The Steel Guitar Forum

I figure I'll be able to get the wood, hinges, handle, fabric, foam, etc. pretty easily, but I'm not sure if it'll be so easy to get the legs. Any suggestions?

-Travis

electric conduit,find someone with a bender,muffler shops,machine shops,electricians any one who would have a bender. farris

I've built some seats in the past, when I lived in Kansas City. I was never able to find a muffler shop that (1) could bend the radius needed and (2) that would even attempt it.

I made some legs out of conduit but I wound up with them welded instead of bent. They worked out good and the last one I built (in 1993) is still being used by Don Sulesky here in Florida.

You can get your own 1/2" or 3/4" conduit bender at any electrical supply house or at Home Dept. Then you can bend your own.
I have both and will probably replace the ones on mine pretty soon.



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Tom Callahan
Emmons S-10
Nashville 400
Dekley S-12
Sho Bud SD-10

Travis,i have a hossfield hand bender,with dies,most of the school work shops have the same benders.find a school work shop,they are usually looking for projects for the students to do. good luck. farris

Thanks for the help, everybody.

-Travis

The common conduit benders available at places such as Home Depot, Lowe's, etc don't have a sharp enough bend.

I tried one of those and got the bend but the radius was not sharp enough and I wound up with a "U" shape to get the proper width between legs. A sharper bend is needed so there is a longer "flat" area for the mounting clips (to hold the legs on).

HELLO TRAVIS,Jack is absolutly right,all you get is a big long U, Sitting here half asleep,sipping coffee,I have built several tree stands for deer hunters ect.with a die bender it is easy,except,getting set up!!always bend one side and leave the end long,then figure how wide you want your legs to be,measure and bend!plan for some scrap to start!!!haha,conduit is pretty cheap tho. I built a bunch of little wagon front ends for a man one time awhile back,once we got set fine!we made 250pcs.wow just gotta think!!! farris

By the time you get done, You may wish you had called Ken Rollans...hahaha.
I built a pretty nice small seat. Had to make each leg from 3 pieces of chain link post, welded together. I ended up with around $50 in materials.
Guess what I did next...............
I bought a Steelers Choice built by Ken Rollans. Ken puts a lot of quality materials and quality workmanship into his seats.
If you do want material for legs, look at chain link rails and posts.

Bending thin wall tubing to tight radii can be tricky. If you have a Hosfeld bender with dies that support the tube you can do all right. One trick from the old timers I've known is to fill the tube with either sand or melted resin. These will keep the tube walls from collapsing too badly, and can be emptied out afterward. The sand will pour out, the resin has to be melted out. I did metal fabrication for years, and the rule of thumb in selecting the method, all other things being equal, was this. If you had a large production run, bending went quicker. If you had a couple of one-offs, welding was better. If welding is the choice, square tubing requires less coping and end prep. Best of luck.

I can bend you a set with small radious,Just state lenghth.My chrg is twenty dollars plus shipping.You polish,I polish 40.oo.Braces for leggs also availiable.The standurd with is 11" but can be wider upon request.By the way thease are heavy wall aluminum leggs.

Come on guys!
Think OUTSIDE the BOX.
No need to copy anything.
You want LEGS. You want the seat up in the air. There are many ways of getting them.
The easiest I've seen is using PIPE that is threaded and cut to the right length.
The bottom of the seat has a threaded socket in each corner (a standard part). The legs, when uncrewed cip to the bottom of the seat with "broom holder" clips.

JW