Shop-made Metal Bending Machines

• Before you start with your metal bending project, consider extending the capacity of your metalworking shop with additional metal-bending tools. The primary tools are pipe or bar benders, slip rollers and breaks. If you already have basic metal fabricating tools, like a welder, drill press and cutoff, you can make these in your own shop. Otherwise, hobbyist versions of these tools are available at reasonable prices.
  
  

Car Covers and Greenhouses

• Many companies sell ready made carports and greenhouses made from PVC tubing or galvanized steel tubing, then covered with a thick plastic film. The majority of the kits parts can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of the kit. The few pieces that are anything other than PVC or metal stock are sleeve-joints that you probably won't find in a local hardware store. With a pipe-bender, you custom-make all the sleeves for these car shelters, and buy the rest of the materials at a home improvement store.
  
  

Hospital Frame Beds

• 50's-style hospital frame beds with curved corners are great projects for metal bending. They don't require you to weld tricky corner joints, as the corner joints are bent. You can customize traditional plans or make any size you want, particularly if you have an odd-sized mattress.
  
  

Custom Motorcycle Frames

• Most older motorcycle frames are made from tube-steel. You can create your own motorcycle frame or customize an old motorcycle frame if you have a pipe-bender, cut-off wheel and welder. When welding tube-joints, you'll probably want to make your own jig to fit the pipes together, as the counter of one pipe will have to be cut into the pipe that is intersecting it.