MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
i need some uprights to carry a canoe on my roofrack, i can buy the parts from the rack manufacturer for 40quid or i can get some flat aluminium bars for 15quid.
is it possible to 90deg bend a 5mm or poss 10mm thick (about 3cm width) bar, and then drill some holes in it, without specialist tools?
How much is your canoe worth? Is it worth bodging it to save £25
good pint wors and ordinarily i would agree but would'nt exactly be a bodge, it'd be the same as what i'm about to pay 40quid for (i.e. an L shaped piece of alu with some bolt holes to secure it to the rack's channel).
It isn't that easy to bend ally with out it work harding and snapping unlike steel. you can do it with heat but i can't remmeber the temp you need to do it at.
I wouldn't bother - if you try and bend aluminium of that size cold, and still keep the bend neat and tight it'll more than likely crack. The difference on the price you'll pay for the material and the price for buying the part off the shelf is going to be in using the right tools and stress relieving it during and after forming so the metal around the bend is as strong as the rest of the bar.
Up to you, but as wors says the cost of the canoe is going to be much greater than £25... and if the 'real' part fails, you have someone else to blame other than yourself! 😉
cheers chaps, i had a feeling that would be the case but thought i'd ask anyway. you never know!