Bending 10mm steel plate?

I need to bend 100mm wide 10mm steel plate, for a wee bike rack project.
As I am having a cuppa before attempting this, I thought I would ask STW hive.
My best guess is heat gun till really hot and then in vice and whack with lump hammer?

Doubt you’ll get it hot enough with a heat gun. Might do it with a plumbing torch. Still need a heck of a whack.. 10mm X 100mm is a hefty bit of steel, what are you hanging from it? A motorbike and sidecar?

Unless your heat gun can get the steel glowing red, you’re going to struggle to bend that width of 10mm plate in a vice.

Local engineering company with a press brake would be the ideal answer, failing that, I’d just cut and weld it.

Know anyone with a hydraulic press? For 10mm plate you’ll probably need it.

I mean it’s not unachievable with a vice and a hammer but it won’t look pretty

2 options in my book;

1. Heat until red hot then beat with a hammer while in vice (will require a decent torch to do this)

2. cut and weld.

That steel is overkill for anything bike related, surely?

Got to bend it near 90 degrees at the 3 inch mark. I guess not a DIY option.
The plan is/was to have it behind the tow bar so I can lock the bikes up to something when on the rack during summer hols.

You couldn’t bend that with a press with the big square hole cut out, as was suggested cut and weld

Just use a bit of 80*80*10 rolled steel angle instead if you can get hold of some

Solved with a spacer, thanks all – no bending needed.

You couldn’t bend that with a press with the big square hole cut out, as was suggested cut and weld

Why not ?

Go to the local steel fabricators with what you have and ask them to do it. They’ll probably make a new one

The plan is/was to have it behind the tow bar so I can lock the bikes up to something when on the rack during summer hols.

Are you planning to leave them unattended for any period ?
Would be easy just to unbolt the whole lot

You couldn’t bend that with a press with the big square hole cut out, as was suggested cut and weld

Why not ?

My thoughts exactly.

V blocks and a corresponding V profile to press into the bend radius.

I have a small press break but it won’t do 10mm by my 20t press will.

10mm plate be looking for about 8-10t of force to bend

Are you planning to leave them unattended for any period ?
Would be easy just to unbolt the whole lot

Be quicker just to cut through the nice soft 10mm mild steel lock anchor with a grinder.

Be quicker just to cut through the nice soft 10mm mild steel lock anchor with a grinder

Yeah but unbolting it would be far more stealthy. Plus they get the bonus of that intricately cut piece of plate 😂😂😂

It’s tricky cutting 10mm plate with nothing more than an angle grinder, drill bit and hacksaw.:-) I realise it’s a folly, so just trying to keep it cheap and any potential theft a little more hassle than something else. Unattended evening/day coming up in a few weeks in a tourist car park.

I’m only messing with you .
I am over cautious, but I’ve never had anything stolen ( touch wood ).
If your bikes are worth it, then they will just unbolt the flange and take the lot , or as said above its seconds with an angle grinder on mild steel.
You need to lock to the main bulk of the towbar itself if you can.
They dgas if there are people around either. By the time you have realised what they are up to , they are done.
And who’s going to have a go against someone wielding an angry grinder or a big ratchet (apart from the keyboard warriors of course)
I even stick the rack in the boot when parked up. Some of these things are north of £500 and worth stealing in their own right

Rule of thumb is that the inner bend radius is at least material thickness, and the material will be stretched by folding by I’d say 5 mm each side of the bend line.
With that in mind will the finished part dims still be acceptable? If not I’d take a sketch to an engineering company who can laser a blank and fold it.

Edit: I’ve just seen the photo of the blank. Are you worried about the holes being slightly deformed by bending? I reckon they are close enough to the fold line to teardrop. Rule of thumb is no holes within twice material thickness of fold line.

You couldn’t bend that with a press with the big square hole cut out, as was suggested cut and weld

Why not ?

Vee should be 8 x material thickness so even halfing that, vee would be 40mm which would barely catch the metal at the hole (if it didn’t catch it would very possibly slip off the fold line)
The proper way would be fold then cut the hole.

At that thickness bend radius would be too large. Cut and weld.

Cut ~7mm though on the back side of proposed bend. Then bend over vice and weld now opened up joint.

I look at that and think “…if they ever did a Mr Men version of Steven Spielberg’s Duel”.

Wally…

How do these dimensions compare to your plate ?
Im cutting 10mm on the plasma tomorrow , so want to see what it comes up like.

(if this even works)

https://i.postimg.cc/MZCSwvtk/tow-plate.jpg