[TheForge] Bar Twister

[Ed F]

I posted a picture of my little bar twister.  I have to match some security
grating and I thought this thing would make life a little easier.

This is model a001.  The inserts for the bar come out so you can make
different ones for different kinds of stock.  I used schedule 80 pipe that
kind of fits inside one-another.  It's sloppy.  I made a wrench that grabs
the 3x3 square plate for twisting.

Overall, I'm OK with this first setup, and it will work until I make a
different one (if I ever need to do a bunch of twists again).  I can adjust
the twist length easily and very tight if needed, and lift the twisted bar
through for flat areas.  Each end has a slot that the bar can be lifted out
of.

You have to slide the fixed end down to extract the die sometimes.  It can
jam itself in the jaw a bit.  I did try a really short flat section between
twists once and end up getting the twisted stock so close on both sides of
the jaw I had to cut it free with the chopsaw.

For the next iteration I thought I may use a home-made 2-jaw chuck made with
big opposing bolts, but that's alot of screwing around.

Ed