[TheForge] bar twisters and twisted ideas

[RIES NIEMI]

Well, I just went out and did some experimenting, and found out I was mostly
wrong, and a little bit right.

I twisted the following few pieces as samples:
1" square- cold - 720 degrees twist- no change in length.
1/2 " square- hot - 1440 degrees twist - no change in length.

So everyone who said solid bar doesnt shrink when it twists, you are
absolutely right.

Square tube, on the other hand, shrinks pretty significantly.
I did a piece of 1" square, 16 ga wall, cold, 360 degree twist, and it
shrunk from 11 1/4" to 10 3/4". The square tube sucks right up on itself- in
fact you can see it straining to get out of the die as it shortens up.

I dont know why I thought solid square was getting shorter, but now I know
the truth.

We just installed those benches today- they got delivered straight from the
galvanizers to the job site, and we filed off the sharpie little points of
zinc and bolted em down. I forgot my camera, but I will swing by and take
pictures of em in the next week or so, and I will post em somewhere. Either
on the photoaccess site, or maybe on the nifty new photo section at
keenjunk.