Bicycle Rack Fabrication Calculator
Goals
- Enter bender radius and rack tubing diameter (assume all tubes are the same)
- Enter desired rack deck dimensions (DxW) (TODO: and number of cross rails)
- Calculate the total amount of tubing needed
- TODO: If user enters the above as fractional values, convert to decimal values on field blur
- Reference link to Alex's blog post on tube-bending calculations
Results
Total amount of rack tubing needed: 0 inches
Instructions
Note: Always bend to the right! This means the long end of the tubing should be hanging off the bender. The values below are rounded to simplify the measuring.- Bend 1:
- Mark a line 0 inches from the start of the tube.
- Align that mark with the 0 on your bender.
- Bend to 90 degrees and mark where the 90 is on the tube.
- Check with a square to make sure that it is actually 90, tweak as necessary.
- Bend 2:
- Mark a line 0 inches from the last mark (the start of the next straight section)
- Align that with the 0 on your bender
- Check that the bends are in the same plane (spot down the bender to align the tube with the bending form).
- Bend to 90 degrees and mark the 90
- Check the 90 with a square. Check that the bends are in the same plane using a flat surface. Tweak as necessary.
- Bend 3:
- Mark a line 0 inches from the last mark (the start of the next straight section)
- Align that with the 0 on your bender
- Check that the bends are in the same plane.
- Bend to 90 degrees and mark the 90
- Check the 90 with a square. Check that the bends are in the same plane. Tweak as necessary.
- Bend 4:
- Mark a line 0 inches from the last mark (the start of the next straight section)
- Align that with the 0 on your bender
- Check that the bends are in the same plane.
- Bend to 90 degrees and mark the 90
- Check the 90 with a square. Check that the bends are in the same plane. Tweak as necessary.
- Closing the loop:
- After Bend 4 mark a line 0 inches from the start of the last straight section. That should line up with the start of your rack deck.
- Cut off the excess tubing and splice.
