Replies

1. 
   maddog3 | Feb 23, 2006 08:12pm | #1

   would these work???
   http://www.cscindustrial.com/53.html

   they are PVC benders and a calrod element is listed there as well

1. 
   Glenny | Feb 23, 2006 08:22pm | #2

   The 6" one looks like it would work, but holy moly it's alot of money.

   Trex has a picture in it's literature of a crew using a shop made plywood box.

   The photo is not clear enough to make out how it is made or what it uses as a

   heat source.

   I'd love to talk to someone who has built or used such a site/shop built piece.

   -Glenny

1. 
   maddog3 | Feb 23, 2006 08:31pm | #3

   on some jobs we have built hotboxes for heating our lunch...using 100W lightbulbs,...maybe you could rig something with the Halogen type???one of those heaters listed the heating element as a replacement part for $95 .... ???? that don't seem too expensive but it may not be long enough for your needs.......check out e-bay??

1. 
   Glenny | Feb 23, 2006 08:50pm | #4

   I'd like it to be minimum 8' long. Trex says to use a 10" sonotube with rebar stuck through it to support the decking. Then fire a propane Reddi heater into it. you then slowly pull the decking through the tube.

   I'm not to sure about sending that much heat into a sonotube. That sounds like a fire waiting to happen.

   -Glenny

1. 
   maddog3 | Feb 23, 2006 09:00pm | #5

   I think there might be something in the archives....I seem to recall this question last yearand the sonotube sounds like the way guys were bending that stuff

   Edited 2/23/2006 1:01 pm by maddog3

2. 
   tek | Feb 23, 2006 09:04pm | #6

   http://www.trex.com/products/installation/pdf/Special_Applications.pdf

    

1. 
   Glenny | Feb 23, 2006 10:05pm | #7

   If you go to the above link and look at the photo of the guys bending the Trex, I'd really like to know what is the heat source in the blue heater box in the background.

   It almost looks like steam? I wonder if you could heat it like wood, in a steam type box. That would be super easy.

   I'd also like to get a 5' radius out of it.

   -Glenny

1. 
   tek | Feb 23, 2006 11:56pm | #8

   It does kinda look like a steamer box.  I don't think steam alone will do it, you need heat - the stuff is basically plastic.  Looking through the link it looks like 8' is the smallest radius you can bend with the decking.  You might have to rip down into strips and heat those.

   Looks like the sono tube and a propane heater is the setup in the drawing they show.

1. 
   Glenny | Feb 24, 2006 01:55am | #9

   I was joking about the 5'.

   I guess I'll keep looking. I really don't like the idea of the sonotube catching on fire.

   -Glenny

    

1. 
   Treetalk | Feb 24, 2006 03:49am | #10

   8' electric baseboard heater?

2. 
   Homewright | Feb 24, 2006 04:05am | #11

   I think steam could do it.  140 degrees isn't hard to maintain with steam.  I've thought about setting up a series of copper pipes drilled with 1/8'th" holes every six or so inches.  A big chunk of blue drain pipe big enough to house a couple boards on crossmembers inside and run the steam pipes around the whole shebang on the inside.  It wouldn't take much to set up a boiler that fed the pipes with some flex tubing.  A few solder joints and you'd have a tubular steambath.  You could bend any of the composites with it if you got their temperature range stats.  Any takers?   

3. 
   migraine | Feb 24, 2006 04:15am | #12

   I have used long quartz heaters on some machinery in the past that would work.  I have used them on a vacuum press and on a post form laminate to do bullnosing

   Basically they are a tungston/nicad wire(or other type of wire) that is wound like spring and inserted in a ceramic or quartz tube(the insulator)and power is supplied to both ends, like a lightbulb.  They come in lenghts of 12+ feet.

   Try some place like

   http://www.infraredheaters.com

   or Graingers or McMaster-Carr

    

1. 
   Glenny | Feb 25, 2006 02:28am | #13

   For fun, I'm going to try the steam route. I have a steam bending thingy I made a few years ago to bend some wood railing. It's powered by a kettle and worked well for wood. So I'll try it and see.

   I'm also curious to know if steaming composites will change the structure of the board. ie, will the moisture de-bond the glues and weaken the composite. That could spell disaster down the road.

   -Glenny

1. 
   basswood | Jun 10, 2006 02:09am | #14

   How did the steam bending work out?Anyone else bend Trex lately?How did you do it?

1. 
   tsquaredframing | Jun 10, 2006 05:32am | #15

   I've bent trex in the past and when I needed less than 20' radius I used the weed burner method, very carefully and with a lot of motion.  I like the base board heat idea.  I thought about getting a piece of metal coulvurt and putting rebar through it then using a propane or salamander heater to blow heat through it to heat up the trex. 

4. 
   jjober | Nov 30, 2015 12:18pm | #16

   trex bending

   I used my driveway culvert and a torpedo heater. To monitor temp, I used a BBQ temp probe with a lead into the culvert. I had plenty of distance to place a 8ft piece into. At 306 degrees F about 14 in from beginning of my piece, it took 68 min or so to heat enough to bend around my form. Still was a little stiff but no blistering of the Trex.

5. 
   jjober | Nov 30, 2015 12:18pm | #17

   trex bending

   I used my driveway culvert and a torpedo heater. To monitor temp, I used a BBQ temp probe with a lead into the culvert. I had plenty of distance to place a 8ft piece into. At 306 degrees F about 14 in from beginning of my piece, it took 68 min or so to heat enough to bend around my form. Still was a little stiff but no blistering of the Trex.

6. 
   jjober | Nov 30, 2015 12:18pm | #18

   trex bending

   I used my driveway culvert and a torpedo heater. To monitor temp, I used a BBQ temp probe with a lead into the culvert. I had plenty of distance to place a 8ft piece into. At 306 degrees F about 14 in from beginning of my piece, it took 68 min or so to heat enough to bend around my form. Still was a little stiff but no blistering of the Trex.