permaculture

[John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>]

Aloha,

> Out here in Hawaii, there are a lot of greenhouses built with metal
> pipe framing and plastic covers.  ...  
> I want to make, not buy, a greenhouse but I
> can't figure out how to bend the metal.  
>  The one person I've asked, point-blank, "how did you bend that
> pipe", won't reveal his secrets,

Bearing in mind that the plastic dies even quicker in the tropical sun
than elsewhere...then whattaya do with it...Big Island is facing a
landfill crisis since quite a few years ago... :-p

Who did you ask?  Have you seen the guys down on 9th in Paradise Park
who make bent steel greenhouse frames?  Can't remember which side of
Paradise Dr. they're on but if you cruise 9th (and they're still there)
ya can't miss 'em, mauka side of 9th, they've got gypsy wagon huts made
from salvaged pallets and several large bent steel greenhouses and a
shop and so on.

There are a variety of commercial steel-bending machines that can put
variable curves in tubing and other stock.  Typically kinda big and
expensive for home use... ;-)  If you can befriend a local
metal/pipe/muffler-shop person that might be an approach.  Check with
Hawai'i Community College industrial arts, there might be a metal shop
class you could take that would give you access to the equipment.  Also
some of the local high schools might still have some of that kind of
shop equipment.  Offhand I don't know of any good DIY way to bend the
heavy steel stuff used in those greenhouses (or even the lightweight
conduit, other than the single-radius bender).


=====
John Schinnerer, MA
--------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
Food - Shelter - Community
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net

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