permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] Hoop house pipe benders
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 14:10:15 -0800
From: Chrys Ostrander <chrys@THEFUTUREISORGANIC.NET>
Reply-To: farms@peachlocal.com
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Hi David, Folks,

Here are a couple of resources for tubing benders that can do arches:

W.W. Manufacturing Co. Inc.
60 Rosenhayn Ave.
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
856-451-5700

These folks build limited runs of a bender that is unique in that it is
adjustable so it's able to bend different radius arcs. Some of the
literature I got from them states its capacity as up to 1-inch inside
diameter, schedule 40 steel water pipe  or 1 5/8-inch outside diameter
fence pipe (schedule 10, approx .065-inch wall thickness). It's
adjustment range is from slight curves to complete circle. They will
build more as demand requires. It's around $300 plus shipping of
~$1.00/lb. and it weighs 50 lbs.

W.W. Mfg. also makes these things they call U-stakes designed to anchor
your hoophouse. They come in sizes for 1/2-inch tubing and 3/4-inch or
1-inch tubing (~30-inches long). You drive them into the ground and bolt
them onto the hoophouse baseboards. You also can insert the bottom ends
of your arches into the fitted hole in the U-stake and bolt the tubes to
the U-stake but this is not required (if you had tubing that was larger
than 1" for instance).

This is a family-owned, US business making their stuff here in the
States - worthy of your consideration.

There's also, Lost Creek Benders who manufacture benders for 1/2"
conduit mini-tunnels (go over beds) as well as fixed-radius benders for
larger diameter pipe for building hoophouses. I'll just give you the
link since they have a website:
http://www.lostcreek.net/proseriesquickbenders.html

These benders are for bending by hand. No PTO required.

In terms of snow load, I don't have any studies, but I've had experience
with both arched and "Gothic" style hoophouses. If it's not a tight
radius arch, you'll have more snow build-up. Our peaked "Gothic"
hoophouse (these generally have steeper roof angles) has been pretty
good at shedding snow on its own, but once this winter I went out with a
wide push broom (that thankfully has no sharp points or edges on it) and
pushed up from inside the hoophouse to get the snow to slide off. You
have to watch the build-up of shed snow along the bottom edge on the
outside and carefully shovel that away if it looks like its putting too
much strain on things.

If you're not going to use the hoophouse during the snow season, it's
recommended to remove the film. One winter I did this and stored the
roll on the ground only to find in the spring some mice had gnawed holes
in it. One thing I've thought about doing to keep it off the ground and
try to reduce the hassle was: Okay, so say you have roll-up sides with
wiggle-wire holding the film on. You could remove the all the
wiggle-wire from the hoopy and then roll up both sides all the way to
the top and tie it off there somehow. Just a thought - haven't tried it yet.

*Chrys Ostrander, Director of Farming Programs*
People for Environmental Action and Community Health
"Local Food for All"

*Manager,
p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm at Pine Meadow*
10425 S. Andrus Rd.
Cheney, Wa 99004
509-448-3066
farms@peachlocal.com
www.peachlocal.com

On 1/8/2011 1:04 PM, David wrote:
> Dear friends,
>
> It is of course possible to purchase hoop houses, HH kits and parts,
> and as well to make them ad hoc from PVC pipe which easily bends.
> Further, if one wishes to DIY using conduit or similar metal pipe,
> there are hand benders that are widely available, although they are
> intended for making angle bends (45, 90, etc._ at one point along the
> pipe, rather than making a sweeping arc along a long section of pipe.
>
> So I have two questions. The first is that I know I've see a bender
> that will create a large sweep bend /which operates from the PTO of a
> tractor/, but for the life of me I can't find any examples on the
> Internet/web. Anyone know of such beasts?
>
> And second, where snow is the enemy of standing greenhouses or hoop
> houses, does anyone know of research that shows whether a sweeping arc
> vs. something built with angles will survive better, all else being
> equal?