If you work with rebar you're life is about to get easier

Source: El Nuevo Constructor
Publication date: 2004-05-01

By William D. Palmer Jr.

Tough guys who spend their days cutting, bending, and placing rebar aren't called "rodbusters" for nothing. Using a "hickey" to make 90-degree bends, crouching over tying wire with a spring-return tying tool, and cutting bars with a torch or cut-off saw is hard work. But the new generation of power rebar tools will help anyone who works with rebar work faster, safer, and easier. While large bending and cutting machines used in fabricating shops have long been available, some of the newer tools are smaller and lighter, making them easy to transport to the field. Some can even be used on embedded bars. Both corded and cordless benders, cutters, and combination benders/cutters are now light enough to carry around all day.

Selecting Rebar Tools

If you're considering buying one of these new tools, here are some questions to ask yourself before you make your choice.

• Do you want separate tools for cutting and bending or a combination tool? Combination tools are typically heavier for a given bar capacity than tools that cut or bend only. Combination tools for bar sizes greater than #5 are normally bench units that weigh more than 100 pounds. A #5 bar is about the largest bar you can bend and cut by hand. Beyond that you'll need some sort of power tools.
• How many and what size bars will you cut? Rebar has traditionally been cut on site with a torch or cut-off saw-or even bolt cutters. But each of these techniques actually changes the molecular structure of the steel. The best tools, cutters that use square blocks as jaws, actually shear or break the bar, leaving the strength of the bars unaltered. Some of these cutters can be used easily on bars as large as #10, even with Grade 60 steel. Most cutting tools have cutting blocks that rotate so that they can be changed to a new edge eight times before replacement.

• Are the tools you're considering really up for the job? Some manufacturers will say that their benders and cutters will work with #6 bars. Make sure they can consistently cut or bend Grade 60 steel. Grade 40 is typical for residential construction while Grade 60 is more common on commercial jobs.

• Do you want corded or cordless tools? If you're in a place where it's hard to get power, cordless units are great, but they won't do everything.

• Do you really need portable handheld tools? Most handheld tools are cutters only and even though many benders and cutters are called "portable" they can weigh as much as 400 pounds. The models in the 200-pound range often come with handles for setup on the jobsite, or they can be moved with a loader or mounted onto a trailer that is often also set up to transport steel to the job. Larger machines can bend precisely to a pre-set bend angle and are better for bending longer bars since they use a rotary table bending system where only one end of the bar moves during the bending operation. Portable handheld tools, on the other hand, bend steel right on the spot and can also bend pre-embedded bars. This dramatically reduces the materials needed, since it's easier to bend bars than it is to use mechanical couplers or splice-in short bent sections.

Manufacturers

Here's a roundup of offerings from the different manufacturers of bending and cutting tools:

Benner-Nawman: Benner-Nawman carries the industry's most extensive line of bending and cutting tools. Most tools are electric/ hydraulic, using hydraulic power to actually drive the cutting heads. "The electric/hydraulic system keeps the power requirements to 12 amps," says Benner-Nawman's Mel Kientz. B-N's tools are simple, easily serviceable, and reliable. They carry both corded and cordless handheld cutters, and bench-mounted benders.

EZE Bend: This company's clever system has three different heads (two benders and one cutter) that connect to a Simplex hydraulic pump. Taking the hydraulic pump out of the handheld part of the tool results in a tool that is much lighter. The worker carries only the heads, which connect to the hydraulic pump via a 25-foot hose. Both the push-bender head (at 12 pounds) and the pull-bender head (at 18 pounds) have a capacity up to #6, Grade 60 bars, although a set of heads for #8 bars is in development. Another innovation is EZE Bend's shock absorber system for its cutters that prevents short pieces from flying off when cut.

Fascut Industries: The 14-pound Lobster lightweight rebar cutter comes in both corded and cordless versions for up to #5 bars. Fascut also has the 600 series (cutters, benders, and cutter/benders for up to #6 bars) that it claims is ideal for contractors setting up a jobsite rebar operation. It also offers the 800 series for up to #8 bars.

Gensco Equipment: The Novopress line of cutting and bending tools has a maximum capacity of #8 bars with several smaller models.

HIT Tools USA: This company makes a cordless cutter for smaller bars and corded handheld cutters for up to #11 bars. It also makes two models of a bench cutter/bender with capacity to #8 bars.

Hitachi Power Tools: The VB16Y is a 120-volt hand-held cutter/bender for up to #5, Grade 60 bars. The tool weighs 42 pounds, and it cuts in 3.1 seconds and bends in 5.1 seconds.

Multiquip: MQ makes benders and cutters with a maximum capacity of #8 bars. The single bender model is a bench-top unit while the cutters are corded (120-volt) handheld and bench units.

Pacific Benders: This company offers a complete line of benders in sizes from a small handheld model for in-place bending (the Jimmy, which is powered by a separate hydraulic pump), up to large rebar shop-sized production benders for up to #11 bars.

<i>--William D. Palmer Jr. is editor in chief of Concrete Construction, a sister publication of El Nuevo Constructor.</i>