UPDATE

I am going to take apart my bender and bring it to campus for a display and demonstration later this week. I wanted to get all my bending done today so I can tack the bumper together and put it on display next to the bender.

Below: I started with my first multi-plane part: the upper hoop. This has four bends to bring it up and around, following the front profile of the hood.


Note: In the above picture it looks like I collapsed the tubing with the clamp for the plane of bend bracket. That dent is actually from before I got the tubing and it was shipped that way.

Below: Here it is with the third bend completed. These are very small (3 degree) bends, however the springback was still the same as with the other bends I've made.



Below: I also bent two smaller pieces which will form the uprights in front of the radiator.



Below: Although I still have some cutting to do, I used some bailing wire on the lower half and had my roomate hold the hoop up so I could snap a few pictures. This is the money shot as far as I'm concerned - the design is turning out exactly the way I pictured it in my head.



Below: Here it is from the side. He had it tilted down a little bit; the hoop will actually be slightly higher than the front of the hood. It may not be tall enough to protect the radiator in the event of a complete rollover, but that was a compromise I decided I could live with. I have some other ideas for protecting the radiator, but I'm not quite there yet.



Below: Here it is a little further back. I can't wait to get the other pieces fitted to see what the whole shabang is going to look like.