Mouth Piece Bending Jig

[awright]

You haven't stated clearly the procedure you use to make the bends, but judging from the figures, it looks like you make a "U" bend in a short piece of stock, then put it in your jig and bend the legs out. This puts you in the position of working with short stubs on both legs, using levers built into your fixture to make the final two bends.

Consider the possibility of using a long piece of 1/2" bar stock and making each bend in succession from one end, giving you the mechanical advantage of having the long end of the bar stock as a lever for each of the three bends. Then use a cheater extension bar for the last bit of stock.

This approach would require three separate bending jigs but might save effort in the long run. I gather that you expect to be making many of these mouth pieces, so the extra jigs should not be a major cost factor.

I think you would benefit from heating the bar for each bend - perhaps with a pair of MAPP torches and a thermal retention cover plate to contain the heat and shield the hot bar from breezes - a small penalty to pay to keep the bend in the desired region of the bar.

Based upon my limited experience bending bar stock in an outdoor environment in the absence of a jig, having the MAPP torches clamped in place for optimal heating will avoid much juggling of flaring hot torches using all prehensile toes and elbows. I know that Bernz sells torch heads on hoses for use with remote tanks for under $100 at Home Depot. See if they are available in MAPP versions.

Each jig would have to have a large enough backing plate to have a deep scribe to show the stopping point for the bend.

Let us know what you work out.