Bending 316L Stainless tube

[a64pilot]

I don’t know if I said this earlier, but SS comes in varying heat treat levels, called hardness, half, full and quarter hard are common.
How hard it is will determine if and how well it can be bent just like any metal.

But if it’s a Bimini, I would go with aluminum. Why would you want SS for a Bimini frame? Too heavy for me.

[mward]

It's a dodger frame. I don't know why I typed bimini. I've updated my post to reflect that.

[a64pilot]

My dodger frame is also aluminum, of yours can be made from aluminum, I see no downside but do see upsides as in lighter, cheaper and more easily worked.
But if you want to go SS still, I’d ask a tubing bender what hardness you need, I suspect full hard would crack.

[mward]

Well that's interesting to know. I was under the impression dodgers should be stainless for strength. Aluminum would make this a lot easier. My tubing is 304 but I don't know the hardness. I haven't had much trouble working it for other projects.

[a64pilot]

My Dodger is what I see most often, simple aluminum frame and Sunbrella covered with plastic vinyl windows.
However I’ve seen some hard dodgers with glass windows and everything in between.