Re: Is it possible to straighten a bent rod? Author Bruce Nardoci Date: 1998/10/06 Forum: rec.sport.table-soccer Garlicguys wrote: > > I just purchased an old Tornado table and two of the rods are bent. Is there > any simple way to fix them? Here is a message I posted a few months ago that might help: "The 2 man rod (on all tables, not just Tornado) are notorious for getting "the bends". You'll also see bent 3 bar's too, but rarely a bent 5 bar or goalie rod. Rather than replacing them, you should first try to straighten them out. This is definitely an "art", and not many foosers really know how to straighten out a bar well. Most just bend it at random hoping to get lucky and bend it straight, or try to guess how to bend it, and may improve it but never get it quite straight. A lot of players will try to "see" the bend by pulling the bar out as far as it will go, and then rotating it to see whether the handle is moving up or down in relation to where it should be. This method doesn't work well unless the bend is right next to the close man on the bar. However, the method I use which works the best (at least for me) is to push the bar in as far as it'll go, and rotate it. While you're rotating it, look at the bar itself about 6 inches or so towards you from the nearest man on the bar. Watch closely to see where the bar is "rising" and "falling" as you turn it. The place where the rise and fall is the greatest will be where the biggest part of the bend is. Once you have that spot, rotate the bar so the biggest fall is on the underside of the bar, and remember (or mark) where along the bar the center of that biggest fall is. Pull the bar so the the center of the spot where the fall is is on the outer lip of the bearing in the sidewall of the table, and push the bar directly down, bending it back toward being straight. After you give it a good push downward, repeat the above rotating process and bend the (hopefully smaller) fall again and again until it's straight enough for you. Since the bar will naturally want to go back to its fabricated (straight) position, it's not as hard to get it back to straight as you'd think. This is difficult to explain in typing, so if I've confused you let me know and I'll try again. You should only need to replace the bar if it cracks, or gets a double (S) bend you can't straighten out, or the metal gets fatiqued from a lot of straightening to where it bends unstraight again too easily under normal play."