How would I bend a aluminum rod 1/4" in diameter? Will brute force suffice, or will I need a special tool?

What type of aluminum? Certain types like 2024 doesn't like to be cold bent. It's all in the alloy type. If you really have too, use a hi heat propane torch. However, doing so will change your rod and not for the best.

Depends how you want to bend it, if its just to bend like U shape,
hold firm against a post, telephone if you want a large U or small fence post if you want a narrower U, bunt never bend back too much as it will tear,
but a 1/4" should be pretty easy to bend any which way, as long as its not too short a piece. if its pretty short, hold it in a table vice.

What type of aluminum? Certain types like 2024 doesn't like to be cold bent. It's all in the alloy type. If you really have too, use a hi heat propane torch. However, doing so will change your rod and not for the best.
Yep, on the brittle types of aluminum you have to use heat and use it carefully. The temp range between bendable and melted isnt too great.
Google the soap method of heating aluminum.

Heating aluminum sometimes changes the alloy properties of it as well. It might make it become more like cookie dough when you separate it.

How would I bend a aluminum rod 1/4" in diameter? Will brute force suffice, or will I need a special tool?
I had no problem bending 1/4 " aluminum rod...just use a bench vice and a larger pipe that easily fits over the rod to bend it.Just keep in mind that the bend point will be a little higher than the top of the vice. I hope that helps you!

Thanks for all the responses. I will be building my own GH antenna soon. :)

gruez,
I used 0.25” T6061 Al rod (from Metal Supermarket) for my GH6n3 (nikiml's non-modular version). Bent the rod as follows:

Clamped it in a mechanic’s vise. Started the bend in a similar way to using a pipe around the al rod (as mentioned by DRS) and then hit it with a 2.5lb mini sledge. Even though T6061 is a bit brittle, I didn’t have any brakeage problem.

Found it easier to measure from outside edge of last bend and mark the inside edge of next bend; then align that mark with the edge of the vise and bend/whack the rod. Measurment from outside edge to inside edge is the same as from centre to centre. Like marking stud locations for a wall - it's easier to mark and align edges than centres.

I cut the rods a bit longer than total of centre-to-centre dimensions, but found that, for the elements, I had to cut off about 6 mm (1/4”) more than the extra length added. Rod must have stretched from being held firmly in the vise and whacked with the mini sledge.

How would I bend a aluminum rod 1/4" in diameter? Will brute force suffice, or will I need a special tool?

Here is a short version of what I did (which repeat partly what's already written).

1)I put it in a vise.
2)I heated it with a propane torch.
3)I used a pipe to do the bending. Ideally the pipe has to be as tight as possible to make tight bent.
4)Most important: bending goes only in 1 direction. If you bend it back because of bad measurement or because you bent 90 degrees when you should have bent 45 degrees (I did that... :( ) then the rod IS SCRAP as it will break when bent back.

jf