Why wouldn't this work?

[Dave Bagwill]

Suppose you had an outside mold. Suppose further that you took it part and placed the 2 sections side by side and secured them so they look like a "W" sort of, on your work table.

Scenario one: you bent the sides, with a heat blanket and such, as if you were going to use a fox type bender; but instead, you bent the sides INTO the (now) 7" wide mold, and used dowels and spring to hold the rim in place.

Scenario two: you steamed the sides - an easy process by the way - then pressed them without the heat blanket, into the mold and used dowels and springs to hold them in shape.

I'm not asking Why would someone do this - just asking - why not?

Edit: Better yet, in scenario two, use a couple of dowels only then stick the thing in a vacuum bag!!

[TonyinNYC]

It can work. No reason it cant. I had considered that approach myself in the past. Building bending forms has zero appeal to me. Ditto building molds. I just don't want to do it! What is your mold made of and will it take the heat? That is the only thing you really need to worry about. You don't want to ruin your mold bending one set of sides!