having issues with Bend feature

[RadioRahim]

I have never really been able to use the Bend modifier properly as it seems it only works if I use a standard object without doing anything to it . Once I scale or convert to poly the Bend modifier doesnt seem to work as it should. Please see this video for a demonstration of what I mean. 

[irishman_team_kilber]

what are you trying to do? your video is a demonstration but you don't say what your end result is gonna be

why are you scaling it up and down?

 the bend Modifier  

[RadioRahim]

Im scaling it up and down because I want to change the dimensions of the object. 

[irishman_team_kilber]

sorry i cannot help you because you don't say what you're trying to achieve i gave you a link to the bend modifier and that is all i can do until that time you tell us what you are trying to achieve 

[RadioRahim]

Im trying to figure out why the bend modifier acts so strangely in the video. Why is it that it will not bend an editable poly like it does with a cylinder? I mean, are we supposed to get the scale of the object perfect before applying the bend?

[leeminardi]

Scaling certain objects will affect how the bend modifier behaves.

The top shape in the image below is the side view of a cylinder with a bend modifier applied with an amount of 30°.  The smoothness of the bend is a function of the number of height segments in the cylinder.

The second shape down is of a cylinder that was created with a diameter 3 times that of the first cylinder.  It was then scale in x and y by one third yield a cylinder of the same size as the original.  A bend modifier. 

The third shape is a copy of the second but with its transform reset. 

It appears that the scaling operation is the cause of the way in which individual polygons are skewed when subject to a bend modifier not whether the shape has been converted to an editable poly.

For another test I created a cylindrical shape by sweep a circle along a line.  The bend modifier reacted consistently with the original swept shape and with it converted to an editable poly.