Bending tube

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

I already know what is going to happen so I am going to say this. Unless you yourself have personal experience with this product keep your .02 to yourself.

I am looking into the dreaded 12 ton HF pipe bender. The purpose of this tool Is to bend Pipe and maybe tube to create a rear tire rack and possibly make a rear hoop for my roll cage to turn it into a family cage. The material being bent will be .120 wall 2 inch tube or 2 inch or sch 40 pipe if that comes up as a better option.

I see lots of people who simply cap the tube "not pipe" and fill with sand and water. They make flawless bends with relative ease.

The I hear about people who find it to be a complete waste and kink every pipe and tube in sight.

This guy seems to have gotten it dialed in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlSnVSrWg0M&feature=related

 

[jlewan001]

I was thinking about buying one too. I want to make some nice tubular bumpers

 

[fungus]

Although I have not done it myself, I did see several projects a guy built in town with one & they turned out very nice. Did a bunch of tube work on a baja type bug. He had the little HF bender right there on the bench and said that's what he did it all with. Capped the tubes and filled with sand = nice bends with that bender. Also need to go slow & not just hammer away at it.

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

Although I have not done it myself, I did see several projects a guy built in town with one & they turned out very nice. Did a bunch of tube work on a baja type bug. He had the little HF bender right there on the bench and said that's what he did it all with. Capped the tubes and filled with sand = nice bends with that bender. Also need to go slow & not just hammer away at it.

Yeah then you got that JD2 So I called the local steel shop and I can get 21 ft of 2" ID Sch 40 pipe for $40 or about the same price for .120 wall tube.

 

[fungus]

Yeah then you got that JD2

Haha, which I have yet to use & still need to get a 2" die for! Someday... When that thing gets setup for good back in Norcal it'll have air over hyd put on it!

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

So far the more I dig the more I find that this bender is well duh, best suited for pipe. I am thinking that my only drawback to pipe is the fact that it is heavier than the tube but it is much thicker wall. I know not really apples to apples but I want to make this work since I do not have a whole lot of options and I must be able to carry a spare tire for OCBR.

 

[bknbronco]

Ya that bender SUCKS!!! There slow, they crease, they leave a dent on top of both rollers, etc. I got one for $150 bucks and bent up a bumper on my excursion out of fence pipe for a pattern. After all was said and done i never made the real deal because the bender was so shitty. I just sold it about a month ago for $40 bucks to some guy on CL who wanted to make some exhaust, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! I sold it because it wasnt even worth it to keep it around for a "just in case", took up more space than it was worth. Though about making it into a press though!

Dont waste time filling with sand, heck dont even waste anymore time thinking about getting one. THERE SHIT! Im saving for a JD2 or one of them other benders.

Even your local muffler shop cant bend tubing worth a shit even with there few thousand dollar bender. There just still using shitty dies! But if in a pinch you might see if a local muffler shop will make them bends you need, it wont be perfect but better than that bender your looking at.

Here is what i made and had on it for a few years, as you can see the bends were not verry much and even them looked terrible. I wouldnt even consider a bend over 30 deg!

 

[jim3326]

The reason you fill it with sand is so it doesn't collapse the outside radius as bad, it also raises the amount of force required to bend it. 12t. will bend 2" od .120w CREW tube or 1 1/2" sch40 pipe (1.9" od) ok but I don't know if it would have the balls if you fill it with sand. If you went with a thinner wall it would probably work fine.

I wouldn't use pipe for anything that has any force or safety needs applied to it, it is a soft metal (bends easily). Also don't even think of trying to bend DOM with it, my friend burned up his elec/hyd unit trying.

Jim W.

 

[quikdrummer]

I'm looking to get One of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Affordable-Bender-Roll-Cage-Tube-Bender-1-3-4-tacoma-preruner-baja-crawler-/230824353922?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item35be342082&vxp=mtr

Only major downsides I can see is larger radius bends, and 90degree bends.

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

Ok, well I must admit I am still thinking about using it to make the spare tire carrier. I would use sch 40 for it.

 

[bknbronco]

A exhaust shop would only charge you 5 bucks or so a bend. Thats how i made my exhaust. had them bend the pieces and then took it home and cut and welded. At that time i had that bender around still but didnt dare use it!

You sound bound and determined to get one but ill do everything i can to talk you out of it! If i knew you wanted one you could have had mine for free!

There is no way possible that bender would have made this! NO WAY!

 

[Scot]

I used one of these benders to make a roll cage, a roll bar, and a front bumper. I used 2" od x .120 wall structural tubing. The shoe and rollers did visibly mark the tubing, but nothing I couldn't live with. I did not fill the tubing with anything and did not kink any bends. The hardest part was getting uniform angles of bend. I resorted to counting strokes of the jack for repeatability.

Good luck,
Scot

 

[hyghlndr]

Check craigslist, the HF one seems to be listed around here often.

 

[PlaneDrvr99]

I bought a used tubeshark bender and never looked backed. I bend all DOM tube and its great... Half the price of a new one and it came with several dies...

 

[Madgyver]

You can't go wrong with the JD2 and the swagoffroad air/hydraulic ram attachment.
So much better than manual bending.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I wish they made shoes for the Greenlee 555 bender for our purposes. I use those all the time at work and could borrow one or have access to one any time.

 

[bad 68]

Ok the HF bender is not a high tech piece of equipment. It will work on .120 1.75 ID pipe. I did not buy this bender but I did borrow it to build this toyota bed for a buddy(not my toyota). It worked OK. I did not fill the pipe with sand. It did not kink the pipe even bending the 90s.

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

I must admit I made this thread looking for positive results I am going to go for the gold. 120 wall tube filled with sand.

 

[bad 68]

You don't need the sand on .120 wall. Don't waist your time. It's not that easy to fill the pipe.