My Tube Bender - Fully Hydraulic - Pro Tools 105 HD

[Travis]

I mentioned in another thread that I would post pictures of my bender..

I built this last year. I spent a lot of time doing the math and researching hydraulic systems and benders to make sure everything I used would work well together and give me the speed and power I wanted. It's probably overkill for what I need but I enjoyed building it and doing the research. It's a different design than any of the other hyrdo benders I've seen in that the the cylinder starts at 90 degrees to the bender swing arm and pivots as is extends. This gives maximum power right from the start the of bend and not half way through it. Another unique thing is that it uses all SAE O-ring and JIC fittings for the hydraulics. This made finding the control valve, pressure gauge, in-tank filter, and tank bungs a little more difficult, but now I don't have to worry about leaks.

This thing is a beast. When bending 1-1/8" .120" wall tube it shows just a couple hundred PSI in the cylinder. If I did my math correctly this should have no problem bending 2" .135" wall chromoly. It will bend to over 100 degrees in one stroke in about 10 seconds.

Sorry the video sucks. This was filmed on my old crappy camera before I got my GoPro HD Hero.

Some pic's of the build process:

Parts drawn in CAD and laser cut

Laying out the base for the frame. Wish I had my welding table at the time.

Starting to look like something

Welding up the hydraulic oil tank.

Tray

Water testing the tank

95% complete, usable, and about how it looks now.

Piston rod extended

 

[walterpunk]

Wow! nice work man

 

[visimpact]

Beyond impressive man.

 

[Patches]

Looks a little more in depth than mine....

 

[Travis]

^ Yep I really wanted it to be fully hyrdo and wanted it to be mobile.

visimpact and walterpunk, Thanks!

 

[Patches]

^ well you did a hell of a job. Congrats, it looks great. Now let's see some custom frames!!!!!

 

[Graham]

Some nice designs here!! What is the main purpose of bending tubes like this?
Making hard tail kits.. Any other uses?

 

[Travis]

Patches, Just the hardtail kits for now. I'm planning on selling hoops for swingarm braces soon.

What have you been building with your bender?

 

[Travis]

Graham, You can make a ton of stuff... hardtails, full frames, exhausts, handle bars... For cars you can make roll cages, brush guards and things like that. I kind of want to build a mini buggy but have nowhere to really drive it and money is always a factor.

 

[Mcnabb]

That thing is sweet!!! Very nice work ya done there.

 

[Ironriot]

Graham, You can make a ton of stuff... hardtails, full frames, exhausts, handle bars... For cars you can make roll cages, brush guards and things like that. I kind of want to build a mini buggy but have nowhere to really drive it and money is always a factor.

That mini buggy is super cool, I want one! You've just inspired me to build my own tubing bender

Very impressive bender indeed!

 

[MiniDanzig]

fuckin impressive man. inspiring shit.

 

[hotrdd]

Any idea how much you have into this thing in the end?

 

[Ironsled77]

Posted via Mobile

 

[hooktool]

Nicely done, that's a beauty. I have the 105 bender, but manual. It's not hard, but its pretty slow if I'm making a pile of parts. I'm envious.

John

 

[Travis]

Thanks guys for the compliments!

hotrdd, I kept all the receipts and with every nut and bolt I have about $2,500 into it in parts. Plus countless hours of research, design, shopping, and the actual build. If you count the notcher and the 4 dies, that number ends up at about $3,800. I could have saved a little bit of money by using cheaper hydraulic fittings and not buying all the components with SAE o-ring ports. That might have saved me a few hundred dollars.

Here's a rough breakdown:
Bender - 300
Degree ring - 150
Steel and laser cutting - 700
Hydraulic Cylinder - 160
Control valve - 160
Pump - 135
Motor - 155
In-tank filter - 85
Hydraulic lines and fittings - 350
Pressure gauges - 50
Castors - 30
Tank Bungs -10
Temp and level gauge - 20
Filler neck/breather -15
Lovejoy couplings - 40
Industrial start/stop switch and housing - 60
Swivel Leveling Feet - 40
Plus misc nuts and bolts and wiring and things like that.

I'd like to put a couple of finishing touches on it like adding places to hang/store dies and then get the whole thing painted or powder coated = more $$$

All that little stuff adds up!

 

[hotrdd]

That's a lot of dough, but boy what a wicked bender. Nice job.

 

[member3480]

MONEY DOESN'T mean anything when you did it yourself. ONE OF A KIND and looks like it can bend big tube.
NICE WORK!!!!!

 

[tadd442]

Thanks guys for the compliments!

hotrdd, I kept all the receipts and with every nut and bolt I have about $2,500 into it in parts. Plus countless hours of research, design, shopping, and the actual build. If you count the notcher and the 4 dies, that number ends up at about $3,800. I could have saved a little bit of money by using cheaper hydraulic fittings and not buying all the components with SAE o-ring ports. That might have saved me a few hundred dollars.

Here's a rough breakdown:
Bender - 300
Degree ring - 150
Steel and laser cutting - 700
Hydraulic Cylinder - 160
Control valve - 160
Pump - 135
Motor - 155
In-tank filter - 85
Hydraulic lines and fittings - 350
Pressure gauges - 50
Castors - 30
Tank Bungs -10
Temp and level gauge - 20
Filler neck/breather -15
Lovejoy couplings - 40
Industrial start/stop switch and housing - 60
Swivel Leveling Feet - 40
Plus misc nuts and bolts and wiring and things like that.

I'd like to put a couple of finishing touches on it like adding places to hang/store dies and then get the whole thing painted or powder coated = more $$$

All that little stuff adds up!

I'll give you a chance to make some money back......I am willing to offer $1 if you bend some sweet bars for me.

 

[Travis]

Tadd, So generous! But seriously, if you want to use it, come on over. If you need to bend 7/8" we'll have to make a sleeve for my 1-1/8" die and give that a try. Unless you want to buy me a 7/8" die as payment for using the machine That'll cost a lot more than a dollar though.