Need pointers for tube bender with ratcheting system

[smith541]

I recently bought the WFB2 - pipe and tube bender from Woodward Fab. This is a manual tube bender with a ratcheting system, and bends tubing up to 2"in diameter. This is the first time I'm using a bender with a ratcheting system. Can anyone give me pointers on how best to use it without screwing it up?

 

[buzzword]

1) Get bend tech pro, or similar software as it will allow you to mock up whatever you want to build virtually, and tell you exactly where to make your marks and start your bends, etc. It will also generate printable paper wraparound templates that you can use to guide your radius cuts for mitering.

2) There's a ton of documentation on the web about how far to over-bend to compensate for springback based on the material you're bending. The TL;DR version is that you don't want to bend directly to your desired angle then stop, because most material will have some spring in it and pop back a bit. Here's a good link.

3) Make sure that thing is well secured in the ground. You'll be generating a lot of force regardless of the ratcheting system, and having your bender walk around is super annoying.

4) Decide ahead of time what dies you need - they're not cheap, and sometimes if you need a different size in a pinch, they might not be easy to come by quickly.

5) Get some junk tubing and just practice! It's pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it.

 

[bobby831]

One of the first things you should focus on is the bend radius. Make sure that it has been configured properly. If you don't, then the pipe will come out with a wrinkled bend. If that happens, increase the bend radius and try again with another pipe. This goes without saying but always test the bender before you start using it for your work. Otherwise a lot of your time is going to get wasted.

 

[bobby831]

This is repeated by mistake.