Tube bender plans

[Travis]

Thinking about building a hydraulic tube bender. Has anyone ever built one on the cheap? Anyone have any plans for one?

Also interested in how to make very large radius bends in tubing.

 

[inxs]

- here are some options - there might be something here for you

http://www.blindchickenracing.com/tools/tube bender/tubingbender.htm

http://www.gottrikes.com/Tube_Bender.htm

http://www.pro-tools.com/200k.htm

http://skidaddysprojectscom.com/TubingBender.html

http://www.zena.net/htdocs/welders/projects.shtml

http://www.tbucketeers.com/forum/f48/home-built-tubing-bender-1186/

 

[inxs]

- some info on large angle bending


http://www.thefabricator.com/Bending/Bending_Article.cfm?ID=158

http://www.porcupinepress.com/_bending/segmentbends.htm

http://www.ihpva.org/Projects/tstrike/building/tubebend.htm

http://www.thefabricator.com/Bending/Bending_Article.cfm?ID=227

http://www.nomma.org/eweb/fabricator/best_of_fabricator/200307 large radius bend.pdf

http://www.bendtooling.com/technical_info.htm

http://www.webendtube.com/bend3.htm

 

[Travis]

wow, lots of good links there! Seems like there are about three bender styles I'll have to take a look at and one roll bender that looked interesting to me. Has anyone ever built any of these?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

somewhat old thread, but I've built the gottrikes bender, works amazing, extremely happy.

 

[Travis]

What are you using for dies?

 

[crash]

on the tight bends does the pipe kink up?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

The dies I got from Pro-tools, they cost about $200 a piece.

The tubing in the picture is kinked because it's thin wall tubing. When using the actual .120" wall tubing there are no kinks at all, the bends come out extremely smooth.

 

[Travis]

What size die or dies do you have? tubing size and radius? Would you buy the same die size(s) if you had to buy them again?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I've only got the one size 1 1/4". CLR is 3.5 or 4" can't remember right now. I think the size die I got is perfect for what I needed, however, I would have loved to have a couple additional sizes, both 1" and 1 3/4" or 2" that way I could do roll cages.

Pro tools is a good company, they make the dies to order, so it takes about two weeks to get them after you order, but they are made very well and once you have them you have them.

 

[Travis]

Thanks for the info. I really want to build one of these but the hardest part is deciding on the dies! Have you ever tried bending 1 1/8" or 1" tubing in your 1 1/4" die to see how it turns out?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I have used 1 1/8" in it, that's how I built the frame for the new bike I'm working on, however, there is definitely more deformity in the tubing, and the die touches the follower block, making grooves in it that must be fixed before bending 1 1/4" tubing again, otherwise it'll leave marks in the tubing.

 

[Travis]

Well that sucks. I'm thinking if I could only have one die, I'd want the 1 1/8" with about a 4" CLR..

 

[Travis]

Some more resources I found that might be useful to anyone looking to build or buy a bender.

One way to figure out your bends.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html

JD Squared benders
http://www.jd2.com/shop/

Article that compares JD2 Model3, Pro-tools 105, and JMR Benders
http://www.offroadfabnet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1668

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I really like the sizing of 1 1/8" for my bike, works out great, however, the only hard thing is that it's not a very common size in DOM tubing. So if you have a metal supply place local to you they'll probably have to order it in.

I'm happy with my 1 1/4" because it fit the beefy look I was going for on my chopper, and also I can use it to make the framing for a sandrail or something and not have it look too thin.

 

[crash]

how long did it take you to build the bender ,and how much do you have in it ,if you dont mind me asking.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I was lazy putting mine together, but you can make it in a couple days no problem. By far the longest part of it is drilling all the holes. They're pretty large holes so they suck. I eventually took the metal to a machine shop and told them to finish them up for me

Total cost with one set of dies was around $400.00 this is including the air/hydraulic ram.

 

[crash]

thanks for the info

 

[Travis]

Is that an 8 ton central hydraulics ram from harbor freight?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

Yepper, works great since the day I got it. Good deal too, I got mine for $70 shipped. remember it's the air/hydraulic one, not just the hydraulic