JMortensen Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I started with them farther apart then moved them in after looking at those pictures again. I could definitely try moving them farther apart again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8_DatZun Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 in my mind that would help.. it would spread the load out evenly across a larger portion of the tube... but then experiment is where you really find out if thoughts are true or not... but like even at work.. we have pipe benders.. the dies on them are pretty big... i mean like longer... and the points the tube is pressed on are spread out a bit more... hope that helps.. it may still take the heat and/or sand idea too though... i know at work we oil the tube/die down pretty good too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbc3 Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I played with different tubing and found that the tube must fit tight in the jig, or it will kink. 1 5/8 tubing is tight in the 1 1/4 pipe jig. The HF bender just doesn't come with a jig that will work with 1 3/4" tubing. As far as the purpose of the couplings, they just help spread the load so the tube doesn't dent on the rollers. Moving the rollers in or out didn't matter, the tubing still dented without the couplings. Jody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Jon, we did the bends with heat but no sand. We only needed two, maybe we got lucky? After my last post earlier, I had to leave with the wife to go see the new Bond movie. I guess it was good, I was thinking more about this post than the movie! A Hybrid Z-er to the end! During the movie I wondered, if I were to cut a length wise slit in a tube and then hose clamp it tightly around the tube to be bent, would that prevent kinking a little? The slit would mainly be for easy removal after the bending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rayjay Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 This is probably the best deal: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Product.aspx?paging=yes&dept_id=20&display_id=4883 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rayjay Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 This is probably a good deal: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Product.aspx?paging=yes&dept_id=20&display_id=4883 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 I played with different tubing and found that the tube must fit tight in the jig, or it will kink. 1 5/8 tubing is tight in the 1 1/4 pipe jig. The HF bender just doesn't come with a jig that will work with 1 3/4" tubing. As far as the purpose of the couplings, they just help spread the load so the tube doesn't dent on the rollers. Moving the rollers in or out didn't matter, the tubing still dented without the couplings. I was actually going to do something like this. I started grinding out the 1 1/2" die to fit some pipe that I bought that had a 1.790 or so ID. After my first couple of bends though, I really think that the 1 3/4" tube will fit in the 1 1/4" die. It did so much better in that die than in the larger one, and the sides of the tube didn't bend at all and it wasn't able to flex out. I think it will work, I just think it needs a little more prep. I'm actually going to put this project aside for at least a couple weeks, should be working on a dual master cylinder setup pretty quick here. When I get back to this I'll try the heat next, and then heat/sand and let you all know what the results were. If heat alone would work that would be pretty easy, so long as my MAPP torch would get it hot enough. On another topic, I'm going to have some pretty complex bends in the halo bar. I'm trying to figure out how I can get them done right the first time. I was thinking of bending up some conduit and using that as a guide. Anyone have a better idea than that for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz8 Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Spacing the pins farther apart INCREASES the radius of the bend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 3, 2006 Share Posted December 3, 2006 Just an FYI, the Harbor Freight bender is a knockoff of another popular bender... for the life of me I can't remember the brand, but "old and established" and that brand has the dies available for a lot of different sizes of piping that isn't supplied with the HF Unit. I have done this on other HF items as well, like Paint Guns. No secret it's a Devilbiss knockoff of Binks #7 knockoff. And having a lot of nozzles and parts for those, toswap onto the HF gun makes it act just like the "Name Brand" unit. I'm sure some searching will turn up which bender they knmocked off...though off-sized dies will probably run you as much as the HF unit is total cost! (I know you can buy the HF Knockoff I-R impact gun for $58, and the I-R Tune-Up kit with bearings, vanes, and air motor parts is $58...so the decision becomes use the old parts and just replace the burned out vanes...or get a whole "new" gun that lasts the same 6 months in Industrial Service....) I'm watching this thread now...the photos of the bends produced by the HF unit are interesting, answered a lot of my questions about this subject. Good Thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz8 Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 I believe that type of bender is for bending ridgid galvinized electrical pipe, which is a heavy wall but mild steel pipe, used them many times, not very much good for bending anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 I have looked at the Greenlee Conduit Bender, which is a "pivoting circle" style bender. Much better than crushbending. But they are electro-hydraulic, and it draws the tubing through a die, around a circular centerpiece. Nice bends, but $$$. Unless you have a friend in industrial electrical installations. Haven't seen a bender like this on a jobsite bending conduit for quite a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 This is probably a good deal: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Product.aspx?paging=yes&dept_id=20&display_id=4883 I have one just like that one. Works fantastic, can bend up to 135 degrees. No kinks, no errors, just plain sweet bends!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz8 Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 The half circle benders are usually for thin wall electrical conduit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 I believe that type of bender is for bending ridgid galvinized electrical pipe, which is a heavy wall but mild steel pipe, used them many times, not very much good for bending anything else. You're absolutely correct, and it's even advertised as a PIPE bender as everyone knows. But we at HybridZ just have to "make it work", other wise it would be too easy:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublexl240z Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 The absolute best bet for the money and time and aggrevation etc. is the JD2 bender. www.JD2.com 295 for the head, 135 for the stand, 225 for the 1 1/2 in. die. Make your own handle, heck you could even mount it on your own stand. Alot of those cheaper benders are bending at a 7 in. radius, thats huge!! Look at the radius of that 14 wheel in the garage, thats a 7 radius!! These will bend down to 4.5 in. on the 1 1/2 in. tubing. SCCA and most others require a minimum radius of 3 times the diameter. 7 inches is hard to fit tight in a lot of areas, and doesn't look as good as a 4.5 in. I've built 7 cages in the past year with mine and this one is the easiest to use. and if that whole lotto thing works out for ya buy the hydraulic kit, then its just push button!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed42 Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Having tried various ways of bending tubing over the years, I have found that for repeatability and minimal messing around having the right tool makes a lot of sense. A friend had the ProTools version of the JD2 mechanical hand bender. It worked fine, but needed a permanent floor mount. I have a version of the Low Buck Tools which is similar to the Speedway. They work good and didn't break the bank. Since most of the race car building I have done is all 1.5" and 1.75" DOM 0.95 wall I only have those dies. Here is the Low Buck take on the pipe versus tubing benders... http://www.lowbucktools.com/benderFAQ.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbhsbZ Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Search "Tubing Bender" on ebay, there is a guy that sells plans to make your own frame, using a Harbor Freight ram and the Protools dies (Pro-tools.com), Or if you call up protools and order a set of dies for around $200, they will GIVE you a set of plans to make a bender frame similar to the Speedway motors unit. I read this thread, and a bunch more, and ordered up the Pro-Tools 105 bender with a 1 1/2" Die. 3 minutes for a ninety degree bend. I made a base to mount it in my receiver hitch on my truck, and it works great. The only thing I'd like to change is to make it a vertical and add an air/hydraulic ram instead of my arm as the power source. It gets tiring after making 5 or so bends in a row. In my opinion, it was money well spent. Sometimes if you just bite the bullet and buy the proper tools, it comes out cheaper in the end. How much money is your time spent jacking around with a HF bender and a stack of kinked, worthless tubing worth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 anybody tried this one? https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pc-12660-589-9312-hydraulic-12-ton-pipe-bender.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 anybody tried this one? https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pc-12660-589-9312-hydraulic-12-ton-pipe-bender.aspx That is the weaker version of the one that I tried that didn't work. Now that I've tried both, I really feel that it's necessary to have one that curls the tube around the die rather than pushing the die into the tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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