deMideon Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 Saw a little about this a few posts ago and got to thinking.... I saw a 12 ton pipe bender at www.northerntools.com part no. 14420 $89.99!!! They claim it will bend up to 90 deg. and up to 2" black pipe. Does anyone know how 2" black pipe compares to 1 5/8" .120 wall thickness seamless tubing? Will I be able to use this bender to make my cage??? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest digitalz Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 imho, you won't have much success with a pipe bender. pipe benders are for pipes. you need a tubing bender for tubing if you want nice radius bends. want to make one check this out http://www.blindchickenracing.com/tools/Tube%20Bender/Tubingbender.htm i have one similar to that probably the biggest expense would be the die. or check out the williams lowbuck tubing bender which is the same idea. kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Drewz Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 I have built 4 cages on a pipe bender at the Midas I was manager at and they all passed tech easily. U need to understand the benders limits though, ours was pretty old and would bend 095 wall ninety degrees without much effort. Most benders will not make good smooth bends as Kent stated but some will. A hand bender is a hard and , IMO, a crude way of doing it. By crude I mean making it harder than it needs to be. Ask a local stock car guy where he got his done and that may give you a lead?? Just an idea. The cages I built were 095 wall and had to be gussetted at every joint so if it going to be a cage that needs to be teched you should get the spec.'s on what they expect. Black pipe is usually 075 to 085 and not seamless, why are you going 120??? That is huge!!! typical is 095 from my experience. Just my opinions here and what I have experienced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deMideon Posted February 14, 2002 Author Share Posted February 14, 2002 Thanks for the ersponses... not what I was hoping for but it's better to find out before I spend the money! I am going with .120 for the main loop as that's what SCCA specifies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 Just got the new Popular Hot Rodding magazine and it has an article on making roll cages from scratch! (for a Camaro) They show the right tool for bending. It is a benchtop-scale manual hydraulic bender. I'll post the brand name when I remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 I have one of those pipe benders like Northern Tools sells that I picked up at Harbour Freight. It bends but has a tedancy to place indentations from the upper stationary bars the (work piece) pipe is pushing against from the lower radius die the hydraulic jack is attached to. I made some stainless steel nerf bumper bars that were probably a lot heavier and thicker than roll cage tubing. What to worry about is the hydraulic pressure collapsing the walls of the thinner tubing and flattening your bends. I got good bends except the dimpling or indentations on one nerf bar and did not bend a full 90 degrees. I do not know how a little heat from a torch would help or hinder the bending of tubing . You get a lot of different size radius dies with the bender and found that the smaller bender had a lot of spunk in its hydraulics to bend the heavy stuff!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deMideon Posted February 15, 2002 Author Share Posted February 15, 2002 Hmm think I'll go and pickup pop hot rod. It's probably got some good info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 Here we go: http://www.mittlerbros.com/products/hydraulictubingbender.htm This is the manual benchtop type bender used in the article. Unfortunately, It costs 10 times the one from Harbor Freight, with shoes for one size of pipe. Additional shoes are $225-$450. Hard to justify unless you are a full-time fabricator. It does seem to be the right tool for 90-deg bends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest digitalz Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 more links for benders. pro-tools http://www.pro-tools.com/pro_model_105_mechanical_.htm williams low buck tools http://www.lowbucktools.com/hydbender.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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