I am looking for a tubing bender for cheap like under hunnert bux. Anyone know of any. I will use it for building a minibike frame and maybe somthin else.
Going to be damn hard to get one thats useful under a $100. Harbor Freight has a jank ass piece of shit for $99 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=32888 In my opinion it is a waste of $100, and I have one so I know. Bent the bottom plate on the 1st thing I used it on. The dies are useful though if you rebuild something heavier. I have a ProTools 105 that is the tits on homebuilt hydro. http://www.pro-tools.com/105.htm Here is a good source of what you need to get to bending, parts, tools, and how to hydrualic a bender, JD2 or PT105 http://reference.toolandfab.com/writeups/hydrobender_webpage/index.htm Here is a good read called Bendin' Tube 101 from Pirate4x4, Basically a Bible to start with. http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/
I have exactly that HF bender and it works just fine for bending pipe. My mini used (I think) 3/4 pipe, which is like 1.05 OD. The biggest problem with it is that it is slow. Also there is not any indicator for bend angle, so you have to check it by other means. I have not had any operational issues. It also makes a small dent at the tube where it contacts the upper "rollers", but you can fix that easy enough. For cheap, the HF bender is about the only real option that has reasonable performance.
What about those bench top manual ones where I gotta pull a handle around? Anyone ever use one O' them.
You will not find a TUBE bender for under $100 (unless you are looking for something like a brakeline bender! ). The HF bender is a PIPE bender, not a tube. There is a difference. Tube is measured by o.d., pipe by i.d. The benders are not interchangeable (unless you want really crappy, unsafe bends). The JD2 and Pro Tools are probably the best bet unless you make your own. Even at that the dies are over $100.
i will agree that the bender shown from harbor freight is a waste of money...they should pay you to take it home the best bender in my opinion is a Hossfeld # 2....i wish i had one..they are kinda spendy....somday i will have one with the small amount of tubing i have to bend , i use one i got from northern tool. they only come with dies for flat metal...but if you have access to a lathe and mill , you can make your own dies for tubing, i have had good luck bending up to 1" od tube with it...which is probabilly all you need for a mini bike first picture is the Hossfeld....second is the $149 one fron northern tool
Just spend the extra money and by a JD squared manual bender. I payed like 300 with 3 dies. Bent my entire chassis. well worth the money. Don't be a cheap bastard when it comes to tools. Or try this one from ebay I just found. http://cgi.ebay.com/RAND-12-Ton-Pipe-Tubing-Bender-Hydraulic-NEW-LOW-SHIP_W0QQitemZ4431281852QQcategoryZ11704QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Only problem is none of those die sizes are correct for a roll cage.
A proper die for a proper bender is over $200. If your just doing mini-bike frames get an electricians "hickey" as we call it. Available everywhere. Beyond that...SPEND IT!
I've had the Hossfield and the JD2. The JD is way better. I understand that money will be the breaking point.Have somebody like the Chassis Shop in Michigan bend some tubes for you. If it's not right when you're finished, you will have wasted your time and money.
Here is the bender I bought, which works great: http://www.toolsplus1.com/eztube.htm It comes with four dies. This one is almost $800, but I bought mine from another company for $500 with a 10 ton porta power hand pump. That was over 5 years ago. With some googling for EZ bender or tubing bender you could find one for a lot less than $800. Just don't do like me and let a dumb ass borrow it, because they will try to make bumpers out of heavy wall pipe, instead of tubing, which will bend the roller shafts. The HF pipe bender is not real functional for bending tubing. Pipe benders deform the inner radius of a bend. Picture the inner edge of an exhaust pipe bend.
hf benders are junk.. i have a diaco #3 that i may sell... perfect for what you want to do... spend the money, especially if you want a quality job..
http://www.tpub.com/content/construction/14026/css/14026_163.htm , Get a hickey bender for 1/2" rigid conduit- the same as 1/2 " pipe, which is .840" 7/8"=.875" so its close enough that you can use all of the throttle tubes, brake levers and other stuff meant for bikes with 7/8" tubing. I got mine on ebay for under $20 shipped. http://cgi.ebay.com/1-2-Hickey-Bender-Use-for-Electrical-or-Rebar_W0QQitemZ7578109608QQcategoryZ104220QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem This is just like the one I have. Also check local pawn shops.
My dad has one of those big hydralic presses with the big square frame around it...can i use some harbor freight dies to do some bending? Or is it the dies that are the problem with the harbor freight crap?
It would have the same effect at the HF bender. Those types of benders bend by pushing with a curved die at the middle of the bend. The die causes an indented deformation on the inner radius of the bend. A tubing bender bends the tubing by attaching the tubing to one end of the die and pulling it around the die. There is a follower die that when mated with the curved die completely encompases the tubing not allowing it to deform. The HF type benders are for bending water pipe or conduit where it is designed to hold some sort of material. It isn't designed to bend anything where structural integrity is an issue.
Another major difference between a true tubing bender and a hf-style pipe bender hasn't even been mentioned yet. Pipe is measured in INSIDE diameter, and tubing is measured in total OUTSIDE diameter. Besides the difference in the way they bend the stock, a pipe benders dies won't really even fit tubing correctly, as the outside dimensions are completely different. I also have the Pro-Tools manual bender. The dies aren't give-aways(about $200), and its not a tool I use everyday. BUT when I need it, it does the job correctly and really makes the job come out right. You can get a package from Pro-Tools with a bender, stand, degree-ring(to make repeatable bends), 1 die of your choice, ready to go for under $700. Yeah its not totally cheap, but its the right tool for the job. But like others said, if you only want it to do a mini-bike frame once you may not need all that. Good Luck! Dan
I built many things using a "Rigid brand conduit bender". I am a big man, with a big foot, used a long handle. A 1" conduit bender will bend 3/4" water pipe. You can find them at the flea market, do not buy a aluminum shoe one.. it will not bend rebar, or pipe, nor tube very well. Now I have a home made (drilled here) Model3 bender with a hydraulic cylinder and electric pump.. the "good one" was sold for child support payments years ago. THE dies cost me a thousand and I did without hotrod parts, beer and food to buy them. Some people use stacked & Glued plywood and make dies.. I am not a good enough carpenter to do so.
Having used various electrical hand benders for bout 35 years, I can tell you a hickey is not a good tool for accurate, or good looking bends. It will work OK, but most people use them for doing small tweaks, not good looking bends. I would actually get a regular EMT bender if you want a decent looking bend on small tubing. Once you determine the tubing size, you can decide what EMT bender is closest and use either 1/2" (7/8" OD) 3/4" (1.125" OD) or 1"( 1.375" OD) An EMT bender is cheap enough you can probably have all three sizes and not go over $100, especially if you look at the local used tool stores. I have all three I purchased used for under $50.
Here is an interesting site for bending round and square tubing. www.casaforge.com Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
I have been thinking I need to buy a tubing bender but cannt seem to ever save enough cash to do it. We have a nice hyd Baleigh one at work and its freaking awesome!!!
I bought mine from low buck tools back in 03 , and it paid for itself in one year . the dies are common electrician conduit bending dies , plus I up a air over hydraulic jack in as the power head
You sure about that? The inside ID of a schedule 40 pipe is very close to the size it's sold as. EMT is not, as they share a common outside diameter, but thinner walls.
I have had fairly good luck with a HF bender, it will work (within limits) on heavy walled tubing. It will not work on thin walled tubing or for a large bend angle.
Yup, maybe close but not the same as. OD is always a little bigger and ID a little smaller than it's listed "inch" size. "Inch" pipe sizing is on it's own scale, I never dug into the history of "why", just know it is. HD pipe is thicker and has a smaller ID than lighter pipe. OD on pipe is constant to keep threading interchangeable.
Yes, not the exact dimension, but there's a reason they came up with pipe in standard schedule sizes. It's within thousandths of an inch of being the ID it's labeled as. .5" is .6", .75" is .8", etc.....
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