Folks Of Interest Mandrel bending services from cornfield customs

That's badass! Thanks for sharing.

 

Great addition to your shop's capabilities. Nice bends, no little ripples in the sides. I'd like to see the mandrel that they used for inside the tube, and does it use a "wiper" die on the inside of the radius?. I used to make replacement tooling for the old Pines benders that we used at Hedman Hedders years ago. Tube benders were fascinating to work with. Lots of power in those hydraulics.

 

What's the pegboard table for?

 

fab tables have holes in them so you can attach fixtures or clamps anywhere you want

 

yea not a peg board table. Just a fixture table. It has fixtures and clanks that fit in the holes for fitting up and holding parts

 

I'd have to think that that is going to be one busy piece of equipment once guys figure out that paying you to bend up chassis components for a build turns out a far nicer end product than hours of cutting, fitting and welding might.

 

Impressive tool for sure. I thought I was fancy with my HF pipe bender

Did you source frame rails before the machine, or do as Mr48chev mentioned and cut/slice/weld?

 

I would be in for FOUR 2x4 bends the EASY WAY, 90 degree

 

Curious why you started with a 2x4 die set, am I wrong in thinking that the 2x3 has been the more common set, at least for most custom chassis for passenger cars.
I designed a custom 2x3 backhalf for my Nova, made a pattern out of masonite and sent it to Art Morrison, they bent the rails perfectly, even sent the pattern back and it was right on.
I think they were the first (or one of) to offer mandrel formed rectangular rails.

 

^Cause bigger is better!

 

How does this machine deal with springback. I know on my little manual tubing bender I always have to go past to get the right angle after springback. Is this part of what you have to input?

 

I have just the opposite view. I am aware lots of people use 2 x 3, particularly in light cars and perhaps also when the rails are going to be part of a ‘caged’ race car.

But it appears to me that a high percentage of after market chassis suppliers use 2 x 4 and some even 2 x 6, the latter mostly in pickup truck frames. But even those are .120”/.125” material. Personally, I can’t imagine using 2 x 3 for an uncaged chassis for a car of any significant size or weight. Some years ago I bought a Fatman chassis for a ‘35/ ‘40 Ford application and it was mandrel bent 2 x 4 x .177”. Now THAT was a chassis!

Ray

 

Do you offer a work sheet for the customer?

 

yes I have some work sheets I send out to aide in rail design and measuring

 

I did a test bend at 90 to determine spring back. Then once it was determined I set spring back degree in the bender interface and it over bends to account

 

Shoot me a DM and I can get that in the works

 

That's just plain bitchin'! Blows my mind that 2x4 bent to that shape comes out so smooth without ripples galore. Those rails look like they came out of a Play-Doh Fun Factory.

Fantastic addition to your shops tooling arsenal. Hoping for the best ROI for you on incoming work!

 

Is that the MB-4X2?

 

Yes it is

 

Not a bad price for what it does.

 

Not really. You just have to read all the details in the description. Price listed for the machine is just the bending unit, all tooling, and bend table is extra. With those added it pretty much doubles the machine cost

 

Its all about perspective. I don't look at machines in terms of how much they cost, but how much money I can make with them.

I might get one, when I can get a bigger shop.

 

@cornfieldcustoms that's quite the machine...I worked at an aircraft plant for years and they had a machine that was known as a stretch former...is this in fact a form of stretch forming?...

Albiet this is a new machine I suspect the technology is much older than one might imagine...did your research on this shed any light on that?...thanks for sharing...
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Stretch forming is usually in sheet metal with stretching over a form to create shape. Similar to hydro forming panels. At least that’s all I know about stretch forming.

 

Nice work Mike!

 

PM sent. Thanks

 

I was under the impression the machine I'm recalling was used for stringers which were basically like strapping that the outer skins of the wing were attached to varying in thickness from that of tubing to 1" or more and running the length of the wing...I might be mistaking the machine there were so many...huge plant...

That's why I thought of it when I saw what your doing...it may have went beyond that into panels as well...the other thing about this plant I worked was it was an old WW11 plant and much of the vintage tooling was repurposed and saw service till the early 2000s...

I suspect there might be some stretching in what your machine is doing to keep any buckling under control while retaining wall thickness but all is considered and no doubt already calculated as within mechanical reason...

Now if you can figure out a way to press or form reveals and other details...air injection mold...

Thanks for sharing the the tools of your trades Mike...you never cease to amaze...

I've been thinking about the Streamliner project...hope all is well as can be...

 

Your work has always been top notch.
You just kicked it upstairs to another level.
Torchie

 

Been doing a fair amount of bending on saturdays and evenings.

also had a few people DM about how I am false advertising by saying it is “Mandrel” with out it having an internal mandrel to keep the tube from rippling. To clear things up, it is a true mandrel bender, with a brass mandrel that is inserted into the tube to support the shape of the tube during bending

 

You have to laugh at the naysayers.