Been thinking about ordering this to help cut down on the amount of tubing hitting the scrap pile . Who has it and do you like it? Which version? I was going to go with the EZ or maybe the EZ 3D at most, most of what I do is pretty straight forward. I figure I'd give Baileigh a try on it since they are an alliance vendor, whoa! They quoted the "Pro"at $300 bucks plus $15 shipping. Hell, you can get it from Van Sant or off ebay all day for $275 and 10 buck shipping, I'm not feeling the love here...
Bobby I dont know much about the bend tech software.. and I dont know what specifically your doing with the bending.. however, when I was a kid I worked for a friend of the family who built DIRT car chassis. I never was TOO interested in the equatuion (or system of equations,) but we had a formula to determine the length of bars in each cage. the equation was developed? (i think) or put to paper by an engineer my employer had secured.. someone here must be able to do the same for you.. and if they do.. could you share it with me??
Just need it for rollcage bends and frame rail parts, I thought I'd get a little more feedback from other fabrications out there.
I've got a Tubeshark, and was looking at the Bend Tech software. If there was a trial version, It'd be nice to see if it really works as advertised. If it worked as well as touted, It'd be worth the bucks. I'm not willing to part with that much money before trying it out. I currently use a little cad program called Delta Cad and have gotten pretty good at laying out my bends and lengths with that.
I use Bend It...it's not flashy, but it works great. And it's free! http://midmoracing.com/bendit.htm
Go check out offroadfabnet.com, there are quite a few guys over there using it, I am ordering the pro version soon to use with my bender:
I bought the cheap version of the bend tech 5+ years ago when tubing was cheap, and it paid for itself THEN. I like it, and can/ will recommend it.The newest version will supposedely do 3D compound bends. It lives on an old win95 laptop so it is as portable as the bender.
We have a Transfluid mandrel bender at John Force's Indy shop and it came from Van Sant with the Bend tech software. I have it loaded into my shop computer but have not had time to really use it. The part of the Bend Tech package that will be a big help for us is the spring back correction factor. With this mandrel bender once you get to the end of the bend the mandrel automatically retracts so it is not possible to release the clamps and check the angle and then add a little more bend if it is not enough. We are only planning to build funny car frames and therefore most of the tubes are simple single plane bends making the set up relatively easy. The shoulder hoop is a tough one however due to our unique three rail frame and I can see the software also being a big help there. Roo
Thanks to all for your replys, I'm gonna download the bendit program and look at it then go from there. I noticed nobody commented on Baileigh's prices being higher than anybody else on this. They don't sound like they've got the hambs back to me.
I've used bend it for single plane stuff and it was good. If you get into real tricky stuff it may not help you.
Hi Roo: Say I dont really follow the BIG show that much anymore so excuse my ignorance.. I thought I read that the 3 Rail deal was a bit to stiff and tricky to tune for??!! (My friends Son works for Wilkerson.) Can you go into any detail as to what they are doing or trying?? Also did he ever get the chassis Vibe Test Facility complete?? You know I Optically checked a Jig my Friend was Building for a Super modified team ( left turn only stuff). They built there side Trusses flat to the Jig and then set them up to each other to finish...interesting. On a side note.... You know I was a so so John Force fan but a couple years ago we were visiting old neighbors in Cal. We stopped by the Force shop which was closed. Joan opened the place up and brought John down from a meeting for my Son to talk to. David Frieberger was there also shooting a special for Hot Rod on Woman in Drag Racing. Ashley came by and gave a Polaroid they had just shot to him (for the Hot Rod shoot) . My kids were smiling all day. I was very grateful he took personal time like that and spent it with my Kids. OK so sorry I sidetracked this thread from Tube Bending.
I'm not familiar with the electronic digital control shown on the unit. what are the functions on the digital control. Does it link to your computer ? or manual data entry ? adaptable ot other benders? Thanks
Bobby, Sorry for the price difference on the software. Didn't mean to make you mad or offend you. Unfortunately, Bend Tech is about the only product on our line up that is priced this way. We have a large dealer network and cannot undercut any of them. Sorry
I've got pro. Have designed several things in there for the heck of it and I like it a lot. I haven't, however, built any of my designs, because I don't want to buy the tubing right now...
LZ, just about all of the circle track builders (sprint, midget etc) build each side of the car flat on the table and then stand them up and add the crossmembers. I did a series of rear engine dragsters that way but when I was doing one off cars I just stacked them from the lower rails up. With a three rail car a slip joint front half is mandatory as the back is so rigid. We do have the "torture chamber" up and running but at the moment it is simply a twist fixture to quantify the torsional rigidity of the frames. On the subject of Force and fans, he also does a lot that nobody ever hears about. He is just a people person. Thread hijack over, Roo
I have the bend tech software as well. I use it all the time for cage installs or any piece of tubung that needs bent. Think about what your normally use the software for and decide if you really need the pro or could get by using the lower end stuff. After using the software you'll start to realize you wont need it as much as you think once you figure out how it calulates the bend length. I also use a tool for pro-tools that matches their die radius thats adjustable. I use it to match the bend while its still in the bender. I also use AutoCad to help with any fit issues I might have. I would buy it again, but check out Pro-tools for pricing as well.
It is actually a programable weigh Scale indicator, I program them for a living, Instead of connecting it to a weight transducer (Load cell) I bought a 5000 pulse rotary encoder on E-bay and calibrated it to the controller. I have it programed to compensate for spring back with different thickness and diameter tubing. I can manualy input the desired angle, or link it to my laptop. It is accurate to 0.1 degrees. You could make it work with most benders I'm sure. I made my bender loosely based of the gottrikes plans, I changed them to work with the ram/power supply I used.
If you are interested, I could probably get another controller and set one up. They have up to a 2 Meg Database, so I could actually have it remember bends and spring back for particular pieces if you want to reproduce things too. I have mine set up with some digital I-O that actually controls the pump and valve, so I basically load and locate the tube, set the degree of bend I want, the material I'm bending, and press start, it figures out the springback and makes the bend. It is still a work in progress, and I am building a data base of different wall thickness and tube types (DOM, Welded tube so far) and the amount of spring back associated with different degrees of bend. I'm learning as I go, and after 14 years of programming these things I finally found something to use it for myself.
A little off topic, but is the springback a percentage of the degrees bent? In other words is the springback on a 45 degree bend half of the springback on a 90 degrree bend? Or is it just so many degrees regardless of total degrees bent?
Spring back usually stays right around the same no matter what degree you bend. Some material will spring back more than others. A batch of material will usually spring back about the same. When you get a new batch of material in, it is a good idea to do a test bend, as it will change a little.
Any one have any info on how you would determine where to start the bend or where to place the tube in the bender to use this program. I just got a Hossfield bender and need some help.If I was to use this program and mark the tube with the measurements given after putting in all the info where would I put the mark on my bender or die set. Thanks for any info Jim.
You will need to "calibrate" your die set by doing a test bend and marking where your bend starts. Very easy to do.
I use the EZ program....its pretty nice, but limited. I suggest using the bend tech 3d or something that can do more depending on what you want to do.
EZ and EZ-3D are for "one tube at a time" design. Great for handles, bumbers...etc. One tube at a time projects. Bend Tech Pro is for full blown assemblies such as roll cages, tube chassis, chopper frames, go carts etc.......
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