Mr. Twisty the ultimate twist-a-nator (1 Viewer)

[fj-rankenstein]

Im not too sure if this is the best place on the forum to post my hydro bender build so if the mods have an issue they can move it to a better place..


I will start off with some history.. I bought a jd2 bender and 5 dies quite a few years ago with full intentions of building roll cages, shock hoops, sliders, etc and what happened is the darn stuff never got out of their boxes.. i have a buddy with the same bender that lives 5 minutes away from me and his is usually set up so i have always ended up just using his bender with my dies if i needed something built..

it got to the point in the last while where i figured that i have too much money tied up into this bender so i should either set it up and use it or sell it...

the next issue is that i am lazy sometimes.. dont get me wrong.. i can outwork you, your dad, your mom and the neighbor if i am so inclined but i like to live by the motto: work smarter, not harder..

so, i then came up with the idea that i would probably use my bender if i made it a full hydro set up.. a guy has to pull that darn handle waaaaaaay too many times to get a 180 degree bend.... so the build up begins.. actually, the buildup is almost done but i thought i would show how i built my bender to date.. i still have a few more things to finish but lets start at the beginning.....

 

[fj-rankenstein]

i have been trying to figure out how to make the brackets simple enough so i wont over complicate this project.. also, i dont have a lot of steel left over and dont feel like buying the few odds and ends needed because its expensive to buy bits and pieces..

sooooo, i went through my cupboards to see what i have and came up with this.. i am going to use 4 six inch suspension shackles for the brackets that hold the cylinder to the bender and use a couple of new toyota axle ubolts to keep everything together.. its all 3/8 hardened steel for the shackles so that should be more than strong enough for cylinder brackets..
i am not sure if this is the best way or the cleanest way of doing this but i will give it a go and hopfully it wont turn out too hack when done..
Also, if you look, you will see the beginning of the actual bracket that is going to clamp onto the cylinder being cut out of cardboard.. i should have this all figured out today and then i can build the rest of the bender stand after that..

i sure like having my new welding table to be able to build things on..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

making brackets always seems to take sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long...


anyways.. got the front part of the cylinder bracket done.. got some other parts cut out and almost done this part of the bender.. i should be done tomorrow because i am all out of motivation today..
this is the hardest part of this hydro bender build.. after this it should be smooth sailing..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

thats it for tonight.. i will post more in a few days..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

finally the bender is looking like it is coming together. i got the top part 90 percent done.. i will be done the top part tomorrow and then its time to move to the bender base..
actually, if things go good, there might be a chance that i can be up and running either at the end of the weekend or shortly after.. the base is going to take nothing to build.. it will all depend on how the hydraulics turn out..

a few quick pics.

all the 3/4 bolts got the heavier wall tubing instead of the stock thin piece that is also seen here..

two of the holes were too big in the shackle so i drilled the shackle holes out to 19mm and pressed in a 3/4" o.d. x 1/2" i.d. bushing made from dom so i would match the middle mounting holes and work with the bender.

brackets installed..

side view..

top view..

the cylinder got "1" o.d. x 3/4" i.d. bushings for easier mounting..

put together..

the ole' top view..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

here is the cylinder clamp pretty much done.. the clamp is welded to the hinge and then i put some extra bracing behind that just because i like overkill..

i decided to do a couple of quick stringers to the back of the cylinder just because i like overkill... i am very happy with how this all turned out..

here you can see that this was an earlier pic because the stringers arent there.. the bender can do over 90 degrees in one stroke.. very happy with that also..

and just some mocking up of the base and what has to go on it.. here you see the hydraulic tank, pump and 220 volt motor to run this all.. it is a 5 hp. motor and runs at over 3000 rpm.. should work great..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

comments?? critiques?? words of wisdom?? anyone want to teach me how to use this thing when i am done?? lol..

anyways.. i will post some more pics in a few days...

 

[fj-rankenstein]

well, i may as well keep posting..i see that there are a lot of views so at least i know people are looking..


the stand was built to 36" high.. it is 48" long and i went with 26" deep..

the beginning of the stand..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

 

[fj-rankenstein]

here are a few more for tonight.. this is really starting to turn into a heavy duty piece of equipment..

 

[VCCruzr]

Man! You've got yourself one bada$$ bender there, awesome work!!! I can appreciate what you have there as I am just wrapping up my build after recently flopping my 80. I am fortunate to have a buddy with a bender. He added a pneumatic ram to his to upgrade it from a manual bender. It is slow using air but better than doing it by hand. I imagine your hydro will operate a bit faster than pneumatic, yes?

Here's a couple pics from my build thread.


Derrick

 

[scrapdaddy]

FJ-Rankenstein,

Good Job!, I like heavy duty stuff, too. Where did you you source your hydro pump and tank from.

 

[zebrabeefj40]

Nice bender mods and quality fab work. About the only thing I'd wanna add would be 3 feet of some sort on the bottom - out of 3/4" threaded rod or similar. That way you can roll it into position then lower/screw down feet to both level the machine and keep it from moving around while you are using it. I see the casters have locks so maybe that's enough but I'm guessing the bender will still move around on the swivels even with the wheels locked.

Post up when it's done and bendin' some tube!
Nick

 

[fj-rankenstein]

Man! You've got yourself one bada$$ bender there, awesome work!!! I can appreciate what you have there as I am just wrapping up my build after recently flopping my 80. I am fortunate to have a buddy with a bender. He added a pneumatic ram to his to upgrade it from a manual bender. It is slow using air but better than doing it by hand. I imagine your hydro will operate a bit faster than pneumatic, yes?

Here's a couple pics from my build thread.


Derrick

sorry to hear about the flop but the good thing is it sure allows you to do whatever you want with your truck then.. your tube work looks good..

if things work out to how i figured, I should be able to bend a 90 degree bend with 2" tube in about 5 seconds and doing a 180 degree bend in about 15 including repinning the die..

i am actually behind in my pics. i should have a running bender wither today or tomorrow. i will also post a vid of how it works..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

FJ-Rankenstein,

Good Job!, I like heavy duty stuff, too. Where did you you source your hydro pump and tank from.

the valve, pump, 5 hp motor and cylinder for ths bender was sourced from a place called Princess auto.. its popular up here in Canada.. I think the equivelent would be harbour freight in the USA..

as far as the hydraulic hose, fittings and other electrical stuff, it was all sourced from both a hydraulic shop that i like to deal with and an electrical supply warehouse that is popular here..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

Nice bender mods and quality fab work. About the only thing I'd wanna add would be 3 feet of some sort on the bottom - out of 3/4" threaded rod or similar. That way you can roll it into position then lower/screw down feet to both level the machine and keep it from moving around while you are using it. I see the casters have locks so maybe that's enough but I'm guessing the bender will still move around on the swivels even with the wheels locked.

Post up when it's done and bendin' some tube!
Nick

thanks sir..

i am a little behind on my pics so i will post up what been happening as of the last day.. thats funny that you should meantion the adjustable feet.. i just bought some 1/2 ready rod and long bolts and i am going to put that stuff on later today actually..

hopfully vid will be up within the next day or two..

 

[fj-rankenstein]

I did all of the hydraulic plumbing and i also routed all of the electrical.. i bought 15 feet of hydraulic hose thinking i would have left over and instead i had exactly enough.. barely.. i still need to crimp all of my ends and finish up the hydraulics..

also, i have to get a few wiring stress reliefs and then i can hook up some wires. and hose clamps.. need hose clamps. oh and 3/4 insulated clamps.. shopping list complete for today..

here are a few pics as of now..

from the front

from the rear

and the side

 

[scrapdaddy]

That's really a nice setup!

 

[fj80ontons]

that seems really fast for a bender, im running the harbor freight air/hydro ram, and with it being slow, I can get a few degrees and not over bend tube.

 

[fj-rankenstein]

IT LIVES!!!! MWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

I still have a few little things to finish up but it does bend tube.. the beauty of hydraulics using a manual valve is that i can feather the controls so i can creep up to that specific degree of angle that i am looking for..
But, if i know that i need to go to a specific angle i can go full speed ahead until i get close and then feather the controls as i please till I get to where i need to get..

this sucker bends 2 inch tubing like it not even there..

thanks for all the good compliments so far!! i am excited about this getting pretty close to done!