Rogue Fabrication Bender - My Review and Experience

[bkfj40]

I have the rogue fab bender ... But haven't welded it together yet. I hope to soon. Keep updating this thread as I'm hoping to learn from your learning curve . I plan to get the bend tech software as well since it will hopefully decrease the amount of miscalculations.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I was looking at bend tech! Which one did you get?

I expect to get the bender together after GSMTR.

 

[DTCsk8er]

The version I have is BendTech EZ. I bought it on black friday for a whopping 19 bucks. Well worth it IMO.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

After what feels like an eternity, I've finally made time to assemble the tubing bender. I've got to say, this was really easy and a lot of fun!! All of the parts of the bender are laser cut with indexing tabs, meaning that there's no way to mess up the installation order. The two most critical things are to:

1. Make sure everything is square and level, especially the uprights
2. Take your time welding (after it's tacked of course). Spread 2" stitches around the entire assembly and wait 30 min or so for it to cool down, then come back for more.

It took me three rounds of welding with 30 minutes break in-between each 45min welding session. Estimated total time 4 hours to fully assemble and weld.

The instruction booklet that comes with the tubing bender is comprehensive and fool-proof. I'd post pics of it, but there are some very scary-sounding copyright infringement notices throughout, so you'll just have to refer to my pictures and the YouTube videos by the Rogue Fab guys themselves.

I haven't had a chance to bend any tube yet (should be able to this week), however my experience thus far with the fit-and-finish not only of the parts, but also of the instructions, has been phenomenal. Assuming it bends as well as the videos and reviews say it does, and I have no reason to believe that it won't perform at a very high level, then this is a slam-dunk.

Fully assembled with the ram and a 1.75" O.D. DOM tube die (6" CLR) this sucker is heavy, but not so heavy that I can't pick it up. I'll get some better estimations when I disassemble for paint, but I'd guess somewhere in the 150# range.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Thanks for reading and I'll make sure to post more updates as I bend material with it!!

@AndrewHadji

 

[bkfj40]

I tell you what - it's a heavy son of a bitch when it is all assembled with the ram!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I'm really liking this bender. Easy to repeat bends, convenience speed, ease of air over hydraulic and an excellent price point. If I gave my air compressor time to catch up, I'm sure it would have been faster. I think the banging in the video is because my welding table isn't flat.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Final update. Love this thing. Love that it doesn't take up much room, love the repeat-ability of the bends, especially the ability to pick up where a bend left off and continue. I'm a huge fan!!

Gave her a paint job and will now sit on the shelf waiting for the next project

 

[half k cruiser]

@GLTHFJ60 well I realize its only been a few months, but do you have an update on this ? As the Stark's say "winter is coming" and I need something I can do inside, like build stuff for my cruiser. Getting more and more serious about buying a bender and want to stay under the $1000 mark, but don't want to regret buying something that's not nice enough.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

@GLTHFJ60 well I realize its only been a few months, but do you have an update on this ? As the Stark's say "winter is coming" and I need something I can do inside, like build stuff for my cruiser. Getting more and more serious about buying a bender and want to stay under the $1000 mark, but don't want to regret buying something that's not nice enough.

Not much of an update to make. Have only had an opportunity to get through one project with this tubing bender. For that one project, this bender was incredible. I have no doubt that it will serve me well for many years to come.

The only complaint, and it's not much of a complaint, is that the HF air over hydraulic ram is kinda loud. Works perfectly fine, just a little louder than what's comfortable (for me) without ear plugs. That's easily fixed by buying a better ram or buying an electric hydraulic setup down the line. It's not enough of a problem to deter me from purchasing this bender were I to do it again.

 

[half k cruiser]

@GLTHFJ60 thanks for the update. I got interested in these after a buddy sent me a link. I like that it bends vertical so I don't have to mount it out in my driveway ! About my only concern right now is the company going out of business and not having access to dies anymore.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

@GLTHFJ60 thanks for the update. I got interested in these after a buddy sent me a link. I like that it bends vertical so I don't have to mount it out in my driveway ! About my only concern right now is the company going out of business and not having access to dies anymore.

IMHO that's an unreasonable concern. Rogue Fab is growing and expanding their product line, not shrinking.

 

[half k cruiser]

IMHO that's an unreasonable concern. Rogue Fab is growing and expanding their product line, not shrinking.

Good to know. As I just heard of them yesterday I'm not really up on there history. Wasn't sure if they were a brand new company or decently established.

 

[RogueFab]

Hopefully not reviving too old of a thread here. We (Rogue Fabrication) have been a member here on mud forever, and we just stumbled on this and wanted to reply.

If you have any issues with the bender, please report back after you talk to Rogue about what those issues may be.
A friend of mine bought one of their benders a couple of years back, and I can tell you that "customer service" was "less than stellar." The bender was returned and a JD2 was purchased.

I am truly sorry if we didn't get it right that time. I can personally assure you (I'm the owner) that customer service is our #1 priority and we nearly always shine in that area. I can recall every return we have ever had, and I can't remember any local (OR/WA) machines ever being returned. Are you sure this is how it happened?

That's interesting. I called and chatted with a man I believe was the owner of Rogue Fab for maybe 40 minutes, before I bought this bender. He seemed extremely helpful and open about the product, assuring me that if I had any issues I should call him. Turns out he has a 4Runner with a bunch of modifications (Supra engine was the one mod I remember most) that he wheels all over the place, so we had a bunch to talk about.

What issue did your friend run into that he needed to engage Rogue Fab customer service?

You most likely did talk with the owner. That is the same person typing this reply. You had a pretty common experience. I noticed he never replied with what the issue was.

Final update. Love this thing. Love that it doesn't take up much room, love the repeat-ability of the bends, especially the ability to pick up where a bend left off and continue. I'm a huge fan!!

Gave her a paint job and will now sit on the shelf waiting for the next project

Thank you for the feedback! So glad you are loving the machine!!!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Hopefully not reviving too old of a thread here. We (Rogue Fabrication) have been a member here on mud forever, and we just stumbled on this and wanted to reply.

Thank you for the feedback! So glad you are loving the machine!!!

No problem at all! I for one am glad you're here to answer questions, not that there are many

The one that I do have is that I'd like to upgrade the hydraulic ram I have to make it quieter. Are you aware of a bolt-in substitute to the HF ram? Your electric/hydraulic system for the bender is pricey. I don't think I need the limit switch features, but a quieter ram would be amazing.

 

[woody]

I keep saying I'll replace my current floor-mount bender with one of these...if only you weren't in NC, I'd have space to store it for you

@RogueFab - glad to have you commenting on your product...I always appreciate companies chiming in on their customer reviews!

 

[half k cruiser]

Haven't built a single thing with it, don't even know if it bends. I did build most of a pretty sweet cart for it and the band saw. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all the space underneath (shelves, racks, not sure). Open for suggestions if you guys have any ideas.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Nice work @half k cruiser !!! Which band saw do you have?

For underneath, as you collect dies for the bender, a couple of solid rods that can unclip from the cart to hold them would be a good idea, kinda like what RogueFab does the karts they sell. If not that, then you could put the bender on the bottom shelf when not in use and use the cart as a rolling workbench!

ELITE M600 Bender Cart

 

[half k cruiser]

Nice work @half k cruiser !!! Which band saw do you have?

For underneath, as you collect dies for the bender, a couple of solid rods that can unclip from the cart to hold them would be a good idea, kinda like what RogueFab does the karts they sell. If not that, then you could put the bender on the bottom shelf when not in use and use the cart as a rolling workbench!

ELITE M600 Bender Cart

Thanks for the link, I like the solid rod idea and I've got a perfect spot on the cart where I can pull that off. My band saw is the HF / Grizzly / Jet model that everyone uses. Mine sports the HF red paintjob since that was the easiest for me to get a hold of. Coming from a chop saw / angle grinder only background I was blown away at how precise of a cut the band saw allows.

 

[Stumpalama]

You can also store bend templates on a shelf. I.e. short sections of pipe measured and annotated for specific radius bends a and different diameters of tube.

 

[half k cruiser]

You can also store bend templates on a shelf. I.e. short sections of pipe measured and annotated for specific radius bends a and different diameters of tube.

Nice, I've got plenty of room for that too if I frame out the lower shelf area.