Yes, there are plenty of benders out there that will handle 3".
.......but they are not manual machines. Let me know if you would like more information.
Tube Bender's
- Thread starter acflyguy18
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Yes, there are plenty of benders out there that will handle 3".
.......but they are not manual machines. Let me know if you would like more information.
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I'd like some more information as far as projected costs. I'm not an exhaust shop, I just have a requirement to bend 3 inch pipe.
God I wish mandrel benders weren't 15k :/
God I wish mandrel benders weren't 15k :/
What kind of projects costs are we talking about.
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By projected costs I mean what sort of $'s are we talking about for equipment?
How about just some links mate?
I would usually be bending 2 or 2.5 inch, but having the option of 3 is important
How about just some links mate?
I would usually be bending 2 or 2.5 inch, but having the option of 3 is important
Actually, I've seen (not first-hand) some good results with the HF pipe bender... If you fill the tube with sand. Here is a video on youtube with a guy showing how to do this. It is pretty informative. He keeps using the term pipe and tube interchangeably throughout the video, but he is referring to bending tube.
YouTube - Bending part 2
YouTube - Bending part 2
Can you imagine how much longer that would make a rollcage take?
You can also bend tube by heating it and bending it around a wooden die. Old motorcycle frames were built that way. I'll take the 30 seconds on a proper bender than you very much..
i've been looking into build it yourself benders, and then buying the dies to suit it.
Ebay
So buy a Harbor freight bender off of Ebay? Seriously though, I realize that BAILEIGH has a conflict of interest saying there is a bender out there that can get the job done besides those that he sells, but there has to be a cheaper option. I'm not saying there are units out there as nice or as easy but just a unit that works and is cheap.
Are there very many people in your local club that need to build stuff? you would likely be ahead in the long run to do a group buy on tube and everyone can help share the cost of a "better" bender and a good die. It has always sucked to try to use a tool and have the results look like crap. Especially when the material isn't cheap. Maybe somone already has one? Offer them a few bucks to borrow it, or have a tech session at their house.
Unless your working in a shop that does fab work all the time you may not utilize the bender much after you finish "your" project. Try to spread the pain of buying a bender with a small group and get something that works well, then folks may be willing to pitch in to use it.
Most of the entry level commercial versions are pretty close in price $200-$400 and dies vary depending on size. Keep it on the cheap by going manual and buy 1 die that meets most of your needs. A Google search will show most of the bigger manufacturers.
Unless your working in a shop that does fab work all the time you may not utilize the bender much after you finish "your" project. Try to spread the pain of buying a bender with a small group and get something that works well, then folks may be willing to pitch in to use it.
Most of the entry level commercial versions are pretty close in price $200-$400 and dies vary depending on size. Keep it on the cheap by going manual and buy 1 die that meets most of your needs. A Google search will show most of the bigger manufacturers.
It's much like razors and razor blades. The practically give away the razor and then nail you on the blades.
Benders are cheap. Not worth your time to build it yourself and probably won't save anything anyway.
Dies, now dies are expensive. That's where all your money goes when buying a bender and they are beyond the average DIYers ability to fabricate.
Someone here mentioned buying the bender and the one die set you are likely to need for your project. I'd second that rather than trying to cheap out and use a HF pipe bender, unless you want to bend pipe.
I'm not a pro by any stretch but I'll jump in anyway.
I'd say the cheapest bender that works is the one already sitting in some fabricators garage. If you just want to build a cage, or some sliders, bumper tube work, etc. You'd probably be money ahead to just have it made.
I had a cage built, a nice one, and at a later date bought myself a bender and a couple sets of dies. Enough to reproduce the cage I had made. The thing is by the time I was done buying the bender I was in almost as deep as the original cage cost, and I hadn't bought a notcher or ANY tube material yet. There is no way I could build my cage for what I paid someone else to do it for me. I'd have to be doing a butt load of tube work to eventually make the investment pay for itself.
Unless you're intending to do a bunch of work for other people I'd rethink.
My thinking is that I have tons of time and very little money. If the HF bender works if I pack the tube with sand, then I'm willing to do that especially since I won't be doing very much. I just want to build bumpers and sliders for my 80. I don't want to sink much into it since I will probably never use it again after this project. I also don't plan on doing anything fancy with it, just some basic bends. I imagine I will only need one die as well. I'm not against spending a little more for a better stuff, but I am against buying really good expensive stuff that I'm only going to use for a few projects and then never touch again. Does someone recommend a cheap, decent, manual bender?
maybe in the states, but over here in oz the dies are reasonable (say $50 - $100 a pop for usable ones, not the harbor freight crap). the non - bow and arrow benders (manual, pull through type) START around 2 grand... harbor freight ebay ones are $160 for comparison, with a metric, or imperial die set (crap one).
our home DIY market is much more expensive when it comes to shop tools. hence the building of one coming out cheaper for me.
Not knowing any scientific or structural properties of steel tubing, or having ever worked with it,what would the purpose of sand inside the tubing be? that was mentioned on page 2. Would this help to keep the outside tube diameter at the bend? Also if you heated the tubing slightly would this not help it bend easier? or would this somehow affect the tubing?
Thanks
Thanks
my understanding (limited) is that the packed sand stops the inside kink, as it spreads the force the bender is putting on the inside (of the bend radius) of the tube to the outside radius, reducing the chance at kinking the tube.
i've wondered about heating the steel, but how hot you heated it, how you cooled it would all change the steel properties. i don't know enough metalurgy to tell you if it'd significantly weaken it.
I've got one of those HF benders. Harbor Freight has some tools that are a good deal for the money, and some tools that you get what you pay for, but sometimes that's OK, and some tools that just piss you off they are so worthless. Their bender is in the last category. It's not worth messing with if it was free. In fact, I have one I'd just about give you for free. All it will do is ruin expensive tube.
Find a friend with a JD2 or better.
Find a friend with a JD2 or better.