tubing bender

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

chicago

chicago

Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Threads
434
Messages
9,610
Location
Reno, Nevada
Hey all,
who has a tubing bender?
How much was it?
Do you like it/ use it enough to justify the expense?
I saw one on harbor freight for pretty cheap, and was thinking about picking one up after a while...
Being a fire sprinkler guy, I have access to a TON of FREE tubing that I may as well use to my advantage, problem is...Ive got no way to make the bends for anything useful.


Thanks,

Chicago
 
JD2 or Pro Tools copy both work well, have the JD2 myself and it works as well as any $1K + unit aside form the workout you get because its a manual bender, but hydro conversion is easy to add later to make it easy & faster. The advantages are you get to build what you want that way you want instead of settling for someone elses version. You also get to make up the cost of the bender & dies the first side job you land, and everything after that is profit. For one off stuff the manual setup is fine, but for production you want hydro upgrades!
 
well, if you are going to just use pipe anyway (sprinkler stuff) and don't plan on doing any thing safety related. Get the HF one. If you want to do a cage. Get a real bender that won't crimp the pipe too horribly..
 
Keith, as stated above cheep tubing benders are just that cheep .
They will bend stuff but I wouldnt count on any quality work.
On a side note I wouldnt make anything for the crusier out of pipe, but thats just me.
Tubing is the way to go.

For whats its worth - - - - ken
 
tried the H/F pipe bender before i dropped 1k.
probabply wasted $100. in .120 wall tube trying to figure out how yo bend it the H/F bender.....it was'nt gonna happen.
i've hear of people filling their tubes with sand and getting it to work, but that sounds like a pain in the keester...unless you live on the beach.:D

there are plans on how to make them but your still gonna have to buy the dies.
i thought about doing that, but i had no extra time to build it.
dies will run you anywhere from $200. and up to $400. depending what you want
my package deal was just under 1k . it came with the die of my choice. i picked the 2" cause it was the big $$
and bought a 1.5 die. still under 1k
shipping would have been another $80. but i ran it thru my work ;)

if you plan on bending ALOT of tube,,,,,drop the coin.
i use mine every week
 
Thanks for the info there gents. I really appreciate it.
Im not sure exactly how much tubing Ill be bending.., With that being said, I had NO IDEA how INSANE this Cruiser addiction would become when I bought my rig either. So I could fab up something, and that could take off in a whole direction, especially now that Im learing to weld...

Ill have to look into those benders.

Chicago
 
450 DUDE said:
Keith, as stated above cheep tubing benders are just that cheep .
They will bend stuff but I wouldnt count on any quality work.
On a side note I wouldnt make anything for the crusier out of pipe, but thats just me.
Tubing is the way to go.

For whats its worth - - - - ken
Click to expand...

What is the difference between tubing and pipe?

Chicago
 
Mace said:
well, if you are going to just use pipe anyway (sprinkler stuff) and don't plan on doing any thing safety related. Get the HF one. If you want to do a cage. Get a real bender that won't crimp the pipe too horribly..
Click to expand...

Mace,
Its not for doing the sprinklers that I want the bender for.
Im trying to be a cheap bastard and make stuff for my rig for little or no cost.
Apparently there's a difference that Im un-aware between tube and pipe.
I was of the impression that I could use our schedule 40 sprinkler pipe to fab up something....like sliders, for example.
Im horrible I know!!!:shotts:
 
You absolutely can use Sch 40 pipe to make things like rocksliders, bumpers, etc..

Nothing wrong with it when used for that. However, I would not try to make a cage out of it.

The two basic differences between pipe and tube is the way they are measured. Pipe is measured in ID and tube is measured in OD.


So a 1.5" sch 40 pipe is more like 1.75" tube. Make sense???

There are differences between pipe and tube when you get down to the actual steel types and finishes. Both are basically made the same, a single piece of flat steel bent into a tube and then welded. DOM tube is then drawn over a mandrel (D.O.M.) to make a very consistant piece of tubing. Dom is good stuff but expensive and not necessary for sliders and bumpers, but it is good for cages.

HREW is also good for cages, sliders and bumpers and costs less. It is not as strong as DOM tho because of the inconsistiences of the thickness and steel.

From there we get into the actual differences between chromo and mild steel. That is a long conversation that involves a lot of time reading and I am being lazy ;)


What this means is that a HF pipe bender's dies are not designed for a specific size of tube. a 1.5" HF die fits 1.5" pipe and does not quite fit a 1.75" tube. so they tend to mangle tube, which is what 2Bad was talking about.. Plus, they do not make a smooth radius bend which makes a weak spot under stress.

A pro tools/JD squared or the like can do Tube, pipe, bar, just about anything you can find the dies for. They are very nice.

Look someone up in Reno that has a HF bender, get some material from work and go to town. then decide if you want to buy one.
 
Thanks Mace. That was ver helpful info.
Ken (450dude) is always baggin on my pipe and it really hurts my feelings:crybaby: .
One of the companies we do work for are a bunch of 4 wheelers, partial to J**ps...I was rappin with them about my plans, and they (and my boss) suggested that I just use our pipe for the accessory stuff...Its free after all.
I wasnt sure what the difference between the two were.
However, they did inform me that you could actually BUY 45* and 90* pieces to weld to the tubing, in lieu of using a bender. I did want to look into the bender, cuz the pieces are actually pretty pricey which negates the FREE pipe I have.

Do you think that the pipe would be ok to use for an anti wrap bar, or should I use some better quality DOM tubing for that?

Thanks again,

Chicago
 
Pipe will be fine for an antiwrap bar.

I used square tubing for mine.

You just have to make sure that you use pipe that is strong enough. Get the stuff that is hard to lift ;)

BTW, you don't need a bender for an antiwrap bar.

Or for sliders fot hat matter. Although it does look nice.

As for the pre bent tubing.. You really think you are good enough at butwelding two pieces of metal together so that it would hold???

There was a guy on the con that had a pipe cage like that. He was super proud of it. Managed to pass inspection but it scared the hell out of me..
 
450 DUDE said:
Sorry man just not a big fan of pipe .
I like pipe to run fluids in, thats about it.


Your bud,


ken
Click to expand...

You are an eletist SNOB:D ;p

Chicago
 
Mace said:
Pipe will be fine for an antiwrap bar.

I used square tubing for mine.

You just have to make sure that you use pipe that is strong enough. Get the stuff that is hard to lift ;)

BTW, you don't need a bender for an antiwrap bar.

Or for sliders fot hat matter. Although it does look nice.

As for the pre bent tubing.. You really think you are good enough at butwelding two pieces of metal together so that it would hold???

There was a guy on the con that had a pipe cage like that. He was super proud of it. Managed to pass inspection but it scared the hell out of me..
Click to expand...

Mace,
Im not even thinking about the roll cage yet...Im just looking at the basics, something I can cut my teeth into (like sliders) that I can make and then throw away if I need to, without loosing a ton o cash on screw ups...free steel fits that bill.
You have any pics of your anti wrap bar? Id like to see how you did it.
I dont presume Im good enough to do much of anything, but...In my experience becoming good requires trial, error, success and failure. Its all good, if Im not losing good money that I could other wise be spending on stuff for the rig that I CANT make for myself.;)

By chance did you see my welding cart I built? Id like to hear what you think about it.

Chicago
 
Mace said:
The two basic differences between pipe and tube is the way they are measured. Pipe is measured in ID and tube is measured in OD.
Click to expand...

Hmm, did not know that, thanks. I always thought that it referred to some metallurgical difference making tube stronger than pipe. Good to know that's not the case.


I also always thought that the two basic differences were that you lay pipe and bend tube! :cheers:
 
Well,
As of yet, Ive never welded TUBE, but today I gave a good WHACK at welding PIPE...IT SUCKED!!!
I FAILED MISERABLY at it. The welds looked like s***!
I donno if its the metal, or just a special technique in welding pipe/ tube, but based on my performance today, I think Ill use square stock.

Chicago
 
Was the pipe clean? Commonly they have a coating on them (prevents corrosion)

Pipe welds just as nice as tube..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom