- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
- Messages
- 3,096
There are a few ideas to consider before the purchase of a tubing bender.
First,
Are you going to bend tube or pipe. Seems like a silly question but there is a difference and it will matter on what dies you use.
Second,
Harbor Freight does not sell a tubing bender. In a pinch you can bend some things with proper preperation, but not well.
Third,
Do your research before parting with your hard earned dollars. Several bender makers offer free shipping or reduced die prices so look carefully at what will save you the most. Most manual benders are in the neighborhood of 70-75 pounds so freight aint cheap.
Finally,
Find and read a text called "Bending 101", it will save you a considerable bit just in reducing wrong bends.
So if you decide to get into tube fabrication for machine stands, work benches and yes even roll cages, do your homework first. You will then find several vendors, among them are Hossfield, Pro Tools, and JD squared. These are manual benders that you have the option of adding hydraulics to in the future. If you are going to build a roll cage out of 1.75X.120 tube get the hydro option first. Bending that large and that thick takes a fair amount of physical strength. There are also several DIY plans available on the net that work fairly well too. A vendor named "Got Trikes" sells a plan set that works well and is fairly easy to assemble if you have the time and materials available. For me the material cost and the machining time involved made a commercial bender more cost effective. Your situations may vary. As an add on you might consider buying a piece of software from Bend Tech, currently they are offering a 100 dollar off promotion. Definately worth the investment if you plan to bend more than occasionally. One of the nice features of the bend tech software is the ability to output the fish mouth templates to a printer and reuse the more common ones as well as have the correct fish mouth for whatever angle the tubes meet at.
Bob
First,
Are you going to bend tube or pipe. Seems like a silly question but there is a difference and it will matter on what dies you use.
Second,
Harbor Freight does not sell a tubing bender. In a pinch you can bend some things with proper preperation, but not well.
Third,
Do your research before parting with your hard earned dollars. Several bender makers offer free shipping or reduced die prices so look carefully at what will save you the most. Most manual benders are in the neighborhood of 70-75 pounds so freight aint cheap.
Finally,
Find and read a text called "Bending 101", it will save you a considerable bit just in reducing wrong bends.
So if you decide to get into tube fabrication for machine stands, work benches and yes even roll cages, do your homework first. You will then find several vendors, among them are Hossfield, Pro Tools, and JD squared. These are manual benders that you have the option of adding hydraulics to in the future. If you are going to build a roll cage out of 1.75X.120 tube get the hydro option first. Bending that large and that thick takes a fair amount of physical strength. There are also several DIY plans available on the net that work fairly well too. A vendor named "Got Trikes" sells a plan set that works well and is fairly easy to assemble if you have the time and materials available. For me the material cost and the machining time involved made a commercial bender more cost effective. Your situations may vary. As an add on you might consider buying a piece of software from Bend Tech, currently they are offering a 100 dollar off promotion. Definately worth the investment if you plan to bend more than occasionally. One of the nice features of the bend tech software is the ability to output the fish mouth templates to a printer and reuse the more common ones as well as have the correct fish mouth for whatever angle the tubes meet at.
Bob
