I need to bend some tubing. OD 1.0 ID .75 in other words .125 wall thickness. Centerline radius need to be about 3 inches and it needs to be a pretty smooth bend. I can't find anybody local to bend it. I am thinking about buying a cheap bender of some sort. Anybody have one of these benders that summit sells? Are they worth a ****? It's probably not something that I will use a lot so I don't want to spend a fortune on one if I don't have to. Any other reasonably priced benders out there? Guess it would help if I posted a picture, here it is.
The problem with most of these is that they are designed for pipe. Pipe is measured on the id instead of the od so 1inch pipe is one inch plus the thickness of the wall. I had one of those units for a while and it probably would 've been ok if it had a tube die otherwise don't waste your money. I know there are some new units out there for a little more money with tube dies that would be just the ticket. One company that comes to mind is williams low buck tools but I know there are others. Good luck! pool
I have the 1" O.D. X 3" C.L. radius die set for my Hossfeld bender. How many do you need ? How many degrees of bend ? I can do up to 180 degrees.
I need four 90 degree bends and I think 6 other bends. I'm not sure off the top of my head what degree the other bends are, less than 90 degrees. I can check them tomorrow. If you can do them that would be great!
10-4 ! Just let me know what you need. I hope you have the tubing...I don't have that wall thickness in the rack.
Learn from my mistakes and stay away from that Harbor frieght bender. It's only good at putting a kink in light tubing.
I think your first move should be to get yourself a good reference table for pipe and tubing specs and measure your material to EXACT dimensions. Are you dealing with pipe ???or tube?? cold drawn ? seamless? high carbon steel? There are several different sizes of both tubing and piping in the pipe handbook but none are to the dimensions indicated,close but not the same. In my opinion the biggest single factor for failed bends in pipe and tube is incorrect die (type and or size/fit) Bending dies are almost never very forgiving for fit. (or material.) Pipe bending was a big part of my trade (shipyard ) for close to 30 years so I have a working knowledge on doin it . Yep pipe dies will screw yur tube bends up and visaversa. good luck with it . BTW, hot bending a sand packed pipe (black iron) can usually be pulled into a radius of 3 to 5 times the pipes nominal size so a 3 inch radius with a 3/4 inch (PIPE) isnt to difficult to achieve .
Since you're nowhere close all I can offer is some advice where to find this service near you.... Go to the local weekly racing circle track (dirt or asphalt - won't matter) - ask around the pits who can bend cages - take the tubing over to them and they'll be able to bend it up for you and most won't charge an arm and a leg - I've had one-sies/twosies done out of good will, and have slipped 'em a $20 for doing a couple before - I own a bender now and it saves a ton of time being able to DIY... Skip the harbor freight PIPE bender unless you're bending schedule 80 water pipe. Like the others said - it'll just bend and kink the tubing..
Great idea that I hadn't thought of I will give this a try first. JohnnyFast thanks for the offer. I'm going to try bwienceks suggestion and see if I can find someone local. If that doesn't pan out I'll let you know. Thanks again! That's what I was afraid of, I knew someone on here would know for sure. Thanks for the advice!
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