Technical anyone build a tubing bender?

Well I'm to the point of needing a tubing bender. At this point it seems I'll need a 1" & a 1-1/4" tube dies.

I've seen some of the YouTube vids of building your own and all the vids I've watched are single sized as in set for one set of dies and not adjustable but I have a idea on making it adjustable.

Anyone here build your own tubing bender? If so post pics and let us know how it works and what you did for dies !

Thank u gents

 

I made one from plans i got off the inet, it uses a Harbor Freight air powered jack to do the bending. I only bought 1 set of dies for 1.25 od tube, other sizes are available. It worked very good for the motorcycle frame i made. I used .120 wall tube, dont remember the radius of the dies, think 3.5-4", pretty sharp bends. I dont have any pics.

 

Check this site out http://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-Tub...With-The-Hulk-Harbor-Freight-Roller_p_51.html
I’ve purchase a lot of items here. They make kits to upgrade the HF tube bender.


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I bought one of these used for $100 and got all of the sizes with it. The most notable things made with it were front and rear racks and front bumper brush guard for my ATV. It will bend 1/2" up to 2" and can bend past 90 Degrees.

 

Mine is like this. http://www.gottrikes.com/tube_bender.htm

 

Thanks guys, swag off road has some cool stuff !

I looked at the one on gottrikes and thought about that style but I found a simpler design and one I could mod easy to take other sizes on YouTube.

I "think" if I had a harbor freight pipe bender in front of me I could model it pretty easy to roll the tube/die instead of just pressing it. I just don't want to spend 125.00 for one to find out in case I'm wrong.

Just wish there were some cheaper die options out there.

 

i stole this pic from somewhere.

 

I had one like "warhorseracing" shows. I was able to bend up a complete 2" exhaust system behind the 8BA in my old '36 3-window. It took a little time and a false start or two, but it turned out real nice.

 

Years ago I had one from speedway, well not really I borrowed one from a friend and built a copy . With the exception of the bending shoes it was just flat steel welded and bolted together.Hyd jacks are cheap. Anyway don't worry about all the sizes . Here is how to cheat.Buy a 1 3/4 set . Get a couple of foot of moly at .063 wall and bend one foot and leave the other one straight . Take your saws-all and split them both and use one half of each for sleeves. Got it? Now you have 1 5/8. Take the 1 3/4 set again and buy a piece of .125 wall and bend,split it the same way and presto you have the dies to make 1.5 bends. Buy another set of 1 3/8 and step it down to 1 1/4 inch then 1 inch. Only have to buy two sets of dies. I polished mine real well and lubed the dies and they were good for dozens of times. After all if they wear out its easy to make another set. Good Luck

 

That is a pipe bender, not a tubing bender, there is a difference.
Those benders will usually crush tubing.
I just bought a JD2 Model 3 Tubing bender.
Not cheap but a really nice bender and the dies are machined very nicely.

 

I will agree with that statement if incorrectly set up. The different holes in the upper plate can be arranged so it does not crush it while making 120 Degree bends in 3/4" black pipe which is heavy wall. If you don't set it up correctly you will crush it with a 20 Degree bend. It does have a learning curve,

 

To answer the O.P`s question...No, I purchased mine.

 

Thanks Joe, I had heard you could do that, didn't know if it really worked.

Hey blue, yeah I'd love to have one of those but for something I'll only use once in a blue moon I can't see spending that much on it.

So I'm still weighting my options.......

 

I know what you mean, I’m a bit of a tool junkie, I love having quality tools and have quite a collection as a result.

Nice to have to be sure.

 

I borrowed an electric hydraulic pipe bender unit mounted on an old shopping cart, it was great.
It leaked and carried on, but did beautiful smooth accurate bends.
I thought that they must all be like that so purchased a hand hydraulic unit off ePay and the only thing it does well is kink pipe. Not a tube bender but as close as I got to one.

 

I hope my comments weren't a thread killer.
I'd like to see homemade stuff is out there.

Bump...

 

I was fascinated by this homemade unit on YouTube.
Probably not able to cope with too thick wall tube but innovative all the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VodMwrFZXgM

A very traditional approach to doing stuff with a minimum of equipment.
At least they had decent safety footwear.
We call them Japanese safety boots....

 

If you can find one to look at and copy it's a piece of cake except for the dies. Any of the companies that are making tubing bender will sell you dies but they are not cheap. If you have a lathe and milling machine you can make your own. As with most things of this type if you design your own it will take 2 or 3 builds before you get it just like you want.
Pete

 

I built this one from plans off the internet. Built a couple of full cages for dunebuggies. Works fine.



Mostly I just trip over it now.

---louis

 

I don't mind building one as I need to bend a few tubes for my car, I just.hate the price of the bending dies. It's like the 1-1/4" die I only need to bend 2 small bends in 2 pieces of pipe. Now the 1" die I need for a lot more tube.

Thought about expoxying a couple pieces of mdf together and cutting a 1-1/4 die out of it and bolting some 3/16" plate steel on both sides to give it strength. It only needs to make 4 bends.

 

Just heck out the link in my earlier post above and see how some sampan Charlie made his own die with very little equipment.
It is amazing how much can be achieved with so very little tools...

 

I've gotta admit he makes it look like a piece of cake. Definitely thinking outside the box !!

I like the ratcheting setup.

 

I like his jack bender for making his form.
It is amazing what you can figure out when you don't have much.
Us westerners at times, are too easily attracted to mail order to solve all our problems...

 

My bender is a ProTools, made in Florida. I found mine used, but they do offer (or did) their plans to download to build it yourself. Unless you have a Mill and a rotary table, you would probably need to order the dies. This is a vertical bender, so if you have decent ceiling height, you can do a lot in a smaller footprint (great for guys like me who can't seem to leave an open space unfilled for long in the shop).

 

I've often wondered if large multiple belt pulleys could be machined down for dies. also on the link above and the home made plate dies if a guy ran appropriate round stock on the inside corners it would support the tube at 6, 7:30, 9 , 10:30 and 12 o'clock positions

 

Ah yes the Samoan safety shoes


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