where do i find a tubing bender for square tubing

I have decided to keep the wood in my 30 model a 4dr and weld in some metal framing. Where would i find a cheap square tubing bender so that i can form to the curves of the body.

Thanks

 

Thats a good question..I hate pie cutting!

 

Take the tube and a pattern to a local shop to have them bend the cab corners. Bend the slight curves yourself around 55 gallon drums or whatever else you can think of and weld them to the corners.

 

Thanks for help.

 

Search for "ring Roller" on e-bay.

Homier.com used to have them for 100 bucks but I do not see them listed anymore.

You will have to put in some smaller rollers so bigger tubing will fit.

You shouldn't need to use anything any bigger than 16 guage 3/4 inch tubing.

I have one, it works great.

 

The old trick is to fill the tube with sand, cap the ends, then heat and bend around a pipe or some other form. Works real good. If you want a machine, Hossfeld makes nice benders, but they're not cheap, and you have to buy dies for whatever size/shape tubing you want to bend.

 

This might be a little crude for you, but have you considered bending them in your bench vice? All the wood in my '31 Chevy coupe was replaced using this method. Just space your bends out.


Ed

 

Square tubing up to about 5/8" bends easily with a torch even without the sand so long as you don't try to make a real tight bend. Just put it in a vice, heat one side, and bend away, while moving the heat along the length of the tubing as you go.. If you are making something like a decklid frame, and need a gentle curve, jack up one of your cars, put 2X4's in front and in back of the tire, put the square tubing on the 2X4's and lower the jack. Worked for me.

pigpen

 

Here's the way I bent 3/4" square tube for my TrackT body..I use a bender from Northern Equipment ( P/N 144207 $99.95) You have to fab a ring out of 3/8" solid rod to go around the center roller die.. This ring/roller die collapses the inside wall of the tubing as you bend it. with a little practice you get the hang of making the radius to the size you need..one tip though,make the center roller die as large as possible...my center roller die/ring is made out of 3 1/2" stock and I was able to get some pretty tight bends. If get time tomorrow I'l try to post some pics of the setup

 

try mittler bros......seems like they offer something .....brandon

 

Your driving it. Block up each end and run it over.

 

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Your driving it. Block up each end and run it over.

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That works suprisingly well. I do it all the time to make gentle bends in tubing up to 2x2 inch

For sharper bends, I use a curved shoe on my hydraulic press, you can press bend it to about a 6" radius without kinking it.

 

I made the simple tool below out of 2" pieces of 1/2" rod and a 16-18" X 1" sq. tube. I clamped the tubing being bent (1/2" and 3/4" 16 Ga. sq tube) in a bench vise and with the tubing between the pins pulled the handle for a slight bend. I just advanced the tubing through the vise 1/2" or so at a time till I had the desired radius. It worked to "unwind" bends if I went too far.

 

I have always used the torch for tight bends and it works good. But it is best if you take a center punch and divot the area where the inside of the bend will be so it goes in instead of out.