manual tube benders?

[crawlin91]

what do you know of manual tube benders. i found a few nice ones in the 4-500 dollar range. was thinking of doing bumpers sliders and future cage work. are they worth it? will they bend the strenght of tubing necessary to build these items? and do I need different die sets for every different angle or can I get multiple angles out of one die

 

[dusto2]

I had a jd2 bender i wish i never got rid of, they are easy to use takes some strength but not that bad to use, you need different dies for different size tube only angles you just stop bending when you reach it. As for being able to bend stuff heavy enough, i cant think which site it was, but in order to show just how tuff the jd2 was; the guy by hand ( no hydraulics, or anything) bent 2" soild stock with no problems

 

[krugford]

I've got a JD2 myself and I love it. You'll find that you only need to buy 1 or 2 die sets because you really don't have to bend that many sizes of tubing. If you're doing cages, sliders, and bumpers, you could easily get buy with just a 1 3/4 or a 2 inch die set.

As for bending 2" solid bar, I'd be very interested in seeing that video. A lot of guys that try to bend the thicker walled 2" tube (3/16" or 1/4" wall thickness) will usually end up bending a pin (which it's supposed to do) or bending an arm. It takes quite a bit of effort on a 5 ft cheater bar to bend 1/8" wall 2" tubing.

 

[4x4junkie]

JD Squared here too. Very nice piece of equipment. Manually bends 1½" DOM like it was nothing.

www.jd2.com

I would agree 2" solid sounds like a stretching of the truth (infact, it would probably break the die, because solid bar can't compress down into the die groove properly)

 

[crawlin91]

very nice, I see they are running a sale now too.

 

[Ranger44]

I've always wanted one of these, a Hobart Mig, and a notcher.

 

[crawlin91]

I just got a nice hobart mig setup on sale, I like it alot. it sure is a slippery slope...get a sawzall then a grinder, then u want a welder, then a bender, notcher etc. I see good tools as a investment.

 

[dusto2]

believe it or not i got a tubing notcher from harbor freight for like 20 or 30 bucks, and it actually works great, aside from new hole saw bits which with any notcher you will go through, i have made 4 bumpers and various other projects and it works perfect every time

 

[crawlin91]

Ive only bought one tool from harbor freight, cframe press for ball joints etc., bent badly the first time I used it.

 

[dusto2]

ya you do have to watch what you get from them some is good shit like my nothcer and few other tools, and some is just shit

 

[woodyedmiston]

Tubing Bender

My first bender was a Hausfeld Manual. It took me about one roll cage to start looking for a hydraulic pump and ram to stop all that happy horse hockey. Today I'd just pull apart my log splitter. If you need to straighten out a bend a couple of degrees you can sometime slip a large tube over your part and find something to pull against. I used to use rails and crossties on the abandoned rail line behind my building.


If you have a welder and some fab skills it won't take too much imagination to make that work.

One of my favorite cheap fab tools from Harbor is the little convertible cut off saw that can also be used upright as a band saw.

 

[JohnnyU]

I'll second the JD2 bender. It seems to get rave reviews from every forum. As stated, the only complaint is the workout you get if you're building any more than a bumper with a few bends.

That said, I'm semi-interested in the Speedway Motors bender. I remember "Only2Fords" on the old forums used one for all of his cage work and he really seemed to like it. $799 for 5 die sets, $399 for a single set.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/3rd-Generation-Hydraulic-Round-Tubing-Bender-and-5-Die-Set,20066.html

 

[kcm1582]

we have a manual bender at school for making mini baja chassis. it works pretty well on 1.25" and .75" dom chromolly tube. you usually will only need one die for each size tube you want to bend.

 

[wrecking-crew]

you could always heat the tube and put it in a "v" tree and bend it