Tubing bender?

[RPM289]

What do you all use to bend tubing for roll bars etc? Looking for a economical setup

 

[blubuckaroo]

I've seen them available at tool shops, but this one looks reasonable.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...ummit-racing&gclid=CJmUyNWOotACFROVvQodEjgEmw

Make sure it can bend a tight radius. I bent my first roll bar with a 2" conduit bender. The bars looked more like hoops than a roll bar.%)

 

[JSmall]

We use a JD2 Model 32 with a Swag Offroad hydraulic conversion. Initial price isn't bad, but the dies can add up quick.

 

[RPM289]

We use a JD2 Model 32 with a Swag Offroad hydraulic conversion. Initial price isn't bad, but the dies can add up quick.

I know I want the 1 3/4 dies but what other ones do I need?

 

[rjrobin2002]

I have the pro tools 105 with the Swag hydraulic conversion and love it. Bender was about $300 and my die was about $300. What I did was there was me and 2 of my friends wanting a roll cage, so we split the cost 3 ways.

 

[rjrobin2002]

I bought the 1.5" pipe die, 1.5" pipe has about a 1.9" OD " outer diameter" and build almost all my stuff with structural schedule 40 HREW 1.5" pipe uncoated pipe. 1.5" pipe is $50 a 20' stick, 1 7/8" tubing is like $150 a stick where I live and has to be special ordered. But there are some people that freak out on this subject and think everything needs to be made with NASCAR aproved DOM. They can both be bent in the same die.

 

[rjrobin2002]

These are made with 1.5" pipe.

 

[hyghlndr]

Don't use pipe and the bender in the link above is known to simply kink the tubing. I would look for a JD2 Model 3 either used or new, when you are done you can sell for about 70-90% of what it costs new. IMHO do it right when it comes to cages.

The air hydraulic conversion with the Harbor Freight cylinder is a nice upgrade. Shop around for tubing, in my area "PA Steel" offered 1/2 the price of others and delivered directly to my door for free. You could also try to find someone locally (might check Pirate 4x4) and see if you could offer a few hundred to bend up what ever you want.

 

[u10072]

Get tubing dies for one. 1 3/4", 1 1/2", 1", and 3/4" can about do it all and then some. There's absolutely no reason to build bumpers out of DOM. 1 3/4 HREW tubing that's got a P&O finish is about $2 a ft countrywide. Most commercially available cages are not DOM and aren't needed to be anyway. Most importantly is get a bender with some kind of attachment to bend the tubing whether air or electric and make the bender sit on wheels. Don't forget the notcher- using a grinder to notch really is terrible and inefficient.

 

[fmcpeters]

The Pipe bender listed above from Summit is a pipe bender and there is definitely a difference between pipe and tube. It can be done with alot of patience and failures, but it will never give you the clean bends an actual tubing bender will. Harbor Freight sells the pipe bender also a bit cheaper than Summit.

http://www.harborfreight.com/16-ton-hydraulic-pipe-bender-35336.html

From my experience you will spend the money in wasted materials using the pipe bender versus a tube bender. Also, another way to notch tube is by building a "Knife Grinder" with small wheels, its multi purpose, not too hard to build and fairly inexpensive if you can do it yourself. I just built one recently from the plans off of DC Knives.

http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/2-x-72-belt-grinder.html

http://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/small-wheel-attachment-set-for-bg272.html

You change the wheel out to size of tube you want to notch.

 

[rjrobin2002]

I use this and it is awesome. I am a wizard with a angle grinder and quality thin cut off wheel.

http://www.pipemastertools.com/viewall.html

 

[rjrobin2002]

Prolly actually best deal is to get a pre bent cage not welded from Tom's next week with their black Friday sale for about $300.

 

[JSmall]

I know I want the 1 3/4 dies but what other ones do I need?

We have 1 3/4", 1 1/2", 1 1/4", and 1"

The main tube structure is 1 1/2" and the tube for the inner fenders is 1". The roll cage will be 1 3/4".

 

[RPM289]

I plan on building a UTV and then do some on the bronco lots of choices out there I see modified harbor freight bender for 170 then mod it. has anyone done this? I really like JD32 but looks pricy by time you get all the dies you need.

 

[ehumaui]

J small,

Did you use a computer progam? That is some cool bends.

Rc

 

[JSmall]

J small,

Did you use a computer progam? That is some cool bends.

Rc

Yes, we use BendTech Pro. I know it can be done without the program, but it sure does make it easier.

 

[RPM289]

Yes, we use BendTech Pro. I know it can be done without the program, but it sure does make it easier.

Is that for layout of cages? More reading to do

 

[Biohazard]

Check out affordablebender.com. They have a nice little rig and $350 with one die set. Other die sets are around $150.

 

[RPM289]

Check out affordablebender.com. They have a nice little rig and $350 with one die set. Other die sets are around $150.

Have you used it? I really like JD32 so far dies are much higher for it though. Looks like jd32 will bend 180 deg and tighter radius.

 

[Biohazard]

I've seen a few videos but nothing in person. It's a pretty straightforward design that's used a lot. Eastwood has one just like it but it's about $100 more I think. Not knocking the jd bender because I do know people that use it, just a more budget friendly option. I have used a homemade version very similar. It was crude but did the job well.


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