Tube Bender and what Tube to use?

I haven't heard too good of things about that bender. People i've talked to either don't like it or just says it gets the job done. I know alot of people like the JD2 pipe bender

 

i use the pro-tools 105 heavy duty version and have no complaints. stand is easily made yourself, save the money. I didn't get the degree wheel, but probably could have benefited by it a couple times.

I got what I believe to be a good deal through a vendor I found on the pirate4x4 site. His prices were better than those listed on pro-tools' website. Check pirate's vendor section for further info.

Give some real thought to the dies you buy. you may get better pricing by buying two or three as opposed to just one. On the first order, I picked up 1 1" round, 1.75" round & a 3/4" square die. The dies are heavy and may be a little costly to ship. I also grabbed a pro-tools tubing notcher at the same time. Notches can be made a variety of ways and I still use a chop saw to fit stuff, but the notcher makes for some really nice fits - which of course are much easier to weld up.

If you are new at bending, check the tube bending 101 link that can be found on pirate as it's much better than the instructions that come with the bender.

It appears I'm just a ways up the road from you (Thornton), feel free to give me a shout and you can come check out what I have. The email links in my writeups are old and won't work. If you're interested in dropping by, shoot me an email at JonHeikka@comcast.net and we can go from there. (I can always use a spray booth!)

Hope this helps,

Jon

 

I have the JD 2 MODEL 3 bender.. works good as long as you follow their guidelines for radius VS. wall thickness which is true with any bender but me being me had to push it and found out why they have those guidelines.. haha.. anyhow stich to ERW or DOM for tube. DO NOT use schedule pipe... the OD of these are different and the dies are precision made for exactly the size you get (i.e. a 2" die need exactly 2" OD tube).

BUBBA

 

I'll typically use HREW rather than DOM as steel is pretty darn expensive right now. Size and thickness depend upon what your building. I use 16ga for roof racks, and no less than .120 (11ga I think) for sliders/cages. NHRA specifies no less than .120 wall for cages, and typically roll cage kits are shipped with .134 to give a little extra. Don't know what the 4x4 comp rules specify for cage tube size/thickness.

 

I also have the Pro-Tools unit and am very happy with it. I got the degree ring and stop kit and it comes in real handy. A good tubing notcher is worth it's weight in gold, as well as a chop saw. I also use ERW except when DOM is required mostly due to cost. Make sure you put the seam on the inside of the bend though to keep from having strength issues and that distorts the seam the minimum amount possible.
If you look, most "sport bar" manufacturers like Smittybilt also uses ERW.
Nickmil.

 

Bringing this topic back to life. Me and Super Davecj6 are thinking about going in halfs on a unit. Seems as though a $700 bill is required just to start out. Might be worth it though, as we both want to do rollcages. Dave doesn't even have one, and I would like to redo mine differently. Mainly for more headroom, and 4 point harness mounts, along with frame tie in. Figure I could sell of my old 6 point cage to help offset some cost.

 

That's why I bought mine. The local race fab shop wanted $900-$1,000 just to bend up my 12 point cage in the race Jeep. I bought the bender and built the cage for about that and now have a good quality bender to use at my leisure! It's a big initial investment, but if you use it enough it pays for itself. Nickmil.

 

I think the M-Tech Model 3 and the JD Squared Model 3 are the same thing. I thought that all of the benders sold as a "Model 3" (at least the ones I looked at) were all the same- made by JD Squared... When I was researching benders, there were at least three places to buy a Model 3 . All were branded differently but they were all called the Model 3.

Does anyone know for sure?

 

Seems as though pricing is pretty consistent on these @ right around $295 for the bender. There is a guy on ebay that sells plans for building a bender. He wants about $18 for the plans. You use a mfg's dies, in which he will supply the link when you purchase the plans. I guess doing this would allow you to purchase more dies, if you were on a set budget. I checked the guy's feedback and he was at 100%, with some people having purchased the plans to build it.
It is here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3867977367&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT
What do you guys think about this. Seems like it might not be a bad way to go.

 

Looks pretty interesting. Put me down for $5.

 

Hold up! http://www.blindchickenracing.com/Tools/Tube Bender/Tubingbender.htm

 

Well there you have it then. Joel just saved me $18. That should be good for a free 1/2 hour of work on his Jeep (probably more than he's put into it so far) <ducking><dodging> R)R)

 

For that comment I expect you to send $5 this way!

Seriously though, if you do this lets talk production numbers! :twisted:

 

Yeah I'll have to build one first to test with, and if it seems to work well, we'll go from there.

 

Harbor Freight should have the cylinder pretty cheap.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36397

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=36469

with a flat bottom