JD squared tube bender, swag HF air over hydraulic ram

[47v6]

I have had this setup for years and never used it because I just didn’t have the space until now.


I am making a set of rock slider/steps for my jeep to learn how it works before I tackle a cage. It’s pretty self explanatory with the directions once you get on it.
I have 2 dies, 1.5”OD and 1”OD for DOM tube.


I decided I needed to support the end and make it level. I assume that important to ensure the bends are in the same plane.


It’s really difficult to put the strap thing that holds the tube on if you have the bend follower thing in place first. Started my first bend.


More bending and when you run out of ram you need to use another hole after you retract the ram.

The pointer you have to make. The tube springs back from where you want it to be, so you have to go a bit beyond and I went a little too far.

But I don’t care because I’m cutting a lot of it off

This is what I learned to do today.

 

[timsresort]

I have had this setup for years and never used it because I just didn’t have the space until now.
View attachment 106051

I am making a set of rock slider/steps for my jeep to learn how it works before I tackle a cage. It’s pretty self explanatory with the directions once you get on it.View attachment 106052
I have 2 dies, 1.5”OD and 1”OD for DOM tube.

View attachment 106053
I decided I needed to support the end and make it level. I assume that important to ensure the bends are in the same plane.

View attachment 106054
It’s really difficult to put the strap thing that holds the tube on if you have the bend follower thing in place first. Started my first bend.

View attachment 106055
More bending and when you run out of ram you need to use another hole after you retract the ram.
View attachment 106056
The pointer you have to make. The tube springs back from where you want it to be, so you have to go a bit beyond and I went a little too far.
View attachment 106057
But I don’t care because I’m cutting a lot of it off
View attachment 106058
This is what I learned to do today.

Nice! You are going to have fun

 

[47v6]

Learning curve for where the bend makes the over all length and my part is 2” shorter than I wanted.
Nope, that’s not right…

That neither..

Bent both and they are about the same. So, that’s a win for me even if they are a bit short..

So I made some cope cuts or whatever they are called with my junk mill and annular cutter.

I cut 6 of these at random lengths because I haven’t decided how long they should be or at what angle.

I tacked up one today..

 

[Fireball]

Learning curve for where the bend makes the over all length and my part is 2” shorter than I wanted.View attachment 106076
Nope, that’s not right…
View attachment 106077
That neither..
View attachment 106078
Bent both and they are about the same. So, that’s a win for me even if they are a bit short..
View attachment 106079
So I made some cope cuts or whatever they are called with my junk mill and annular cutter.
View attachment 106080
I cut 6 of these at random lengths because I haven’t decided how long they should be or at what angle.
View attachment 106081
I tacked up one today..

It's handy to have some pre-made bends of various size pipes and angles marked where they sit in the machine to use as temlates.

 

[47v6]

It's handy to have some pre-made bends of various size pipes and angles marked where they sit in the machine to use as temlates.

As it is now, I only have dies for 1.5 and 1” OD. It’s all a learning curve, but it’s a lot easier than I expected. I guess it’s because I just went straight to air over hydraulic ram. I used a hossfeld bender with incorrect dies years ago for a skatepark project and we had to bolt it into the concrete. This has no such issues. It does take more air than I expected.

 

[47v6]

We bent the top rail with a hossfeld bender and kinked..

 

[ITLKSEZ]

It's handy to have some pre-made bends of various size pipes and angles marked where they sit in the machine to use as templates.

Here’s a visual aid for what Roy is referencing. I refer to it as a “cheater” in this post.

Post in thread 'Varg In Jeep's Clothing'

Jan 29, 2019

I had a few minutes this morning...
I got the grill hoop bent and ready to cut/cope. I'll post up some tube bending process pics. I usually forget to take pics of these steps.

I start every bend with a 90° cheater bend. It's just a 22" section of tubing that was bent to 90° and has a mark where the bender's holding shoe begins. This mark is my constant.

I clamped my cheater in place where I want my final bar to rest. I held a stick from the outer edges of the cheater and where I want my cope to be, and I measure that angle. This one is 50°.

I...

• ITLKSEZ

• 

 

[47v6]

I need to practice a bit more .

This makes sense and I can make a couple bends to give me some reference points.

 

[Fireball]

Here's another picture of ITLKSEZ's template 90 degree bend. You can see the marks where it clamps in the bender so you can get your lengths right:

 

[47v6]

I really appreciate the help guys.

 

[ITLKSEZ]

Ha! I was wondering where that was.

 

[CHUGALUG]

I am really lucky in that not far from me is a great guy who builds race car chassis and stuff for the Hot Rod guys and he has a great big pipe/tubing bender I had him do the tubes for my Roll bar and overall he came within a 1/16" of my measurements. All I had to do was cut the notches for the joints and then trim the ends of the tubing to length which with my Mill drill and Bandsaw was easy. Your bender looks a nice setup.

 

[Jeepenstein]

I have the same one, in manual mode.. I've had it for over 20 years now? They are made near me in Ocala FL. I keep telling myself to get it out and put it back together, but I just have not got there yet.. I have the 1.5 and 2" dies..

 

[Warloch]

I have the Pro-Tools setup. Started with manual, then went and built a vertical base (Plans and Pics) as I like not having to fight the 'droop' with most of what I do. I have the 1.5", 1.75", 2" DOM and 1" Square dies.

As its been said - I have a stack of 'set' bends with marks for the die position and degrees that I use for figureing out where and how much to get what I want. I also lay things out on big pieces of cardboard and put the tube on it as I bend the shape. Forgot - Spring back can/does change with steel batches and degrees of bend. Found that the hard way.

Also why I bought that 'chop saw' I wrote to you about

 

[47v6]

I have the Pro-Tools setup. Started with manual, then went and built a vertical base (Plans and Pics) as I like not having to fight the 'droop' with most of what I do. I have the 1.5", 1.75", 2" DOM and 1" Square dies.

As its been said - I have a stack of 'set' bends with marks for the die position and degrees that I use for figureing out where and how much to get what I want. I also lay things out on big pieces of cardboard and put the tube on it as I bend the shape. Forgot - Spring back can/does change with steel batches and degrees of bend. Found that the hard way.

Also why I bought that 'chop saw' I wrote to you about

I will be making some of these test bends. Spring back could be calculated, but as you say, different batches might change all that.. it’s a bit of art.

 

[Jeepenstein]

it’s a bit of art.

A very expensive art..

 

[Tralehead]

Wish I had some neighbors like you guys. If nothing else, i'd hand ya beers just to watch.

 

[47v6]

Wedding the valley
Cutting the tubes to the correct length
Fitting it all up

Welded up

 

[47v6]

That pic makes it look crooked. It’s not

 

[Keys5a]

A Jeeper buddy near me bought a JD2 bender about 12 or so years back. He bent a couple cages and a couple rock sliders, all in manual mode. 2” 0.120 DOM was tough to bend. We’d each take turns pulling on the bar. In the end, every usable bar bent had 3 or 4 rejects. Those were some expensive learning mistakes. I still have a 20+’ stick of 2” DOM in the garage for the Defender cage, but my buddy sold off the bender because he wasted so much tubing. I bought the 2”die, so at least have that for when I buy one of these.