does anyone actually use the math equations that came with the bender? i understand it works for the 90 degree bends but what they give you is usless with any other bend. is there something im missing? has anyone else come up with a better equation? ive been staring at this stuff for a while and my brain is fried. id like to be able to kinda draft up an idea put in some figures and get straight to writing down lengths and bend and goto bending. is drawing it out on the floor the best way to do this. i read tinbenders 101 and it is pretty good but its lack of floor space that gets me. ive more or less been doing trial and error to get what ive got so far. any help is appreciated.

Dont know if you have seen this yet:

Tube Bending 101 (http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html)

He already read tinbenders article.

If your still having a hard time I would say you just need practice and to learn. I think I am still at the stage that your at now. I just dont think you can read one article and know how to bend tube. Just like anything else its practice practice practice.:flipoff2:

These guys have a handy program: http://www.advancedtubular.com/attcalc.htm

Then you can blame the program for the pile of scrap tube in the corner:D

I might be able to help you a little...Shoot me a PM.;)

RL,
Stick with the Tube Bending 101, it will work for you. Figure out someway to get enough floor to lay-out what you need to build and then do it. I consider myself an RKI (reasonably knowledgeable individual) and I've used similar type mathamatical formulas to lay-out complex sheetmetal bends on aircraft parts to .003". But tubing kicked my ass. Scrapped a bit of tube before finding and using Tube Bending 101.

Tin Bender, Thanks I owe you a :beer: or two.

Mike Pado
:usa:

I'm glad I could help....
I now know of at least 2 people who used it....:D

Make that three. My copy is laminated and leashed to the bender stand...

Make that 4... when i have the room.

I did some measuring to see how much tube is used on a 90* when fed from either direction (marked a tube every inch, then did a 90*), and I measued from the start of the bend to the outside of the tube at the 90* point, so sometimes I use the math too. It just depends on what I'm doing. Hell sometimes I eyeball it and keep stuffing it back in the bender until I get it right.

Here is an Excel spread sheet I made to do my cage. Just enter your tube dia, and die radius. It will calculate all the dimmensions in the included drawing for every 5 degrees....

http://www.extreme4wheelin.com/tech/tubing_bend_2.xls

any way to get around the password stuff so i can save it to my box?

Originally posted by Maine Jeepah
any way to get around the password stuff so i can save it to my box?

*right-click, save-as* worked fine for me.

Thanks!