OK, I know that Tube Benders have been hashed and re-hashed, but I just wanted to get some opinions on one I came across. Its a Mittler Bros, manual tube bender. Cost WITH one pair of dies is $250. Yep, forget that cheesy Harbor Freight bender. Save your money and put it towards a decent bender! The only thing I see that could be a problem, is the lack of a degree wheel. I really think this one would work for my needs, if I could afford a real bender I would get a JD2, but $250 is half the cost of one of a bare-bones JD2. I need something to build an Exo with, on my Toyota. Would it be enough or should I keep saving my money for a JD2??

Heres the link to the Millet Manual Bender-

Get BENT! (http://www.mittlerbros.com/products/180degreemanualbender.htm)

Very interesting, I wonder where all the mans get their dies. I would bet if you found the die maker you could get your hands on cheap dies, or even fab your own benders.

Joe

I'm not sure if I read it right, does it say "bends tube up to 1" od" ? I guess you could build some kind of exo.

it says it only bends up to 1" diameter tube.

oops! fatkid beat me to it! :D

guess you read it the same way, 1" would be small on a Sammy. O well just my .02

I noticed that, but below it gives a list of tubing Diamater Radius, up to 3.5"??? I emailed them about it as soon as I saw that. I AM hoping that somehow its wrong about being limited to 1" max.

Oh WAIT!! I am STOOPID! :emb2: I just realized that wouldn't be the diamater, but the size AROUND, aka RADIUS!!! Ok, its late and I am obviously tired. My bad everyone!

to get a Center line radius of say 3.5" I think you would have to use a mandrel machine if it were say 2"

Not to mention it says it can only bend up to .095 wall... can't bend .120 wall.. forget it.. save for the JD2.
Scott :grinpimp:<><

Yah, 1" 0.095 as a maximum, isn't much. Like they say, great for driveshaft loops.... :)

The JD isn't that spendy; I know (I've got one) it's a bunch more cash, but it's a worthwhile investment. Bender and one die set, $500 (yeah, I know, twice the coin of the mini-Mittler) but it'll grow with you. I started with 2", then got a 1.5" later on, then a 1.75", then a 1.25"... somewhere along the way, built a hydro power system (big improvement there)....

FWIW, I've never done an exo in anything smaller than 1.5" 0.120 DOM.

Oh, one other upside to the JD bender... it doesn't say so in the catalog (as far as I know) but they spec it as a maximum tube sizing of 2" 0.120, and a max wall thickness of 0.156 (in 1.5" tube, if I remember correctly).

That said, I've bent 2" 0.250 in mine, 1.5" 0.375, 1" solid bar... their engineer (I damaged my 2" support strap bending 2" 0.250, so I called to ask if that was the designed failure point) says that it'll take a lot more than they spec it to do, it'll just be hard on some of the parts.

Thanx for making the stupid point cuz I couldn't figure out how the hell to bend .125 2" tube BY HAND!! JD2 does have a low budget 250? manual bender that has a racheting system. was talked about like a week ago?

JD2 is at www.jd2.com :beer: