SO i'm thinking to myself after reading Rob's Tube Bending 101 (http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html) (great article by the way) could a guy build a decent, well good basic tube bender for under the "over a grand" price Rob noted.

My thoughts are; buy some raw material, and purchase some dies of choice, and build around them. Maybe it's a stupid idea but I think it could be done. hell you could even make it so it works off a manual hydrolic(sp) pump ot save your back.

So tell me it's stupid, tell me it's a tough, but great idea.

FLAME SUITE ON!!!:flipoff2:

I was planning to do the same, even went so far as to measure up every angle and spec on one of the ProTools "One Shot" hydraulic benders....

"But wait", you say.... "I thought DRM just posted last week that he prdered a JD2?"

You would be correct ;)

I was all set to build my own, but I realized that I would have more time into it than the measley $235 it cost to buy the JD2.

Think long and hard about the effort involved, and how much time it would cost you. If I value my time @ only $20 an hour, if it takes me more than 12 hours (which it likely would) I am LOSING MONEY trying to build my own bender... Looking at it like that, I forked over the cash :p

OK i don't disagree with that but where does the "over a $1,000" come into play then. Because at that cost I WOULD BUILD MY OWN.

But at your cost, $235.00, I WOULD BUY one.

Did that price include dies???

I bought the JD2 bender, without the degree ring, and one die set - 1.75" 180* - both of those, delivered - for $500.

I will have to make my own stand, and a handle extension to get the leverage needed.

Yes, it is a manual type bender, but I fully intend to convert it over to hydraulic once I get it.

Additional die sets are $150 to about $230, but even if you build your own bender, you still have to buy the die sets....

Yep, Cliff that was dies included....
It's kinda like buy'n a car with no tires....:D

Also, I chose the 6.5" radius die set - most seemed to lean towards the 5.5", but I wanted the ability to bend thiner wall tube if ever needed.

Here are some other recent threads:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17618&highlight=bender+today

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14655&highlight=bender+today

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19850&highlight=bender+today

Originally posted by DRM
I bought the JD2 bender, without the degree ring, and one die set - 1.75" 180* - both of those, delivered - for $500.

I will have to make my own stand, and a handle extension to get the leverage needed.

Yes, it is a manual type bender, but I fully intend to convert it over to hydraulic once I get it.

Additional die sets are $150 to about $230, but even if you build your own bender, you still have to buy the die sets....

Let me get this straight...

You (DRM) bought a JD2 with a 1.75"die W/180* capability for $235 Delivered.

OR..........

You bought a JD2 bender with a 1.75" die W/180* capability delivered for $500.00

I hope it's the latter or I'm gonna be pissed, since I just went out and blew $320.00 and some change on misc. bullshit ONLY because I thought there was NO way I could afford a tube bender which I want DESPERATELY!!!!


LIE TO ME DAMNIT!!!! LIE :( seriously which is it???

Originally posted by Cliffhanger
You bought a JD2 bender with a 1.75" die W/180* capability delivered for $500.00

This is the one :p

But seriously, you already spent more than me on your project - 'cause you still gotta buy a die set, right? And you haven't even figured in your time to build one yet :(

The benders themselves are not that expensive. It's the dies. That's where you get the "over a grand" price tag. But for $320 you'd be pretty close to a bender and a die.

10-1000-2 Model 3 Bender W/O Handle $235.00
10-2061 M3B Round Tube Die Set - 1 3/4" (6.5-90) .083" $165.00

Grand Total.. $400 without shipping ;)

I thought about the same but ended up buying mine

I thought this was kinda cool,,,,,,,, if you had a log spliter, that is,,,,,,LOL

What I wonder is... is there a market for these things used?

I mean, I have been considering pretty heavily buying a bender and a die, making my cage, and then selling the set for, say $100 less than I paid for it. I doubt I'd use the set again in 5 years, why have it lying around, tempting my friends to make me work my butt off making them a cage for free? :) :p ;)

surely someone else thinks like I do and is trying to get rid of theirs, now that the job is done...

If some of you are still wanting to build your own, check out this site that I stumbled across.......


http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/rgrauman/bendx.htm

Originally posted by Eric D
What I wonder is... is there a market for these things used?

I mean, I have been considering pretty heavily buying a bender and a die, making my cage, and then selling the set for, say $100 less than I paid for it. I doubt I'd use the set again in 5 years, why have it lying around, tempting my friends to make me work my butt off making them a cage for free? :) :p ;)

surely someone else thinks like I do and is trying to get rid of theirs, now that the job is done...

This is exactly what I was going to do. I built everything that I wanted and was planning on selling my bender a few weeks ago. Then a friend brings his rig over and convinced me to bend him a cage and a bunch of other crap.

Tass

Hey thanks for the info guys, at least now I know a bender is in my price range and I know I could use one more than once.

Off the topic a bit, but has anyone considered renting one???

i havent found a place that rents one, but i almost have my local tool rental guy talked into it.

Most will probably not want to rent one out because of the possibility of screwing up a die set....

Weve built a lot of jigs for odd jobs around our original hydro unit and dies, and we have actually built a tube roller, which is 3 dies all round, main benifit of the Tube Shark line. What a tube roller does is roll tube back and forth until you get the arc you need, we can roll a 20ft circle if need be, or as small as a 3 ft circle, or a spiral, like a coil, like those bar stools out of Jegs...Benders are cheap, its the hydro set up and dies that are not....now, if you buy the hydro set up, you'll be pissed, you can make it for about $100....