cheap hydraulic bender

[motoy]

does any one know how to use those cheap hydraulic benders :confused: . I bought one months ago tried bending 2" pipe and all I got was a kinked pipes. I'am at a point with my project that i need a bender.Should I throw it in the garage and get a manual stand up bender or is there a way to get this thing to work?

[82yotacrawler]

i got a cheap ass bender at work.. the key to it is doing it slowly... if you got to fill the tube up with sand and tape the sides off.. it wont kink....

[motoy]

I give it a try and see how it works. Thanx

[CJeep77]

Remember, you have a PIPE bender, not a TUBE bender! There is a difference!

[Poley]

sand works well on pipe and some tubing.. :evil:

[Jerry Blair]

Remember, you have a PIPE bender, not a TUBE bender! There is a difference!

And that difference is primarily the size of the dies. I've found that you can take a piece of sheet metal about the length and width of the die and wrap it around the tube where you want your bend. Then make the bend slowly. The force of the bender will form the sheet metal into a little shim that takes the slack out of the die. It will also stay in the die and you can make multiple bends.

This helps quite a bit. A tubing bender is still easier to use but this will make your bender useable.

[glfredrick]

Santa brought one of the cheap pipe benders to my shop this year... I'll be experimenting with it a lot in the next few days... Got to make some nerf bars so I can keep the glass in the truck next time out... :D

I don't think that I would try an entire cage with one - but to make some hoops and sliders, it should be OK.

Has anyone made any modifications to their cheapy benders? (Like a plate for pressing u-joints - square tube bender dies - flat stock benders, etc.?)

[jds4x43]

My dad bought on of these a while back, all it would do was kink stuff. The more we looked at it we noticed the dies didn't fit the pipe very well. So we heated them with a "rosebud" tip on the torch and beat them into shape. Cleaned them up with the grinder where they swelled a little from hitting them and now it works great.
1) Go Slow, if you try to pump them up fast they kink everytime
2) After the pipe tightens against the rollers 1 stroke of the ram is about 1 degree.
3) Be sure you aren't trying to bend too tight of a radius

John

[glfredrick]

It goes without saying that most anything import like that needs a little "fine tuning..." :D

As long as it will bend me a couple hoops and sliders here and there, I'm a happy camper. I don't have a garage right now to get anything bigger...

[Wildwilly]

Santa brought one of the cheap pipe benders to my shop this year... I'll be experimenting with it a lot in the next few days...
Me too. Any other tips? I have heard to use sand. What about placing the bender to get your radii were you want them and the right degree of bend?

Yes I know a tube bender is better, but can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

[Bill usn-1]

Check the HF bender thread!
thread (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=316227)

[TheRipper]

Just go to the metal yard and buy 1.90 x .134 wall tubing.It will work fine in the 1 1/2" pipe die.Then you will have no kink's.I would never trade my protools for it but it work's.Here is a pic of my buddy's rig that was built with a HF bender.

http://www.headtraumacustoms.com/eddiebuggy1.JPG http://www.headtraumacustoms.com/eddiebuggy3.JPG

http://www.headtraumacustoms.com/Dec19205.JPG http://www.headtraumacustoms.com/Dec19206.JPG

It now is in process of getting quarter elpitic setup front and rear with a 1 link front and rear with rockwells and 53's... :D ..and got rid of the rest of the toy body.

[dirty jim]

i thread the inside of the tubing with a pipe tap then fill it with water.

[dirty jim]

i thread the inside of the tubing with a pipe tap then fill it with water.

[glfredrick]

Me too. Any other tips? I have heard to use sand. What about placing the bender to get your radii were you want them and the right degree of bend?

Yes I know a tube bender is better, but can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Well, I started using mine last night...

The owners manual (anyone ever read those things besides me? :rolleyes: ) SAYS to pack the pipe with sand...

Anyway, I didn't and tried some thin pipe first (Century fence posts) and just flattened them out - period - as in no hope...

I then chucked up a piece of real pipe - 1 1/4" black - rust and all - and it bent that stuff as pretty as a picture. I made a hoop for my front bumper in less than 30 minutes. :smokin:

I then stuck a piece of 1" in the dies and made a set of mini-sliders for my rear bumper (last time I was out I took out the rear window of my Exploder on a waterfall). I'll finish them today and try to post a few pics...

In other words, the bender bends pipe like it is suposed to - no problems - and I like... :D

[Bill usn-1]

Yep,
Don't even think about exhaust pipe in that thing!!!
The only thing I bend in mine is pipe.
I found the pea gravel loads a little faster than the sand unless it's all short stuff.
You just have to shake it down good to pack it.

BTW was it in english???

[born loser]

we used the big crapass HF one to bend all the tubework on my Xterrible DD. No kinks at all and the bends look as good as the ones from our tube bender. I dont know what you all are doing wrong. We used shc40 and some 1 5/8" (IIRC) hrew in the 1 1/4" die.
No sand, no gimmicks. I have some pcs of the bends but cant post em... ;)

[Bill usn-1]

I had my third bend in 1 length of pipe kink on me so from then on I just use the gravel as an added safety measure. I hate doing things twice. The little bit of time it takes to put the gravel in, is worth it to me.

[glfredrick]

I've been playing and learning how best to use my new bender...

Here is a little project I did the last two days.

http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/15014Exploder_Bumper_1.jpg

http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/15014Exploder_Bumper_3.jpg

http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/15014Exploder_Rear_bumper_2.jpg

http://www.explorerforum.com/data/2/15014Exploder_Bumper_4.jpg

The bumper is built from 4 X 4 X 1/4" steel tubing, but it is "hollowed out" behind so that it isn't too heavy. It fits directly over the frame rails in the rear, and it is held in place by internal brackets and bolted through the frame rail to captured nuts inside the bumper with Grade 8 hardware. The rub rails are made from 1" pipe and they are set up like sliders, tied into the frame on the front (I used a piece of angle left over from hollowing out the bumper and welded the tube to the angle - and then bolted that to the frame rail). The end caps are 3/16" diamond tread plate welded in place and wrapped around the angled cut-outs. I find that I need that extra room when I get on some of the rock ledges here in Kentucky.

I cut away a portion of the rear crossmember to have access to the hitch pin from underneath - the frame is plenty strong back there with the bumper acting as a new crossmember. I also have cut away all the low-hanging sheet metal behind the rear wheel wells as it serves no purpose for off-roading. You'll also notice the number of dings and dents in the truck - some of them are due to the fact that I puchased this truck for $500 as a totaled wreck and didn't take too much care in pulling stuff out - and some I've put there from my off-roading antics (including taking out the rear window last time I did a particular waterfall here in Kentucky... :rolleyes: ).

The largest thing that I have towed with this bumper is a Jeep Cherokee on a two-wheeled trailer (and at that before I made the rub rails which add strengh and resistence to spinning on the adjustment bolts) and it did fine... I guess I trust my own welding... :D

I don't lke the fact that my cheapy bender dimples the pipe where the outer rollers hit, so I'll be working on solutions to that issue for futher projects, but so far I like what I can do for $69.95 and some time...

[Jerry Blair]

I don't lke the fact that my cheapy bender dimples the pipe where the outer rollers hit, so I'll be working on solutions to that issue for futher projects, but so far I like what I can do for $69.95 and some time...

Try moving the rollers out a bit. I've found when I have placed the rollers too close to the die I dimple the tubing more often.

[glfredrick]

I'll try that... Thanks.

I was looking to keep the bend radius as tight as I could, but moving the rollers out wouldn't change that now that I think about it - just drive the pipe further up inside the press.

I'm also going to make a set of sleeves out of some larger DOM so that the pipe fits inside while I'm bending (more like the regular benders) and they can roll on the rollers.

[GPSflyer]

I bent up a bunch of 1.75 HREW with my HF bender, it actually works really well. Just very slow. You need to Start with the rollers in the farthest position, than after bending the tubing a little, move the rollers to the next closest position, this will create a perfect 90 degree bend. Also, you need to put a small piece of scrap between the tubing and roller, or you will dent the tubing. Heres a couple of pics.

http://motorcitymopars.com/carimages/XJCAGE/Picture%20005.jpg
http://motorcitymopars.com/carimages/XJCAGE/Picture%20010.jpg

[glfredrick]

Your results duplicate my own latest efforts... Though I wish I had one of the faster, larger benders, this one can and does make nice bends for under $70.

I'm now in the works to make a few other dies that fit the bender. One set will copy the parts shown in the X'treme Off Road magazine, modified to mount to the HF press using the pin holes on the top. If it works as expected, I will be able to make bent metal brackets with the same unit.

I am also working out a press for U-joints... May as well utilize this thing as my shop press, seeing as how I have it.

[Speedycheater]

Has anybody had any luck bending tubing with this bender? I need to bend some 1.5" 16SWG (1/16th") tubing at 90%. I tried to bend a piece of 1.25" 16SWG tubing today and it flattened the top out completely and kinked like crazy on the inside. Is there any way to make this bender work well with this tubing?

[glfredrick]

For that light guage stuff, I'd find a buddy in a muffler shop. I've tried the HF press with light stuff and it just kinks it.

If you are really hard pressed ( :D ) to bend it, try packing it with sand or pea gravel first - that may help. I'm ordering another die in the 1.75 inch size and I'm going to re-size it for DOM. Dies are under $15 and it's worth the experiment.

I'm also making some additional dies for my bender that are making it really handy. The first is a piece of 1/4 wall rectangle tubing that I drilled for the pins that hold the rollers. I use it for general purpose pushing - like bushings into control arms, etc. Works great.

The next will hold u-joints - a tad more work to make it fit, but no real big deal. That should speed up the u-joint process somewhat.

I'm also having someone make me the irons described in Xtreme Off Road Magazine - and making them fit inside the bender - that will let me do brackets and stuff. I'm still waiting on those to get done. I'll have some pics in a couple weeks.

[TatonkaII]

anyone want to modify some dies for tubing?? Id pay some $$$$$ for the work.

GPSflyer.. what "scrap" is that youre using on top of that 1.75 tube? I assume the 2" pipe die, i dunno.

Thanks
Chuck