What is the consensus on a good height to make the stand for a manual Model III style bender? Seems like if you are pulling on the bar, 40" or so should be reasonable.

Also the instruction I got said to use 1/2 plate for the base and the top. That seems like overkill (not a foreign concept to most of us), and it will mean paying someone else to cut the parts since the plasma cutter won't hack much more than 5/16".

My plan is to use receiver tube for the post and weld receiver (ID) to the plate, and cross drill it so I can move the bender in 90 degree increments w/o unbolting from the floor. That way I can level the stand once (my slab has a slight tilt like most ) but turn the bender if needed.

TIA,

Jim

The 1/2" plate is mentioned because of non-Hydraulic usage...You'll still need something beefy to support the weight of the dies and such..

And, my garage is not perfectly level either...I found a way around this...I use a Large angle finder and measure the die vs the material...works great!

hth
- sd

Originally posted by Scout Dude
The 1/2" plate is mentioned because of non-Hydraulic usage...You'll still need something beefy to support the weight of the dies and such..

And, my garage is not perfectly level either...I found a way around this...I use a Large angle finder and measure the die vs the material...works great!

hth
- sd

Glad to hear that's how you do it, too.

That was my plan.

My new shop cart isn't exactly flat.. who says a 110 MIG won't put out some heat? D'oh...

Anyhow, for my hydraulic bender, I mounted it to some 2x2x.250 square stock.

I then mounted 2.5x.250 "teletube" seamless receiver stock to my shop cart, front n' rear.

I can slide the bender on the 2" square into the receiver hitch and then bend away.

I was going to use the other receiver to mount a "V" block of some sort to help support the straight/unbent end of the tubing.

Then put my magnetic angle finder on the die and the tubing and just "zero out" relative to each other.

Haven't even ordered the tube yet, but I'm getting everything ready.

Made my adapter to use my cheap porta-power ram with the JD2 hydraulic mounting kit, too.

Someone mentioned that the 2" die bends 1.5"Sch40 pretty well.. any comments?

I have a stock of 1.5Sch40 lying on the floor right now.. thought I might bend it just because. If it works, maybe I'll make my drive-over trailer fenders with it..

A short piece of it is making a good handle for the cart. :D

With the bender mounted to the receiver stock.. I can also use the same "zero-it" trick and slide it into my truck's receiver hitch.. or someone else's, should a friend need to borrow it..

Just needs to support the bender - it's freakin' heavy.

-Tom

My God TSM, we NEED PICS. That sounds like the BEST solution to mounting a Model 3 bender... Please take some pics...

Originally posted by Madmarx
My God TSM, we NEED PICS. That sounds like the BEST solution to mounting a Model 3 bender... Please take some pics...

Should be able to take some pics tonight - I was waiting for the paint to dry on the bender mounting square-tube - put the last coat on last night.

I got the idea from a fellow Scouter that said he'd mounted his vice to some receiver tubing and had it attached to his work bench so he could slide the vice out farther if he needed to.

I haven't built my work bench (new shop!) yet, and wanted a cart to mount the bender to anyhow (did I mention it's heavy?).. after mounting the vice up and trying it out, I realized I could mount the bender in the same way.

When I'm using it, I can mount it to the cart to hold it.. when I'm done, slide it out and stash it in a corner.

With it on the cart I can roll the whole assembly out into the driveway when there are things in the way of swinging a 25' stick of tubing around.

MIG welder is on the bottom shelf of the cart, bender is up top.. so the fire stick will be really handy, too. :D

I'll try to get pics tonight.

I realize that the bender and dies are heavy, but for a stand is 1/2" plate really needed???? a 12" square of 3/8" ought to be plenty...

Originally posted by TLCObsession
I realize that the bender and dies are heavy, but for a stand is 1/2" plate really needed???? a 12" square of 3/8" ought to be plenty...

Like others have said.. definitely would depend on whether you're Armstronging it, or hydro-ing it.

If you're going manual, you may be using a great big cheater bar and really applying some leverage on it - wouldn't want it to bust loose, woulda ya? :D

3/8" would probably be fine.. but with 1/2" you'd be SURE it would go.

If you're worried about cutting it with your plasma.. don't. Have the steel supply cut it when you buy it.

My supplier will cut things to length when I ask 'em to.

Yeah, but I can can buy 'scrap'for $0.13 LB If I found something close, they might torch it off for me... If I have to go to the steel supplier, I better bring a latex glove for 2 small pieces of plate...

Originally posted by Madmarx
My God TSM, we NEED PICS. That sounds like the BEST solution to mounting a Model 3 bender... Please take some pics...

*almost* done.. I thought I could use the JD2 bolts and put the nuts inside the 2x2 tubing, but no go.. so I need some longer 3/4" bolts to finish the job, but..

Cart from a distance, bender in the far slot (near the handle), some 2x2 square stock in the near receiver. Some 1.5" Sch40 I had lying around in there just for the pic.

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic591.JPG

View from the other direction.

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic592.JPG

I don't think this will show up, but it's the mounting of the bender to the tube and the tube into the receiver.

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic593.JPG

Custom adapter from cheap porta-power to bender.

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic594.JPG
http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic595.JPG

View from the other side of the cart, along the mounting 2x2..

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic596.JPG

A bit dark, but it shows the 2x2 going into the receiver on the cart, and the ram threaded to the JD2 supplied block.

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic598.JPG

The square stock w/ angle welded to it is actually my vice mount, but I didn't mount the vice back up yet..

http://tigger.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout/jpg/shopcart/4_3_2002/pic599.JPG

-Tom

Thank you. That is not what I had pictured, but it is better than what I pictured...

Pretty slick cart. My only worry would be if your bending a long stick that onec it swings straight out from the cart it may try to tip the cart over. Is the welder enough ballast or is there an out rigger leg I'm notseeing in the page?
I was going to use reciver also. Plan was to put some lags in the floor and point a tube straight up. That way in my tight garage I could turn it 90deg if the tub was getting into the wall or the car or the tool box (my garage is packed). Idea #2 was reciver on the front of my truck.

Originally posted by Grim Reaper
Pretty slick cart. My only worry would be if your bending a long stick that onec it swings straight out from the cart it may try to tip the cart over. Is the welder enough ballast or is there an out rigger leg I'm notseeing in the page?



Not as nice as I wanted it to be.. what you don't see in the pic is that my little 110 MIG warped the 1/8" angle and the trays are wavy... good enough to beat on though. 4 washers stacked up on the casters on two opposite corners halfway leveled it out and keeps it from teetering..

I'm a little concerned about the weight that far out, too. The receiver stuff makes it adjustable how far out the bender is - depends on how much swing I need with the ram.

I figured I can always mount my heavy vice on the other side of the cart for counter balast.. or something like that.

The bender without tube is a heavy monster, too..

I built my stand out of a 12x12 .25 plate and an old Mustang driveshaft. welded it together level (still zero out the die and the tube though) putting the handle right at 40" (waist high for me). I bolted it to the garage floor with some concrete anchors and bent away. 9 years later and countless 1000's of feet of tube, I still use it. The base flexes a little when bending 2" .120 wall DOM but not enough to worry about. I did end up bracing it one day last year, when I was bored, but it made no real difference.

I'm finally getting around to converting it to hydro, since I don't want to drill holes in my new garage floor.

Thanks Patman! That was the kind of info I was looking for. Guess I'll see what kind of plate scrap I can find.

Jim