I know I'm mostly gonna get flamed for this but I HAVE to ask.

Has anyone seen that new british car show "Panic Mechanic"?

On the very first episode, the made some sand buggies. They made roll cages for those sand buggies. The cages looked good to me, bends, welds, and all that I could see.

Here's the clincher;.........They used a Harbor Freight style Tube Bender (Pipe bender I guess)

I didn't see any kinked bends, they looked really good, compared to what I expected considering all the FLACK the HF units get here.

So here's my question. Anyone have pics of bends done on a HF unit?? Or even better pics of a tube being KINKED while being bent with a HF unit??

Here we go....................:nuke:

Originally posted by Cliffhanger
I know I'm mostly gonna get flamed for this but I HAVE to ask.

Has anyone seen that new british car show "Panic Mechanic"?

On the very first episode, the made some sand buggies. They made roll cages for those sand buggies. The cages looked good to me, bends, welds, and all that I could see.

Here's the clincher;.........They used a Harbor Freight style Tube Bender (Pipe bender I guess)

I didn't see any kinked bends, they looked really good, compared to what I expected considering all the FLACK the HF units get here.

So here's my question. Anyone have pics of bends done on a HF unit?? Or even better pics of a tube being KINKED while being bent with a HF unit??

Here we go....................:nuke:

Yeah I have seen it done.......but my JD2 is the REAL DEAL.....:beer:

Harbor Freight pipe benders work okay when bending pipe. They kink when you use them to bend tube. Yes, I saw the show. I saw the bender, it *is* the Harbor Freight style, but it might have been a real tube bender, hard to tell. I didn't see any closeups of the bends either.

Originally posted by Shaker


Yeah I have seen it done.......but my JD2 is the REAL DEAL.....:beer:


LOL.... THIS IS THE REALLLLLLL DEAL:D:D:D

Doh!!!:flipoff2:

Originally posted by Shaker


Yeah I have seen it done.......but my JD2 is the REAL DEAL.....:beer:

Well it seems to aqppear that you THOUGHT your JD2 was the real deal:flipoff2: :flipoff2:

I saw the show, and I was just to scared to ask the question.

Looked like good bends in tube to me and they were using a HF style bender...I dont need to do anything fancy, I would just like to do some simple exhaust work and some pretty simple bends for rockers and bumpers...I think I might justt buy the HF bender to see if it will do it. If it will do what they showed on TLC i would be happy.

I cant afford the Real deal...maybe one day

it works but be sure to use pipe. 2" tube is 2" OD. but 2" pipe is 2- 3/8" OD. Fill the pipe with sand too
1-1/2" sch 10 pipe is 1-7/8" OD and .109 wall that is as close as you will get to 2" tube with that bender.
and forget tring to make close bends

Marv Springer is making his "fun buggy" with one of those HF tubing benders.

http://community.webshots.com/user/marv_springer
"I did all this with the "Harbor Freight" pipe bender... notice that there's only two 60 deg bends and all others are only 45 deg. That's about as tight as you can do with that thing."

Hey Tin Bender what type of bender do you use?

You would be so much better off saving a few extra bucks and getting the JD2. Those HF benders are such a PITA to use. You ever used a hydraulic press to press bearings on and off? Imagine pumping that fucker 100+ times for each bend. You'll get some big damn arms. Someone had it counted exactly how many pumps it took. Camo maybe? Just go work at McDonalds or somethin' part time for awhile and get the real bender. You can make the HF one work but it isn't worth it. The worst is when you screw up and have to start a bend over. Not to mention your rig will be safer and lighter with real tubing and not pipe.

Originally posted by Mustard Dog


Well it seems to aqppear that you THOUGHT your JD2 was the real deal:flipoff2: :flipoff2:

IT IS......Because the $$$ they spent on that I converted mine to hydro and bought mucho Bending dies & Materials......:p :p :flipoff2: :flipoff2: .....:D

Originally posted by Shaker


IT IS......Because the $$$ they spent on that I converted mine to hydro and bought mucho Bending dies & Materials......:p :p :flipoff2: :flipoff2: .....:D

The JD2 is good machine if you like bending some tube on the weekends. :flipoff2:

Mucho?

We have for our JD2, 1", 1.5",1.75",2", and 1" square
for our TB60 we have 3/4", 7/8", 1", 1.25",1.5",1.75", 2"

Not to mention we buy some where in the nieghbor hood of 1500' of tube a month.:flipoff2:

Not to mention your rig will be safer and lighter with real tubing and not pipe.

Maybe I lost track somewhere but I thought the originial point of the post was that they were bending tube with the HF bender on the Panic Mechanic show.

One more thing. How does the Hf do with thin exhaust pipe? Figure over 200 bucks for an entire exhaust and you can get the bender for half that...I have 3 trucks/jeeps that need exhaust...would it pay for itself.

The point of the post was for answers to the questions asked.

So here's my question. Anyone have pics of bends done on a HF unit?? Or even better pics of a tube being KINKED while being bent with a HF unit??

Apparently this post is based on the possibility of using the HF pipe bender to bend tubing. I was just stating that the HF bender is not a good way to bend tubing and it is worth it to get a real tubing bender.

Originally posted by FreakAccident
The point of the post was for answers to the questions asked.



Apparently this post is based on the possibility of using the HF pipe bender to bend tubing. I was just stating that the HF bender is not a good way to bend tubing and it is worth it to get a real tubing bender.

Yes, but the QUESTION was: Does anyone have pics? ;)

Originally posted by FreakAccident
Just go work at McDonalds or somethin' part time for awhile and get the real bender. You can make the HF one work but it isn't worth it. The worst is when you screw up and have to start a bend over. Not to mention your rig will be safer and lighter with real tubing and not pipe.

My wife would kill me if I got a second part time temp job JUST to buy a bender, especially since we're saving for a house.

Plus I can get all the tube bent at a local shop here for like $100 or somthin' I can't remember exactly, but it was a good deal.

Better than buying a JD2 that I'd only use once or twice in the next 5 years.

I'm also wondering what kind of bedner the shop uses.....They are a welding/fab shop (in a small farming town)

Anyway thanks for your input guys, and I'm still wanting to see pics.

I dont know if you can still find them but a year or two ago there were quite a few pics of tubing bent with the HF bender and descriptions on how to rig the HF bender to do it. You have to do something to the rollers on it so it doesnt dent the pipe. I cant remember exactly but something like that. Search from way back and see what you can find. There were a couple people that built a lot of junk with them.

Originally posted by drnut
Hey Tin Bender what type of bender do you use?

The production bender is a http://www.mtechsupply.com/view_page.php3?getcategory=Benders&prodid=50

The jd2 mod 3 is still used for some of the 1 time bends...:D

No luck on that search. But I did find this, which may be a good deal. But I don't think enough people here have used it to convince me that it would be a good deal.

Bender from princess auto. (http://www.princessauto.com/PAcountry.cfm?CTRY=CAN&INF=han&SEC=han)

Boy that turned out like shit. :(

according to this guy they work just FINE for tube, the downsides are, its hard on your arm, pump it alot, and you have to count strokes, thats about the best way to get repeatability.

but he didnt fill with sand, and the tube didnt kink, it actually looks as good as the factory bends in the rollbar.
according to the dude who built this:
the key is to use whatever die fits the tubes OD, it wont be 2" die for 2" tube, itll be like 2 1/4 die.

he said most even require a shim to fit properly in the die.

http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/747222-belts.jpg

Originally posted by ozarkjeep
according to this guy they work just FINE for tube, the downsides are, its hard on your arm, pump it alot, and you have to count strokes, thats about the best way to get repeatability.

but he didnt fill with sand, and the tube didnt kink, it actually looks as good as the factory bends in the rollbar.
according to the dude who built this:
the key is to use whatever die fits the tubes OD, it wont be 2" die for 2" tube, itll be like 2 1/4 die.

he said most even require a shim to fit properly in the die.

http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/747222-belts.jpg

Now THIS is what the Question was all about....ANYMORE??:beer:

if you go over and search in the Toy truck/4runner section a couple of guys built decent exo cages with the HF bender. they said something about putting a piece cut in half tube on the rollers so it's match the od of the tubing or something. looked decent to me ...

- jack

yeah thats teh shim I was talking about, i figured they used a few differnt wall thickness tubes, cut and widended to fill the gaps, more pic and whole story here:

http://tellico.off-road.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=offroadjeepshort&Number=747214&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1

hope it helps!

Originally posted by Cliffhanger


Now THIS is what the Question was all about....ANYMORE??:beer:

What is the question?:confused:

Originally posted by Tin Bender


The production bender is a http://www.mtechsupply.com/view_page.php3?getcategory=Benders&prodid=50

The jd2 mod 3 is still used for some of the 1 time bends...:D

:eek::eek::eek: tell me that that is a typo on the price:eek::eek:

The question was about getting pictures of bends by a HF bender.

A couple more HF Bender-Bent Project pics Does that make sense :confused:

Another:

Yet, Another:

Last one...so far....;)

I can't Believe I haven't gotten flamed yet :beer:

John Halls Toyota Scorpion was built with a HF bender.

Originally posted by Cliffhanger
Last one...so far....;)

No one said you couldn't bend with a HF, but they really do suck!. As far as the Exo goes, not many bends . Can't really tell if there are any dual plane bends either. :confused:

Not much bending.:)

Originally posted by desertoy
John Halls Toyota Scorpion was built with a HF bender.

Was it by choice? Did he choose it over the JD or some other bender?:flipoff2: