It seems to take less space in the shop since the tube go upward while bending. It's easier and cheaper to measure the angle with a water level (than with an angle finder that can be bad adjusted). It's cheaper to power bend the tube with a floorjack than with the hydro pump thing. It's cheaper. I'm probably missing something. What are the cons.
Pro tools 105, the follower dies are machined WITH the main dies, you cant get a replacment follower(if it gets gouges, fawked up.) without shipping the main die to pro tools. That is why my next bender will be a JD2.
God I wish we had our laser scanner at work, I'd do a comparative dimensional fringe plot to prove whether or not this is necessary, since I have two followers. I mean are you serious, look at the damn slop in the pin holes alone!
But I bet I can use a set of calipers to determine whether this is a concern or not. I mean seriously, tubing is going to vary more than a CNC machine making dies. If this "is" a problem, then maybe Pro-Tools needs to up the tolerances on their prints or find a better vender to make them dies! :shaking:
I've had situations where it would have been impossible to bend tubing on a vertical plane. There's always exceptions though. For a DIY it's really a matter of personal preference. But for a shop making it's living, speed is key.
For me in a small workspace my vertical (gottrikes) bender is the only option- and it will use 240 segree dies. To use a horizontal bender I'd need to remove vehicles from the shop.
I think the answer to the original posters question is going to depend on what and where he is building stuff.
In my home garage. About 30x16. But concern are about price (first) and efficiency.
Let me weight it with the infos I got:
Floorjack type pros
- Cheaper (than horizontal ones 105)
- Cheap power bender (could double the cost to power a 105)
- space is a small+ but it is one (would have to get the 4x4 off to use a 105)
- use of a cheaper and precise angle finder (than the needle thing on the 105)
Floor jack cons
- Floor jack is slower than hydrolic ram (not a concern for me since it's only a hobby)
- Can't bend more than 90 degres (180 for the 105 model)
Wouldn't it be possible to use your fab skillz and fab up a horizontal stand/mount for the vertical floor jack style bender??? Then you could have the best of both. Granted the floor-jack might take a bit of time to bend, but I don't see why you couldn't.
I built something similiar to the bottle jack bender. It works exactly for what I need, and fit the space I had available. I use mine as a hobby, and it will do bumpers, and the occasional roll bar.
Pro:
Portability: You can pick it up and take it with you wherever you want and bend tubing. Doesn't require a fixed mounting location. Since I just moved, and no longer have a garage or tools yet, I just took it to work and used it there.
Con:
Supporting the tubing on the hmp. Since the follower is moving up, you can't support the tubing for a long piece.
I gave them a call on this yesterday. It sounded like they are getting away from doing it the way you described. They had (as in now gone) a production manager that required both dies to "match" them. It sounded like this was something in the past and no longer required.
Brad, this being the case when you asked, I can understand your disappointment.
It was one of the reasons I sold my PT105. Oh well, whoever thought of that is a friggin idiot, probably some "engineer"
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