Small Tube Bender

[carwash]

So, last month, I was finishing up a roll cage, and wanted to put some handles on the a-pillar, out of a nice small diameter tube... But my smallest die for my bender is 1.5, and that's gay as hell for handles. So i think, imma need a die in the future for other jobs i'm sure, so it's about time i buy one. I figure 7/8 or 1" would be great for this type of work.

I call up JD2 and tell them what I need, and of course individual dies from them in any size are absolutely insanely high priced... but it makes sense, it's a big chunk of tool steel and a lot of machining. Anyways... of course they are out of every die size i need. Told me it would be at least a week before they would have stock in to even make them, and I needed it immediately... of course. So i pass, and i make my handles using a conduit bender from HD...gay big ass bends.

So flash forward to about a week ago, I'm sitting on the crapper, reading my new Speedway Motors catalog that came. I'm in the tools section and I see this manual small tubing bender set... WTF... this exists? It's $189, and comes with 8 different size dies, 6 round stock and 2 square. 3/8 thru 7/8 in round and 3/4 - 1 in square. All high decent quality looking stuff. So instead of spending $200 on one die, i spend $200 on 8 dies.

Now mind you, they aren't the quality of a machined JD2 die, but with what little force it takes to bend tubing this small and thing wall, I'm sure it will hold up fine. So, here's some pics... and if yer looking for small dies, I think it's the way to go. Thought I would pass on what i thought was a great find. I also saw it in a Woodward Tools catalog as well. Anybody else got one, use one, etc?

[spidr]

Hm. I might need me one of those. Thanks

[Joe_88k5]

We use a similar one at work for bending stainless tube and it works great. We usually do 3/4" and 1" with it since 1/2" and smaller can be done with the hand held swagelok benders. That's a decent price, I always assumed they cost more than that.

[cams1021]

That looks interesting.. any pics of some stuff bent up? I'd like to see if 1" square wrinkles at all

[ruffryder]

agreed, very interested on the results of the bender

[JeffHPK5]

Thanks dickweed for pics of your bender laying in a box ...now post up some photos of finely crafted grab handles......stock brokers have all the cool tools!

I'd buy four if you make some up...let me know.

Jeff

[carwash]

come on down and bend some yourself assbag... hahahah.

I need to get some 7/8 tubing now, and find a temp spot to mount this thing.

we can bend you some handles when we do kirby's links... when's good for you?

need to give you a clevis as well, or let you take some measurements of it.

[MudzerK5]

Yeah, I've been eyeing that one too. How is it holding up? Thanks for the review - this might make my decision quicker!

[carwash]

haven't used it yet, will let you know.

tried to bend some 3/4 square, but my vice kept spinning, so i have to make a mounting place for it.

[SoundManCO]

Originally Posted by carwash

Originally Posted by carwash

haven't used it yet, will let you know.

tried to bend some 3/4 square, but my vice kept spinning, so i have to make a mounting place for it.

Turn your vice 180* so the base to jaws is not adding to the lever when you try to bend it and it should stay put.

[carwash]

It won't stay put no matter what... the locking things seem to slip to easy, and I have hammered them tight, trying to make it work better. It's a cheap ass vice.

[jamscal]

Flip the die and let the vise slip until your vise handle hits the side of the table (and tries to tighten itself).

Keep pulling until something breaks or you have a bend to show us

[SoundManCO]

Tack weld the base of the vise...

[guidolyons]

Bolt the bender to your bench (or some heavy immovable object)


Looks like a good find, for something that's you'll probably only use occasionally.

Another option for those of you that might already have the HF bar and rod bender: (often on sale for <$90)


You can get round or square tube dies from shop outfitters ~ $130-200ish

According to this thread they will fit the HF compact bender:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...shopoutfitters

They want $998 for their bender That's more than a JD2/Protools 105 would cost you.
http://www.shopoutfitters.com/Univer...salbender.html

[Brad]

Looking at it, you need to make sure you dont put any upward pressure while bending. That single pivot would probably be the weak link. I remember seeing on GEARZ TV they used a Dake one and it was like a regular bender with an arm on each side of the die, Im sure it was probably atleast twice if not 3x as much. Ive always thought about getting one of these. Interested to see how well it works.

[D60]

WTH all this teasing and no pics of results??

I got a 1/2" pipe die for my JD2 (so approx 13/16" OD) but I've also been looking for something to do smaller stuff without buying several die sets.

[carwash]

no pics yet, finishing a console for the buggy, and it's freaking balls cold right now. And no stock to try it with.... gimme a few days.

[Jeep07]

Bump. Hows this working out?

[carwash]

No updates... frying bigger fish now... or frying the switches on my lathe at least... ugh.

[carwash]

looks like the same exact bender, but with a Baleigh sticker on it, whats your price on it?

[MudzerK5]

Their price is as good as Speedway or Woodward Fab on this.

[carwash]

Then why can't it be listed on their site, or spoke of in this thread?

[Snowbird13]

Originally Posted by carwash

Then why can't it be listed on their site, or spoke of in this thread?

No shit. It is annoying as fuck to go to a website and not have a price, or msrp or something, IMO.

[carwash]

even more annoying to have someone come here and tell you how awesome their price is, but not tell you the price.

[big specht]

When you get around to using it post up some pics of the mount I have one but haven't figured out how to mount yet cause I can't mount mine to the floor cause we have floor heat in the shop.