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Post by trebchopper on Nov 18, 2004 0:49:10 GMT -5
hey guys, im trying to get my dad to add a pipe bender to his shop it would be so nice to have one for the shop especially when i get started on my xs chopper project. he will not help me with mine he only builds custom and restores harleys. anyway i was just wondering if anyone knows who makes a good pipe bender i don't want a erally exspensive one just a simple bender to start out with and learn the skill. just let me know. my dad has a friend of his bend his pipes for him but again they won't help me yet until it starts to look awsome and then they'll want part of it. ride on, talk later. trebchopper  |
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Post by LarryBart on Nov 23, 2004 22:26:30 GMT -5
Hey Chop: Been looking for one of these under Christmas tree, been droping hints. Want to make a Small trailer for the bike to pull and this should do it. I guess I should also buy stock in this place seeing as much money we spend there.  order.harborfreight.com/EasyAsk/harborfreight/results.jspItem # 32888-1VGA 12 ton hydro bender $ 99.00 Regards larry Bart  |
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Post by hansen on Nov 23, 2004 23:07:00 GMT -5
those benders kinda suck.
they won't bend very tight radius' (radii?), or even reasonably tight radius'(i?)at all. and don't even try to get a piece of tubing in there with multiple bends or compound bends, it just isnt happening. plus....the dies i believe are made for pipe, not tubing, so the fit of the pipe in the die could be sloppy or too tight for your application (unless you're using pipe for your frames, but that isn't advisable).
that all being said...........I used one on my bike and it worked, however next time I'm using a real tubing bender or I'll have a shop do it for me.
how about instead buying some decent dies then building a bender yourself? or maybe you've got a machinist buddy or two.....
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Post by 30coupe on Nov 24, 2004 9:57:09 GMT -5
Yea, suck kinda says it all. I have one of those benders and just started using it yesterday. I made a practice bend with some black pipe and it worked great. I had my stretched swingarm in place and went to fab up the lower frame tubes for my hardtail. I knew there would be trouble when I put the tubing in the die. The tubing fits sloppy, leaving no side support. When bending, the tube kinda flattens and kinks on the inside. It worked so-so, but not what I had hoped for. I am going to modify one of their dies, or make or find one that fits the tubing snuggly. Like everything else, it'll probably work, but not right out of the box. 30coupe
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Post by steve78650 on Nov 24, 2004 10:24:42 GMT -5
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Post by mental on Nov 24, 2004 22:49:11 GMT -5
The problem with using a pipe bender for bending tubing is that tubing and pipe have different outside diameters, as 30coupe found out. And as he say's, the dies don't support the tubing properly. As far as benders for tubing, the dies are the most exspensive part, usually about $150-300 per set, and you need a different set for each size of tubing that you plan to bend. Heres a really cool bender that comes with one set of dies from Speedway Motors. $440.00 (http://www.speedwaymotors.com/default.asp).  I know that it seems a little exspensive, but you can recoupe some of your investment by bending tubing for other people. You could always buy the dies and then build your own frame. Add a hydraulic bottle jack and you have yourself a bender. Heres an article that will hep you out if you decide to build your own. www.blindchickenracing.com/Tools/Tube%20Bender/Tubingbender.htmMental |
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Post by 30coupe on Nov 26, 2004 11:36:52 GMT -5
OK, I've been doing a lot of thinking on this problem. A lot of difficult and pricey options of adapting my bender danced around in my head. Then while eating some Guatamaula insanity peppers (I watch way too much Simpsons), I had a vision. My pipe bender is sized for bending pipe. The difference between pipe and tube sizing is...pipe is measured by ID...tube is measured by OD (inside diameter vs outside diameter) My bender works well bending pipe, because it fits the die snuggly and gives it sidewall support preventing the pipe from collapsing. There is no pipe die that will fit the tubing snuggly, hence it flattens and kinks till the tubing contacts the sidewall of the die. OK, here's the fix. It works in my head, hopefully it will work in the real world. My 1" tube fits snug inside 1" pipe. I just bought a section of1'' pipe. I am going to bend the pipe the full radius of the die. Cut the pipe the length of the die. Slice the bent pipe horizontally the length of the pipe. Now I have created a sleeve. This sleeve inserted in my 1" die should give the needed side support for 1" tubing. If this works well I will braze the sleeve to the cast iron die permanently. I will also slice a small section of straight pipe to use as a protective sleeve for the rollers to ride on as I noticed the rollers are leaving small dimples where the contact the tube while bending. I am going to try this fix this weekend and see how it works out. If anyone sees any flaws in this plan, or has other ideas, let me know. 30coupe  |
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Post by steve78650 on Nov 27, 2004 10:40:55 GMT -5
I've heard a lot of guys fill the tube with sand while bending to prevent creases or folds...
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Post by mental on Nov 27, 2004 10:51:00 GMT -5
30coupe, let us know how this works out. I'm very curious.
Capping the end of a length of tube, packing it full of DRY sand and then capping the open end is a method most often used when bending tubing with heat. I have never seen it done when bending cold, but I suppose that it work.
Mental
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Post by 30coupe on Nov 27, 2004 16:12:09 GMT -5
Weekend Update: First off, these benders come with absolutely NO instructions, so if anybody has any tips , let us know. Today I went to make my die sleeve out of 1" black pipe. Seeing as this is pretty stout pipe ( about 1 1/4" outside diameter) , I moved the rollers out to the 4th hole from the middle thinking it would bend easier. Wrong! The pipe bent easy enough, but it ended up being a sharp 90, as the center lifted off the die as it bent. I moved the rollers back to the center most position and tried again. It took a LOT more pressure to bend it, but it was perfect. No kinks on the inside radius or outside radius. Before I took the pipe out of the die, I took some chalk and outlined thedie onto the pipe. I used my 4" cutoff tool and cut just outside the chalk line. The sleeve fit back into the die perfect. I took some 1" tube and held it inside the sleeve to see if I had the closer sidewall support I needed. There was still a sloppy fit from side to side. I took the sleeve out of the die and put it in a vise and squeezed it little by little until the tolerences were so close, the tube would barely fit in it. Now I will braze or weld the black pipe sleeve to the cast iron die, so it won't widen back out when I go to bend my 1'' tube. I don't have access to a welder til wednesday, but so far everything looks cool. ;D 30coupe
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Post by 30coupe on Dec 3, 2004 9:58:36 GMT -5
Well I just bent up the top tubes for my hardtail and it worked well. Tubing kept its shape, didn't collapse or kink at all. It only required about a 20 degree bend so I haven't tried anything beyond that, but I don't expect any problems. I did slip some short sections of pipe over the tube where the rollers contact and this time they didn't leave any dimples. I also greased the rollers and kept them in the holes closest to the die. So in my opinion you can bend tubing in a pipe bender in spite of what people say. ;D ...30coupe
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Post by hansen on Dec 4, 2004 15:29:22 GMT -5
yeah, they'll kinda do the job if all you want is one bend in the tube, but if you got multiple bends there's no way you're getting that tube in the bender.
i think next year i might try to machine my own dies and make a bender.....or just use the 10 grand bender at my school's shop..........
you said you bent your pipe dies in the vice to get a tighter fit on the tube? i imagine they wouldve bent right back out under pressure from the bender, unless you've got 'em welded in there quite solid. no kinking on the top of the tube above the die either? i think it would since there's no die there for the tubing to hold its form. its also a good idea to lube the dies so you get a smooth bending action, and to not mar the tubing
cool that it worked, you got any pictures of the set up?
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Post by 30coupe on Dec 5, 2004 11:58:47 GMT -5
Jeesh? If I had access to an expensive tubing bender, I never would have gon through this. I just wanted to see if I could effectively bend tubing at home cheaply. I am quite happy with the results. Yes I welded the pipe sleeve to the die 'cause I knew the bending process would have pushed it back out. As far as any distortion on the outside radius of the bend, I haven't ever seen any. As long as you have good tight support on the side wallsof the tube, I dont understand how it could kink. As far as making multiple bends, yeah, you would have to be either real careful or really lucky. I heard you use those magnetic angle finders to assist you. The whole issue of making complete frames ( multiple bends ) is supposed to be covered in an article in the next issue of Chopper Underground magazine. Kind of a lightweight magazine, but they do have good tech articles for doing things at home on the cheap. ...30coupe
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truff1
New Member
Play with fire
Posts: 19
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Post by truff1 on Jan 14, 2006 22:04:04 GMT -5
I work with metal. Bending pipe and tube is a common thing in our shop. When looking to buy a bender you really get what you pay for. I highly recommend the Hossfeld bender with the hydro attachment. You can get dies for pipe and tube. the best way to off set the cost is to do work on the side. if you can write some of the cost of the dies in your bid this will help out greatly. If someone wants an odd size bent I will write all or at least half of the cost of the die into the bid.
Sometimes you can find these benders at auctions for really cheap and you will get the dies with it.
If anyone out there is riding on a frame made from pipe, I beg you to STOP and start over with DOM tubing. pipe is weak, and you are just asking to get scraped off the road.
RIDE SAFE, TRAV
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truff1
New Member
Play with fire
Posts: 19
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Post by truff1 on Jan 14, 2006 22:14:55 GMT -5
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