[vernk]

need one bend. 1" tubing is what i got .120" wall. need a 2.5" radius to an A shape...can get specific when we get down to it.

in philly would be great. outside...i'd need you to source the tube and ship to me....i pay of course.

anyone??

 

[Wolfman]

There are people in the area

When I checked I got the " I know a guy who knows a guy"

 

[vernk]

is that a forum? search didn't show anything?

 

[Wolfman]

no I mean when I asked around

 

[Jackstand Johnny]

I can bend tube. I bend tube quite a bit actually. Just got done a little while ago actually.

 

[rubbersdown]

your going to have a real hard time finding someone to bend a 2.5" radius. smallest radius ive ever seen on a 1" die is 3" so if it has to be 2.5" its going to have to be either a custom die or find someone that can pack it with sand and very carfuly bend it by hand with alot of heat.

 

[Jackstand Johnny]

your going to have a real hard time finding someone to bend a 2.5" radius. smallest radius ive ever seen on a 1" die is 3" so if it has to be 2.5" its going to have to be either a custom die or find someone that can pack it with sand and very carfuly bend it by hand with alot of heat.

Thats a really good point. That Is a tight radius but He said an "A shape". Im guessing that means not a full 180 degree bend? Would it be possible to do that with a 3" die?

 

[sebwiers]

Was gonna ask about this myself- will be needing to bend some 1" 12g. I can find somebody in my area to do it, but I was considering buying one of these from Harbor Frieght. Wouldn't give me any control over the radius, but I'm not that picky, and I only need to put a mild bend (45 deg) in. Seems like could also be useful for making custom exhausts. I've seen some guides to mods you can do to one of those (mostly a clamp on the die to prevent the tube slipping) that seem to end up giving good results.

$99 (before any coupons) and ability to bend up to 2" pipe (and down to 1/2", in .25" increments) seems like a worthwhile tool to have around. And I can probably get some karma by putting it on loan at the workspace I belong to.

But if it won't do the job I need, its obviously not worth it...

 

[ed563]

What type of bends do you need?
if you just need something simple like a 10,20,30 .... ect 90 degree bend, or a simple offset.
Maybe you could look into using an electricians EMT bender.
I use them at work, iv bent up to 1" schedule 40 pipe with them.
Its a hand held tool, They are cheap, and you could probably return it to the store, after you use it.
This might be usefull to you.

 

[sebwiers]

Hmm, really? I'm using 1" tube with a wall thickness ~.10", and just need simple 67.5 deg deg bends. If a conduit bender can do tubing like that, might be better than the HF thing.

 

[ed563]

how did you make out?

 

[vernk]

wow i forgot about this. well, Mrs Claus brought me a Bender this Christmas w/ 7/8" and 1" dies. They are a 3" radius as well. I have yet to mount the thing. It's all welded up and put together, but I have a hard time commiting to drilling into my new concrete slab. I have in my mind to do the HF air over hydraulic mod but have yet to see anyone online that has done it on this machine. I got the Pro 2 Bender from Howron

http://www.metalbendingtool.com/pro-2-bender

It is similar in design of the HF bench unit yet heftier. The howron dies are cheap and can even be used with the HF bender. This will bend up to 1 1/4" of .120" wall they tell me. Either way, lifetime warranty on this thing. I've yet to really play with it so I'll report back on that. Likely will hear me rant about the air/hydraulic setup for help later....or now?

 

[Guest]

Was gonna ask about this myself- will be needing to bend some 1" 12g. I can find somebody in my area to do it, but I was considering buying one of these from Harbor Frieght. Wouldn't give me any control over the radius, but I'm not that picky, and I only need to put a mild bend (45 deg) in. Seems like could also be useful for making custom exhausts. I've seen some guides to mods you can do to one of those (mostly a clamp on the die to prevent the tube slipping) that seem to end up giving good results.

$99 (before any coupons) and ability to bend up to 2" pipe (and down to 1/2", in .25" increments) seems like a worthwhile tool to have around. And I can probably get some karma by putting it on loan at the workspace I belong to.

But if it won't do the job I need, its obviously not worth it...

Thats a PIPE bender mate you would have to shim the former to bend 1" dia TUBE & if its thin walled tube, 1.6mm for example it will kink the tube before you get much of a bend on it, its fine for thicker walled tube if you shim it (3mm wall upwards)

What you need for thin walled tube is a plumbers type TUBE bender

The differance between tube & pipe is that tube is measured by OD while pipe is measured by ID or bore so the formers are a different size (by roughly the thickness of the wall)

Once you get up to bigger dia thin walled tube for example 2" or 50mm for exhausts etc, getting a good bend without ripples on the inside really requires a mandrel bender so its easier & cheaper just to get the bends made

Hope it helps

 

[sebwiers]

Yupe, I was aware of all that.

I found I can get OK bends in the metal I needed with that machine. I used the 1/2" pipe die for my 1" tube, so it just rode on the surface of the die, There was some deformation of the cross-section, but it was acceptable. Also gonna experiment with using the larger (3/4" pipe) die with a sheet aluminum shim, as you say; its only a hair to large for my tubing.

The thinnest stuff I'm looking at using it for is .095" wall, and I'm not really interested in larger diams. This is for frame elements and handlebars, not exhaust pipes.

 

[Guest]

No worries i mentioned it just in case you didn't know

ive just been bending tubes for my own frame & found the easy way to make a shim was to cut a short length of thin walled tube in half along the length then tap that on to the tube to be bent & fit it to the former to make the first bend

In my case on both the 1/2 & the 3/4 former the shim stayed in place after the first bend which makes life easy

i'm using the hydraulic for some of the bends as i can get a slightly smaller rad on up to 90 degree bends due to the smaller formers but on anything over that i am using the hand bender as the tube will deform at over 90 on a small rad because the tube is not supported also you tend to get teltale marks (dents) in the tube from the rollers which you need to sort out if its going to be on show

You also cant get the back to back bends you sometimes need with the hydraulic so i always say you really need both types if you are doing a lot of this type of work as i do

 

[sebwiers]

I ain't getting fancy like that, just building a (really gehtto) forkless front end.

You can avoid dents where the tube contacts the rollers if you put those half tube shims you got in between the roller and the tube. Even saw a some pictures where a guy replace the rollers with tubing that had the same ID as the OD of the tube he was bending, welded to some tubing with the same ID as the holes in the rollers.

As to repeatability, I just clamp a stop block in place that the tubing runs into. 100% repeatable!

TBH though, if I had access to a proper hand bender with dies, that's what I'd use.

If I ever show a bike, I'll make sure it is the ugliest, most fucking primitive thing in the show, and I'll call it "That's right, you COULDA built this".

 

[vernk]

you referring to the hydraulic press pictured above, or the air over hydraulic fitment to manual benders like mine?

No worries i mentioned it just in case you didn't know

ive just been bending tubes for my own frame & found the easy way to make a shim was to cut a short length of thin walled tube in half along the length then tap that on to the tube to be bent & fit it to the former to make the first bend

In my case on both the 1/2 & the 3/4 former the shim stayed in place after the first bend which makes life easy

i'm using the hydraulic for some of the bends as i can get a slightly smaller rad on up to 90 degree bends due to the smaller formers but on anything over that i am using the hand bender as the tube will deform at over 90 on a small rad because the tube is not supported also you tend to get teltale marks (dents) in the tube from the rollers which you need to sort out if its going to be on show

You also cant get the back to back bends you sometimes need with the hydraulic so i always say you really need both types if you are doing a lot of this type of work as i do

 

[Guest]

For getting the tubes exactly the same on the hydraulic i just measure & mark the rule & on the hand bender mark the former level with the handle, the reasons for this are stops can move & if you set the stop after bending the first tube you cant overbend the second to allow for spring back

As for the dents the wider the rollers are set apart the less severe the dents are but i like the idea of shims to stop it all together, i'll be trying that tomorrow

I never enter shows but do build rats bikes sometimes then sell when i'm bored & a few of those have won stuff with their new owners