http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...link:middle:us

so, as said, is this one any good? Obviously basic, but the design appears sound.

 

$50 for the bender, $50 for the shipping, suddenly not such a good deal. Probably pick up locally for $100, no?

 

I mean, is it a good design? $100 to me seems reasonable when I could spend $20 on plans and $200 on parts to fab my own....

 

If you have a Harbor Freight locally, you can pick the same style up a little cheaper. I new a guy who did a full cage with one of these and it turned out really good. What I mean by really good was, it was good enough to pass tech at the local races. It took patience that I don't really have. I think this design all depends what your building, if it's just some sliders or a light bar, it should work.

 

That's a pipe bender... not a tubing bender...

Unfortunately, they won't interchange. Unless of course you are planning on using pipe... then I have read once you have the technique down you can get the HF bender to work pretty well. However, that HF bender is also commonly called the "HF Pipe Kinker".

 

so it most likely won't bend HREW or something I'm guessing?

 

No... the dyes won't match the tubing diameter.

Without a perfect match, the tubing will do all sorts of things... but a clean bend wont be one of them.

 

DAMN! well, so much for an inexpensive tubing bender idea.

Guess I'm gonna have to see how ingenius I can be in following plans for a bender.

 

Piping and tubing are NOT the same thing by any means. A of "pipe vs. tubing" will give you more than enough to read to tell the difference.

IMO, building a tube bender is more trouble than it is worth if you are going to be bending any significant amount of pipe.

Either buy a Pro Tools or a JD2 with dies and a hydro unit or just pay someone to do it for you.

Tubing dies cost about $250 each plus shipping so no matter how cheap the bender is, you still have to buy dies.

I have a JD2 from tricktools.com

 

I'vw got a pro-tools 105HD with air/hydraulic setup..and bend-tech, and a notcher...be prepped to spend over $2Gs to get fully setup.....if not, pay someone to do it

but if you get a good one you can do all kinds of things...like this

 

Not true. You can get everything you need for under a grand. Manual bender, one die, and a notcher CAN be had for under a grand and you are fully ready to go as far as tube. I am assuming you already have all other fab tools of course. A hydro setup is nice but far from needed. Plenty of people still row their benders including yours truely. Unless you are bending a whole lot of tube I think the cost of hydro is prohibitive. For the retail price of the cheapest hydro setup for the JD2 mod 3 I bought ALL the DOM I used in my buggy's chassis. Call me cheap, you would be right...


...besides, you can always add hydro at a later date.

 

Could you list exactly what you went with...?

Sounds like you've been able to do a lot with a small budget. I have always been stumped as to how I can set up my shop in regards to these tools without emptying the bank.

 

I would also be interested in seeing what all you went with. I am a novice at wheelin when it comes to the shop end of it. I just bought a house with a full size workshop in the back and I'm looking to set it up. Naturally, I want to do this as cheap as possible without sacrificing quality so that I can stretch my budget as far as possible.

 

Tricktools.com

JD2 Deluxe kit bender
T100 notcher
1.75" die

Under 1K shipped

 

What specs should I use when picking metal to build sliderz and roll cages?

 

waskillywabbit - What else would I need if I bought one of your SAS kits? I have a 94 Xcab 4x4 auto w/ 3.0

 

For metal for the sliders and cage...you should go with 1.75 HREW(or DOM if the pockets are deep)

 

Wowsers Wabbit, have you been in my garage?

this is exactly my tube setup for those wondering

 

Made this today with that exact same pipe bender, 2' steel pipe, a blow torch, a hammer and a guy who knew what he was doing. Spot welded temporarily for fit. Will finish welding, hammer down some edges and powder-coat it black. This thing is a battering ram. Check out the pics on the bottom of this thread. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/c...bumber-124495/

 

The bender in the original post will bend tubing. Will it do it nearly as good as a true tubing bender? NO. But it can be used to do minor bending - just don't expect great results.

A true tubing bender, with dies that match is the only way to go if you are looking for repeatability, and professional bends. There are many on the market, all I will say is that Pro-Tools is what we personally use, and prefer (though we have many friends/fellow wheelers that love their JD2).

As far as what material to use is dependent on a few things. First off how much are you willing to spend, how durable [abuse] does it need to be, and what you can get ahold of...

If you can afford DOM for the main tubes in a slider/bumper then do it. HREW will get the job done as well. Most sliders/bumpers use 1.75" x .120 wall, and for the supports 1.5" x .120 wall. You could use .250 wall, but unless you are throttle junky it really isn't necessary.

If anyone has any specific questions feel free to PM or email me - or post so all can learn. Hope that Helps!

-WILL