The Chopper Compendium

Do the $99 manual (hydraulic) tube/pipe benders work adequately for downtubes/bottom rails?

http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-hyd ... 32888.html

The common mistake in selecting one of these benders for use in building Race Car Chassis, Race Car Roll Cages, Sand Rails, Dragster Chassis, Nerf Bars, Bumpers, etc. is that they are PIPE benders. Most of the time, if not all of the time, you will be working with TUBING not pipe when working on those types of projects. One of the many differences between pipe and tubing is the way it is measured. Pipe is measured from the Inside Diameter (I.D.) tubing is measured from the Outside Diameter (O.D.) So, lets say you have selected a PIPE bender that is advertised with 1", 1 1/4", 1 1/2" and 2" dies. Those are to be used with the pipe of that size measured from the inside (I.D.) and the outside (O.D.) measurements of those materials would be 1 3/8", 1 5/8", 1 7/8" and 2 3/8".

These types of pipe benders will not give you a smooth bend. Nor will you be able to get a tight radius without lots of kinks.

My

Good question...
Good answer...

Not recommended for tubing, no matter what the ad says.

Hi hybridbiker, make yourself the jd2 bender with the plans from gary it will save you some money and fustration trying to use other benders that will not bend the tubeing properly. I made mine only costed me about $180.00 for materials plus buying the die for it which was $300.00, no matter what it will cost about $500.00-$600.00 ish for the jd2 bender and atleast one die from http://www.jd2 squared.com. Good luck man, if you want to do the bending properly you need the right bender to do it.

or build yourself one of these I used this monster bender to make all the frame parts (and handlebars) for my GS550 and also the diamond section frame....and some handlebars for a good friend's Buell chop.....

I've replaced the manual ram with an air/hydraulic since I took those pics...... very easy to use and doesn't need fixing down.......

Maz xx

fixing down?

Fixen down = fastened down, attached to a bench.

ok so I'm English ...its a mobile bender ok

Maz xx

I never thought of it like that before. Could it be that southerners are speeking the Queens English? Or is Maz just a redneck at heart? One way to test that...Maz, have you ever spoken the phrase "Yont to" in a sentance?

rudog wrote:I never thought of it like that before. Could it be that southerners are speeking the Queens English? Or is Maz just a redneck at heart? One way to test that...Maz, have you ever spoken the phrase "Yont to" in a sentance?

Jeez, I been spelling it wrong all these years...

I thought it was "Yawnt too?"

And I thought that WAS a complete sentence...
Shows ta go, whadda I know...

Maz wrote:or build yourself one of these

GS550 Bobber 040.jpg

GS550 Bobber 043.jpg

I used this monster bender to make all the frame parts (and handlebars) for my GS550 and also the diamond section frame....and some handlebars for a good friend's Buell chop.....

I've replaced the manual ram with an air/hydraulic since I took those pics...... very easy to use and doesn't need fixing down.......

Maz xx

Maz ....when are you going to mod that die for the D-ring and tube clamp....???? ......Then you can do up to 270 degree bends ....!

railroad bob wrote:Jeez, I been spelling it wrong all these years...

I thought it was "Yawnt too?"

And I thought that WAS a complete sentence...
Shows ta go, whadda I know...

With my appologies, I speak southern with a New England accent. As stange as it sounds...I yield to your Red Neckedness. Or did I say that wrong?


Hey, if anyone knows of a posting with the profile of a tube die...I need one. I'm building a bender like Maz', and understand that the dies are not perfectly round, but, oval. I'll be building 1.25" dies, but can convert any size for the ratio. Thanx.

rudog wrote:

railroad bob wrote:Jeez, I been spelling it wrong all these years...

I thought it was "Yawnt too?"

And I thought that WAS a complete sentence...
Shows ta go, whadda I know...

With my appologies, I speak southern with a New England accent. As stange as it sounds...I yield to your Red Neckedness. Or did I say that wrong?


Hey, if anyone knows of a posting with the profile of a tube die...I need one. I'm building a bender like Maz', and understand that the dies are not perfectly round, but, oval. I'll be building 1.25" dies, but can convert any size for the ratio. Thanx.

I suppose I should be honoured to be thought of as a redneck....but I'm just an English Witch really guys...... and the nearest I get is probably "go on, you know you want to...."

As for the bender, yes I am looking at making a ring clamp for it, I've just converted it to an air/hydraulic ram and I have several dies for it, some made by me (including my diamond die) and some bought from an importer...

I do have some die plans and as soon as I can retrieve them from my "dead" hard drive I will share them with any of you guys who want them....... meantime if you are making a die and can't figure out the profile of the groove, some of mine are circular but with a small ridge around the middle which prevents the tube from deforming........

Maz xx

Maz wrote: snippage
....but I'm just an English Witch really guys......
Maz xx

[rudog quote] Hey, if anyone knows of a posting with the profile of a tube die...I need one. I'm building a bender like Maz', and understand that the dies are not perfectly round, but, oval. I'll be building 1.25" dies, but can convert any size for the ratio. Thanx.

Don't know about the oval part, but look in the downloads section, there is a pdf.