Air/hydraulic bender frame - JD2 tubing bender + HF tubing roller

dbtindustrial · Aug 15, 2012

I have both a JD2 tubing bender and a Harbor Freight tubing roller. I have limited shop space so I didn't want to bolt them to the floor. What I came up with is a self-reacting bending frame for both tools which also stores all the dies and hardware. The frame cost about $100 in steel.

The tubing bender is powered by a Harbor Freight air/hydraulic ram. It's a little slow as you would expect, but for $90 you can't beat it. Bending is done in the vertical plane which means I can use a cheap Wixey digital gauge to measure bends.

The tubing roller uses a pneumatic impact wrench to advance the center roller eliminating the pain in the **** cheater bar. I also modified the frame so the lower rollers are always on center.

You can also see it in action on Youtube at:

I have also developed a set of plans for the DIYer. You can see a full preview here: http://s1149.photobucket.com/albums/o586/designbuildtest/Bender%20Frame/

Feel free to build your own version, or if you want to skip the legwork, I sell the full plans on ebay, numbers and all, for $10. Just search for “bender frame plans”. Thanks for looking and I appreciate any feedback on the design or the plans.

bad_idea · Aug 15, 2012

I don't know how others are going to like you joining the forum to advertise your product. Seems a bit scam-ish to me. Nice looking setup though. I think most of the folks here are the type to copy yours, rather than pay you for the plans.

t100 · Aug 15, 2012

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1084946

dbtindustrial · Aug 16, 2012

bad_idea said:
I don't know how others are going to like you joining the forum to advertise your product. Seems a bit scam-ish to me. Nice looking setup though. I think most of the folks here are the type to copy yours, rather than pay you for the plans.

Well, I've been following threads on pirate 4x4 and the garage journal for years and thought I finally had something to add. I included a link to step-by-step instructions so anyone that wants to can reverse engineer it or make something similar. A lot of the projects I've seen on the web consist of a prototype, a couple of pics and 2 sentences of explanation. I have provided 38 pages and over a hundred pictures free of charge. Anyone is welcome to copy it. If someone wants to make the exact same frame, and doesn't want to dink around with the dimensions, I am offering them for $10 bucks. I provided a link to the entire instruction so you know exactly what you're getting. How is that a scam?

bad_idea · Aug 16, 2012

The scam-ish part is your first post on the site is one trying to sell a product. Free pictures or not, you have a set of plans listed for $10. I did not say it was a scam, I said it seems scam-ish. At the very least, not quite the right way to join the forum.

BTW... Do you know anything about the spam personal message I received from DarciB an hour after posting in your thread?

dbtindustrial · Aug 16, 2012

What was the message about? Who is DarciB? I don't know how posting to any thread would make you susceptible to spam.

Jamesbbh · Aug 16, 2012

Ommmmgggggggg get over it, it's not like he's selling male enhancement pills.
Oh and awesome design by the way.

buening · Aug 16, 2012

I see no ill intent. Nice execution on combining the bender and roller. That is an excellent option for those where space is a premium. I'm very impressed with your DIY plans on the photobucket site!! Bookmarked for sure for when I get around to making my own! Hell I may even send the $10 your way just to save me engineering time. $10 is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of time it took you to develop everything. I've wasted more $$ in gas in 30 seconds than what you are charging for your plans! Excellent job and keep up the good work!

Yojinbo · Aug 16, 2012

Interesting - appreciate you sharing your idea. Would the torque needed to use the roller not easily topple the stand right over to the sides?

I've seen other videos of the HF Roller in use it seems like a lot of side-to-side pressure is generated when moving the wheel.

yucholian · Aug 16, 2012

bad_idea said:
The scam-ish part is your first post on the site is one trying to sell a product. Free pictures or not, you have a set of plans listed for $10. I did not say it was a scam, I said it seems scam-ish. At the very least, not quite the right way to join the forum.

BTW... Do you know anything about the spam personal message I received from DarciB an hour after posting in your thread?

You're hilarious. You seem like a *******-ish. Don't get mad, I didn't call you a *******, I just said you were *******-sh.
So what is the "right way" to join the forum and did you help write this rule? :willy_nil

bad_idea · Aug 16, 2012

My initial assumption was out of line. I assumed the GJ community would consider you an ******* for making your first post this one, I was wrong. I apologize. It is a nice looking stand. I hope you don't let my jumping to conclusions foul your opinion of the forum. This is a very friendly, helpful group of people. What other fun builds do you have?

srmofo · Aug 16, 2012

I got to admit I too was a bit put off by your initial post. But I bite my tongue until I had a chance to go over your plans (i was on my phone).

I am really impressed with the level of work you have put into them and now completely understand why you are charging for them. The preview really helps also, not only those that wish to know the details of your plans and copy them but also those that wish to do their own version.

You have to realize, from time to time some jackoff shows up here trying to sell something that "he made". This is the first time Ive seen plans this nice with that level of detail.....and the only thing you left out from the preview is the final dimensions.

Well done sir, stop by more often.

willymakeit · Aug 16, 2012

Have you has any issues with bends 90 degrees to the side without removing the tube roller. One direction you would be ok but the other, I'm not sure. The roller maybe inside the radius. Otherwise it looks good.

dbtindustrial · Aug 17, 2012

First off, thanks to everyone for their support. This is the first time I have made DIY plans for one of my projects and didn't know how it would be received. They took WAY more time to make than I originally thought.

dbtindustrial · Aug 17, 2012

willymakeit said:
Have you has any issues with bends 90 degrees to the side without removing the tube roller. One direction you would be ok but the other, I'm not sure. The roller maybe inside the radius. Otherwise it looks good.

You will be okay with a 90deg bend to the inside as it does clear. I haven't tried anything more exotic than that.

dbtindustrial · Aug 17, 2012

bad_idea said:
My initial assumption was out of line. I assumed the GJ community would consider you an ******* for making your first post this one, I was wrong. I apologize. It is a nice looking stand. I hope you don't let my jumping to conclusions foul your opinion of the forum. This is a very friendly, helpful group of people. What other fun builds do you have?

I recently built a drive-through gantry crane for loading equipment in my truck and trailer. It is 10' tall, will lift 2 tons, and the best part is the all-terrain casters. I took 4 trailer jacks and welded a couple of 10# pneumatic wheels on each one. I have a dirt ally out back and I can maneuver it by myself. I can post a pic if your interested, and don't worry, I haven't made any plans for it.

dbtindustrial · Aug 17, 2012

Yojinbo said:
Interesting - appreciate you sharing your idea. Would the torque needed to use the roller not easily topple the stand right over to the sides?

I've seen other videos of the HF Roller in use it seems like a lot of side-to-side pressure is generated when moving the wheel.

Good question. When I use the captains wheel I put one hand at 12:00, one at 6:00. As you turn the wheel the force is equal and opposite so the stand doesn't move much at all. I have seen a demonstration on youtube where someone set their roller on a table, didn't bolt it down, and roller a 10' tube. You can see me using it briefly on youtube:

tkonetzke · Aug 17, 2012

I see where bad idea is coming from, your first post sounded as though you were trying to sell something, which does seem to be frowned upon, understandably so. Props to him for for his last post though, as it does appear that you are here to contribute. That is a very nice looking setup. Now i just need a reason to have a tubing bender set up

toymn6366 · Aug 17, 2012

dbtindustrial said:
I recently built a drive-through gantry crane for loading equipment in my truck and trailer. It is 10' tall, will lift 2 tons, and the best part is the all-terrain casters. I took 4 trailer jacks and welded a couple of 10# pneumatic wheels on each one. I have a dirt ally out back and I can maneuver it by myself. I can post a pic if your interested, and don't worry, I haven't made any plans for it.

i would love to see it have been kicking around buiding something like that

dbtindustrial · Sep 28, 2012

Sorry about the long wait toymn6366.
I have posted some pics of the gantry crane on a new thread.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2585177#post2585177

dbtindustrial · Sep 30, 2012

toymn6366 - I started a new thread with pics etc of the gantry crane. I tried posting the link but garage journal didn't like that. Try searching for "All-Terrain 10' Gantry Crane - Drive Through"

trboxman · Sep 30, 2012

Now just modify that roller SWAG Offroad style to incorporate a power roller drive and you've got an out of the park hit.

Piper · Oct 2, 2012

I realize that the plans are for sale and I think that's fine... and as far as I'm concerned, had you done this post as your 100th you'd not have had the earlier backlash of spammer... but anywayzz... do you have a rough idea of costs to build the bender frame as you've shown?

monkers · Oct 2, 2012

Nice design, looks well thought out, thanks for sharing it

dbtindustrial · Oct 3, 2012

Piper said:
I realize that the plans are for sale and I think that's fine... and as far as I'm concerned, had you done this post as your 100th you'd not have had the earlier backlash of spammer... but anywayzz... do you have a rough idea of costs to build the bender frame as you've shown?

Okay okay I get it... Don't try anything until the third date.
The tubing bender frame costs $70-100 in steel depending on the current price of steel.
The cost for everything is detailed here.

KenS · Oct 3, 2012

dbtindustrial said:
Okay okay I get it... Don't try anything until the third date.

Don't be too hard on him boys. He's given you plenty of free info to build one, even if you don't buy the plans.

Flyboy101 · Oct 3, 2012

Great idea,have some questions.
Have you tried bending anything other then linear 90 degrees? Would the roller get in the way say if you bent something 90 degrees or less and then had to bend it in another direction? If you did bend it in another direction would you then have to worry about it tipping over?

Again great idea, $10 is a small price to have that all figured out ahead of time.

Also your website didn't go past one page. You might want to look into it.
Thanks

dbtindustrial · Oct 4, 2012

Flyboy101 said:
Great idea,have some questions.
Have you tried bending anything other then linear 90 degrees? Would the roller get in the way say if you bent something 90 degrees or less and then had to bend it in another direction? If you did bend it in another direction would you then have to worry about it tipping over?

Again great idea, $10 is a small price to have that all figured out ahead of time.

Also your website didn't go past one page. You might want to look into it.
Thanks

Flyboy101,

I have done linear bends up to 180 degrees. I think the dies will go somewhat beyond that, but the tubing is harder to remove.

Can you bend it ninety, turn it, and bend again? Yes. Will every possible configuration work. Probably not, but I haven't tried them all. Will it tip over? Not unless you try hard. I have had a 2" pipe extended 10' from the frame without it tipping over or feeling unsteady in any way. Is it possible with a 100' pole to tip it over? I assume so. It's not Thor's hammer after all.

As to the website. That one is easy. I'm a lousy web developer. I did the graphic design, came up with the layout, but I don't have much experience in building actual websites. I published just the one page so at least I didn't look like one of those chinese companies who sell **** on Ebay but don't even have a website.

Thanks for looking at the website by the way. Other than it being basically useless for e-commerce, I thought it came out okay.

Flyboy101 · Oct 4, 2012

Thanks for getting back to me. Wasn't going to use a 100' tube obviously, but trying to figure how many bends I could do in a possible different direction before I ran out of space between the two.

As far as your website, did my website with Iweb on my Mac. Really easy, works great, came free with the Mac and only pay $6/month thru Godaddy to host. I think they have ecommerce sites as well...just figured I'd throw that out there. Know what it's like to be self employed and do stuff on your own. Good luck.
Will be hitting you up for the plans in the near future. Outta space and have that same bender.

jamesemery728 · Oct 4, 2012

Welcome to the forum, great looking projects. Any pictures, details of the modified engine hoist.

dbtindustrial · Oct 4, 2012

I don't have any pics yet but could take some this weekend. I needed a way to move my 4000lb lathe around the garage. I bought the HF engine hoist and got about 4ft before the casters gave out. I guess the casters were only meant to move the weight of the hoist around. Anyway, I shortened the legs, added 4x 2000lb casters and I can move the lathe by myself. Haven't used it in probably a year. I have a multi-directional pallet jack that does most of the heavy lifting.

dbtindustrial · Oct 4, 2012

Seems like every HF tool is a great bargain, and usually 20% short of being functional. If they would spend a little more time engineering their tools I wouldn't be embarrassed to admit I buy them.

jamesemery728 · Oct 5, 2012

dbtindustrial said:
I don't have any pics yet but could take some this weekend. I needed a way to move my 4000lb lathe around the garage. I bought the HF engine hoist and got about 4ft before the casters gave out. I guess the casters were only meant to move the weight of the hoist around. Anyway, I shortened the legs, added 4x 2000lb casters and I can move the lathe by myself. Haven't used it in probably a year. I have a multi-directional pallet jack that does most of the heavy lifting.

That would be great, I would like to see them. The ol' back is not what it used to be and I am always looking for ways to move heavy stuff around.

Flyboy101 · Oct 5, 2012

Have you ever sold the finished product direct instead of just the plans? I am limited on time and think I'd rather put the time into the builds I have instead of making the bender holder. If so shipping probably would be ugly weight wise from Colorado. What is approx weight of finished product and how much might you sell one for? If not it was worth an email. Thanks.

galooph · Oct 7, 2012

I bought a set of these plans off eBay and for $10 you can't go wrong!

I've got a manual JD2 sat in my garage and I've been wanting to convert it to hydraulic for ages. The only problem was that the standard approach was to use the Harbor Freight air over hydraulic ram, which I couldn't source here in the UK.

After months of looking, I've found someone in the UK selling what appears to be the same ram, so these plans came along at just the right time. Mounting the bender vertically will certainly save on space in my cramped garage too.

Dan

dbtindustrial · Oct 8, 2012

Galooph,

Thanks for the purchase and the compliment. If I get enough interest from the UK I could even do a metric version. Where did you find the air/hydraulic ram in the UK? Could you provide a link?

Thanks, John

Richard D · Oct 17, 2012

The vertical mounting and digital gauge are a good idea, why didn't I think of that?

galooph · Oct 17, 2012

dbtindustrial said:
Galooph,

Thanks for the purchase and the compliment. If I get enough interest from the UK I could even do a metric version. Where did you find the air/hydraulic ram in the UK? Could you provide a link?

Sure! The air/hydraulic ram is from here and I also found a source for the 4130 steel tube here.

I've got all the parts in now, just need to get cutting and welding

Dan

dbtindustrial · Nov 27, 2012

Here's a quick update on how the DIY plans are doing so far. It's been about 5 months since I first wrote the DIY instructions and they have averaged 2 sales/wk on ebay. I was suprised by the demand outisde of the US. I received multiple order from Canada, South America, England, and Russia. I guess americans aren't the only ones who don't park their cars in the garage.

This is the first time I've created DIY plans like this and the experience has overall been a positive one. I have spent a lot of time over the years reverse engineering ideas/projects I have seen on the internet and forums like the garage journal. It occured to me that I was duplicating exactly the effort someone else had already put into their design, but that there was little motivation for them to go the extra mile and provide me with all the drawings, dimensions, and instructions I needed to duplicate it. These plans were an experiment to find out if going that extra mile was important enough to the customer that he/she would pay $10 for a complete package.

I figure ideas are basically free as there is no way to protect them other than not sharing them. If you share an idea you are basically granting permission for others to copy it, which is fine with me. On the other hand, sometimes you get what you pay for. I think charging a small fee for the plans made them much better. I felt that if I was going to require $10 for the plans they better be darn good as the customer would hold them to a much higher standard. I wound up spending way more time getting everything perfect because I knew my name and reputation would be on the line.

Bottom line, if someone out there has a great idea, builds it, perfects it, and is willing to put in the time to teach me exactly how it's done, that's a service I am willing to buy. I'll probably upset some people's sensibilities with this post, but I would like to encourage others to try their hand at developing well thought out plans that others can follow. If it takes $10 to get them to do it, so be it.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has purchased the plans or has given their feedback on this forum.

- dbtindustrial -

SteveL · Dec 15, 2012

Can this be easily adapted to bend flat or square bar stock? Thinking up to 1 1/2" wide. Nice design by the way!

Air/hydraulic bender frame - JD2 tubing bender + HF tubing roller

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