Home Made Tubing Bender

[OverkillYJ]

So I need a tubing bender, but all I find at decent prices are pipe benders. Seems tubing benders are quite a bit more.

So I go this 10 ton hydraulic ram with a porta power I just picked up cheap. I figured I would be a good fit for a home made bender. I would make it removable from the rig so I could still use it or replace if needed. The tube bender is something I would only use once in a while. Primarily to bend this 2 1/4" DOM 1/8" wall tubing for a roll cage on my Jeep.

I see the designs of these are simple. I have an oxy acetylene setup I recently acquired. I figured I could cut the upper and lower plates they use to make benders out of 1/4" plate. The thing I cant find are the rollers. I need ones like the ones on benders.

As for the die, I only need two sizes. I figured I could take piping with the same ID of the tube I want to bend. Heat it, bend it, then cut apart the bend to gusset the back side of it and make a die to fit the end of the ram.

I want to make sure this is a good idea. I do understand the stresses involved which is why I plan on using single pieces of steel plate instead of piecing something together.

I also was not sure if a bottle jack would be a better idea than a porta power ram. I like the porta power ram though because I do not want to have to stand so close to it the first couple of times I use it. With the porta ram I have 2-3ft of space to move into a safer position while making sure it works fine the first few times. That way if something did break I would not be on the receiving end of it. Although, with two piece bender design on legs I do not think the odds of failure are high. And I only use grade 8 hardware on everything I make.

Amy input or design ideas would be great. This is something I will not do for at least a month since I do not need the bender right this moment. I figured I could make something safe for about $50 and 5 or so hours of work.

The pictures are just the style bender I am thinking of. Mine would be mounted sideways though since I would be bending some pieces that will have more than one bend in over 10ft of DOM. If it was strait up and down like that bottle design pipe bender I could see issues with it. I cannot find these little wheels anywhere though.

By The way. The other size Die I need to make is for a 4 link suspension in the front of my Jeep as well as a custom drag link and track bar. So that is a little smaller tube, but walls are thicker. I refuse to buy these parts for pieces they list when I know I can make them. I do understand a lot of engineering has gone into them, but I am making everything else from scratch anyways so nothing I could buy will fit my application for under $1500 for the front suspension alone. With a bender I will be around $400, or maybe a hair under with the heim joints paid for. I know of no kit for converting a leaf sprung YJ front to a coil front with a 5" stretch forward and a HP Dana 60 front rear.

 

[Big Pete]

Those push through benders don't work very well on thin wall tube, and 2 1/4" OD 1/8" wall would be thin wall. You really need a compression bender (like is used for plumbing or conduit) or a rotary draw bender - both of which can be built at home. Have a look at the Tools for Bending website and download the tube bending guide, it will tell you everything you need to know about tube bending.

 

[OverkillYJ]

Those push through benders don't work very well on thin wall tube, and 2 1/4" OD 1/8" wall would be thin wall. You really need a compression bender (like is used for plumbing or conduit) or a rotary draw bender - both of which can be built at home. Have a look at the Tools for Bending website and download the tube bending guide, it will tell you everything you need to know about tube bending.

I will check that out. Thanks.

What about the thicker 1/4" wall DOM I need to bend for suspension parts? Is that any different? Also, is it still considered thin wall when the 1/8" wall is cold rolled steel and probably filled with sand and capped during bending?

If the bends do not come out nice while testing filling the tube with sand and welding the ends shut was my plan to prevent kinks. You obviously know more than I do on this subject, so , would that make any difference? Would that let me stay with this simpler design? The reason I like this design the most is because I can make one with three pieces of steel. It appears the simplest of all benders I have seen, and also have the simplest die design.

 

[Big Pete]

1/4" wall would bend ok if you can get a decent die to suit. Have a look at a JD2 style bender, they don't involve much more cutting than the Y style ones, and are much better tool for what you want to do. Theres plans all over the net for rotary benders, IIRC pirate 4x4 has one, but google is your friend here. The simplest way is to buy the dies, but they aren't all that tricky to make depending on what machining facilities you have. I cast then finish machined mine (in aluminium), but I only bend up to 1 1/4" atm in a converted plumbers hand bender. IMO, you would be better off investing the time in a better bender than messing about with sand filled tubes.

 

[OverkillYJ]

This is going to sit for years after this project. Otherwise my Father in Law and I discussed investing in a good bender and each just buying the dies we need. It is so much cheaper to make though, and the budget is tight. I will check out those other style though. Thanks for the info.

I already downloaded the bending manual as well. That thing is ******** awesome. Love the way it details the stresses exerted on the tube during different types of bending. I could not find all of that info in one place.

 

[Big Pete]

The bending manual is pure gold.

If you are only doing one project it might be worth paying a local shop to do the bends for you.

 

[creativecars]

The cheap type benders do more kinking than bending if you are wanting a tight radius. I need a cheap bender, but I question the push rams ability to bend instead of crush.

 

[zkling]

The dies are the critical and most expensive part (apart from a hydraulics unit). The frame is easily made. If you know anyone that has a lathe with a decent swing they are pretty easy to make.

 

[OverkillYJ]

I figured if I get some schedule 80 with the ID to match the tubing OD I could bend it with my torch and then cut it open at the bend to have my die. Then behind the curved pipe I can weld in some 1/4" or 3/16" reinforcements to prevent it from losing shape, and a piece to put it on the ram. Seems like the easiest/cheapest way to me.

As for kinks, if you fill the tube with sand I think everyone knows you can prevent that quite a bit. A shop would charge me well over a grand to do this. Otherwise I would have to find someone to work with me to just do the bends to the degrees I need, but that would turn into a lot of back and forth for the size cage and amount of bends I need. Then when you consider I also need to put slight bends in the links for up front as well.

I have a large stocked shop myself so there is no reason I should not be able to do this and fit the pieces in as I go.

 

[Dubbydoo]

or buy this

http://www.affordablebender.com/collections/affordable-benders-tube-notchers

i have one and did my cage on my jeep
https://scontent-b-lga.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10628379_10152726296523833_8315912677374119559_n.jpg?oh=2365911a50b5867d77deffd150fb05b2&oe=54B34EBA

 

[Dubbydoo]

if you buy the bender I think the second die is only 50$