hot rod tubing bender

[mslim]

How strong (and expensive) a tubing bender do I need to make old school hot rod nerf bars out of 1" or 7/8" tubing. I was thinking .120 wall chrome moly but there might be a more appropriate spec to use.

As a bonus I was also thinking of using the same bender to bend 15mm/19/32" bar stock for motorcycle saddlebag brackets.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about:

 

[metaleltr]

Rogue Fabrication has one of the most affordable tubing benders available that will actually produce good results. Lots of info on their site that spell out what their machines are capable of.

One of the neat features is you can start with the base unit and expand it to a mandrel bender if your needs change.

 

[mslim]

Rogue is very nice but a little pricey for my budget. Has anyone used Woodward Fab?

 

[Firebrick43]

Woodward fab is junk imho. Have you looked at a model 32 from JD2?

 

[jeepnut24]

Woodward fab is a jd2 clone. I’ve using mine to bend 1.75 .120 wall DOM tube for my Jeep and it’s just fine for occasional use. I think the newer jd2 has a thicker frame, but same basic design including the dies. You can actually find bender plans online as well. I would bet those bumpers were bent traditionally with a torch and something round... maybe a hossfeld

 

[metaleltr]

Rogue is very nice but a little pricey for my budget. Has anyone used Woodward Fab?

The price gap narrows when you consider the Rouge includes one die set. The woodward bender dies not appear to include dies.

 

[texasprd]

Check out Williams Lowbuck Tools. Or find a copy of one of the stock-car racing mags - there used to be multiple fab-tool companies advertising.

 

[metaleltr]

Check out Williams Lowbuck Tools. Or find a copy of one of the stock-car racing mags - there used to be multiple fab-tool companies advertising.

I think lowbuck went under. No luck recently looking for their Louver press.

 

[555]

The limiting factor on most home use tubing benders is radius. A 180 degree bend is often too big a radius for the desired application. Most times they do two 90 degree bends and weld them together. At one time there was a machine shop in Fayetteville with a mandrel bender that could easily make your nerf bar. I don't know if it is still there nor can I remember the name. They made handlebars for me in both 7/8 and 1 inch. Both your projects could be made from solid steel with little effort. A torch and a piece of pipe in the desired radius. Or if you have a steel table you can make a jig. Red and Kate at Cycle One in Locust Grove, OK has a tubing bender and might make your items. Probably much cheaper than buying a bender. Taylor Henschell (One-Up Moto Garage) is in Batesville but has Fayetteville connections. I think he travels to Fayetteville pretty often. I believe he has a tubing bender or access to one that can do tight radius bends.

 

[LXCam]

The Woodward one will do it. I know I’ve done it but there are some things you should know before jumping into it. I discussed some of the pitfalls in this thread and if I weren’t on my phone, I’d be a bit more help. But if you’re up to it, I’m pretty sure I detail them in the first page of two here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=395090

 

[Bretny]

Years ago I cnc cut out my own bender that uses a jd2 die. I still have a set of plate. PM me if your interested. Really the plates are the hardest thing to make on these benders.

 

[skippydoo]

Check out JMR tubing bender. https://www.jmrmfg.com/

 

[Cryptic1911]

although a little pricey, another vote for rogue fab. We have one and it does really nice bends

 

[Graham08]

It's hard to go wrong with JD Squared. Their dies are very high quality and you can buy a bare, manual Model 32 for $395. In the sizes you're talking about, bending manually is quite easy with their ratchet mechanism which gives you compound leverage.

If you will eventually want to bend flat bar, angle, etc. I would also look at Hossfeld. Their stuff is significantly more expensive, but it just plain works. JD Squared rates their die sets to bend solid round bar up to 1" or 1-1/4", but you have a lot more options with a Hossfeld.

I have both a JD2 Model 4 and a Hossfeld. I use both for different things depending on the application. The JD2 is more optimized for tube, but Hossfeld has tube dies available that I can't get for the JD2.

 

[csp]

You can find plans online to build your own, which you would have to buy dies for.

Gottrikes is one I can think of.