Pipe bender dies, which size?

[grego]

Tubing bender dies, which size?

Hi all,
I have taken the jump and decided to try my hand at building a tubing bender, so I bought the plans from gottrike dot com. Heard a lot of good things and only a few minor quirks and since I wanted to add my own touches, this seemed the way to go. So now I am going to buy a set of dies which are not cheap but was not sure what size would be a good start. I plan to make a couple of cross members for my Model A frame and I figure I might use 1 1/2" Dom tubing and then plan to make some big kid go karts and sand rails. Would I be able to use 1 1/2" or is that undersized or overkill? What was your first size of dies that you got?
Feedback from benders preferred. Thanks

 

[sscustom]

here how i bent my pipe might help you out

sam

 

[bauschracing]

Talk to Katheran at Pro Tools in Tampa (813-986-9000) about the dies. First off, you need tubing dies- not pipe dies. There is a difference in the two. I bought a 1 inch die first for my "got trikes" bender. My racing buddy got a 1 5/8, and one more friend got a 1 1/4 inch. I plan on getting a 1 3/4 later. Between the 3 of us, we should have all bases covered.
Mike

 

[KMinAF]

My vote is for 1 1/2" but it really depends on what you are making.
I have made many ****** crossmembers from 120 wall 1 1/2 with no problems, also made lots of shock hoops, "bull bars", light bars etc. most of the time using hot rolled as it is easier on the tools and has held up with never any failures. I also found it easier to obtain (at least around here) and it is less expensive.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have found that I use my 1.5" die quite a bit and for many different projects. I have used it to fabricate my entire sandrail chassis as well as some internal braces and supports on a clients 57 Chev project. I have also used it a lot for transmission crossmembers for Jeeps. Of all of my dies I use the 1" and 1.5" dies the most.

Mike.

 

[May Pop]

3/4" pipe= 1 1/8"
1" pipe = 1 3/8"
1 1/4" pipe=1 1/2"
1 1/2" pipe=1 7/8"
2" pipe=2 3/8"
2 1/2"pipe=2 7/8"
So use the die closest to the tube size you want to bend.
Ive had excellent luck bending 2" HREW in the 1 1/2" die.

Ron

 

[blackice]

depends what your doing. I work on race cars, so I do just fine with a 1 3/4" 90 degree and a 1" 180 degree. I found that mike green 4x4 was cheaper for protool dies then dealing with protool directly

 

[grego]

Great info, thanks for sharing. I meant to put tubing but typed pipe by mistake so just to clarify I am planning to use 1 1/2" tubing.
I wrote a reply but it didn't show up. ??? Anyway, I seems like I'll go with the 1 1/2" dies. I plan to go to the metal shop tomorrow and pick up the materials to start on it. I'll get to price out the tubing while I'm there too. Is there much difference between Dom and hot rolled tubing for cross members and rear suspension supports?

 

[May Pop]

HREW is all you will need.

Ron

 

[FunkyfullWidth]

Is there much difference between Dom and hot rolled tubing for cross members and rear suspension supports?

Ya... a price difference of about 2 bucks foot... But seriously. I used 1 3/4 .120 DOM for my roll cage on the jeep, But used .130 or .135 HREW for my front fenders and other "not as importants." I think for the most part, HREW is plenty strong, but can be a bear to bend.

As far as different dies... Like said, it really depends on what you want to do. I have only the 1 3/4 180* die for my pt 105. Because I only used the bender for jeeps so far. Other guys I know that have smaller vehicles like zuk's or toyota's Have 1 5/8 dies. I think for smaller go carts maybe what, 1" die would be nice? If your going to be putting bumpers or cages on bigger trucks like 3/4 or 1 ton, maybe a 2" die. You don't want something looking like tooth picks and at the same time don't want it looking like a lincoln log structure.

 

[Perryk]

I just picked up a JMR bender and 1", 1.25", 1.5", 1.625" and 1.75".

Depending on what you are building, and if you dont have a specific purpose (ie. rollcages)...

I would buy a 1" and 1.5"

Your other option is find someone local with the other sizes you need and rent/borrow them.