Tube Bending

[KeithXtreme]

A little more on tube bending. One thing that you will find if you
order steel per plans, the OD is a pipe dimension, not a tube
dimension. I checked with 5 tube benders in the area and they had
dies to bend 1 1/4" tube or 1 1/2" tube. Nobody had dies for 1 5/16"
tube. I also could not find 1 5/16 tube with a .100 wall, so I went
with .120 wall.

What I ended up doing was buy one of the $99.00 pipe benders from a
company like harbor freight. The first few test pieces that I bent
kinked, just like everyone told me it would. I ended up welding a
scrap plate on the end of the tube then packing it full of sand. You
have to pack it tight. (This is an old trick used in my experimental
aircraft building days.) In any case, fill the tube then take a
piece of suitable bar stock and hammer the sand into the tube. It
takes a few minutes. Put in some more and hammer some more. When
you can't get any more in, fill to the top and duct tape the end.
The tube then bent acceptably in my cheapo bender. Pour out the sand
and you are done. Takes an extra 10 minutes per tube, but there are
only 8-10 bent tubes in the whole thing.

John





I found all the right tube per plans, bent 3 buggy in 2 hours, never
kinked one using one of those cheap benders, keep the seems of the
tube up, and use pvc plastic on the pipe that you are bending, place
one piece where each of the rollers are (no sand)
Rob






Do I understand correctly--you slip a piece of PVC pipe over the pipe
your are bending so it follows the rollers better?

John



yes a 3 in piece right where the roller are, stops the kinks at that point.
also make sure the seem of the tube is up. We have bent to 86 degree without
kinking




Do I understand correctly--you slip a piece of PVC pipe over the pipe
your are bending so it follows the rollers better?

John




Where can I get the tool needed to bend the tube and for how much?





--- In badlandbuggy@yahoogroups.com, "cobra10103" <cobra10103@y...>
wrote:
> Where can I get the tool needed to bend the tube and for how much?

Check out my tube bender in the photos "LA area" I made the
bender for about $300.00 including the dies. You get the dies from
Pro-Tools in Florida. The cost depends on the size of the die. If
you want more info on my bender let me know, or check out this site.
http://www.blindchickenracing.com. My bender is also on that site.





That's a bit more then I wanted to spend. I just wanted the simplest
and least expensive to make a few bends. I'm wasn't looking for a
bender to do a lot of bending and didn't really have a whole lot of
money to put towards the more expensive ones (this is only a hobby,
I'm just getting started, and the H.F. bender will work for now. If I
get into bending a lot of steel, I'm sure that I'd buy a heaver duty
one. My whole reason for getting the one that I did was for cost and
the small amount of use that it'll get.



i used the h. b. bender. i didnt have any trouble with kinking.the
only thing i didnt like about it was it leaves a nice little dent
where it makes contact with the rollers. the guy that has the pic of
the modified die in the photos section said that by adding the 1/32
shims to the sides of the die that he didnt have the dents.i should
also add the fact that i didnt build a badlands buggy. the sharpest
bend i had to make was 52 degrees. --- In


With the shims, I got a clean full 90 degree bend out of it.




thats a great idea. i think thats what i will do for my next
project.this buggy is for my 10 year old son, the next one is for
myself.--- In badlandbuggy@yahoogroups.com, "Bruce Merrill"

Thanks for this post, I am going to give it a try. I have access to
a model 3 bender but would like to have my own at home. To cheap to
spend the money just yet. The shims only need to be on the sides ??




Yep, I only put them on the side. There is a picture located in Ecurb
photo folder, take a look.


Thank you, I got a bender from harbor freight on sale for $69 made
the modifications and it works great.