cheapracer wrote:
I have the cheapest nastiest hand hydraulic pipe bender (not tube bender) and it does the most awesome roll cage bends you could see! I can do up to 100 degrees easily and 180 with 3 sets of 60 and you wouldn't know the difference (trick is to do the 2 outside 60's first then the middle one last).
As I said "pipe" bender so it's just for the FIA/SCCA thickness roll cage tubing ie; 38mm x 2.5mm and 42mm x 2.5mm and 3mm wall.
It does bend 32mm and 25mm x 2mm wall nicely too.
.... and I mean real nice parallel wall bends but starts to get a bit iffy at 1.6mm and under.
Not this one but this type ..
I'm starting to look around for a bender to do my seat frames and the rear hoops for the boot bodywork. Harbor Freight, our local inexpensive tool outlet, sent me a "Super Coupon" for a similar kind of pipe bender for $90 US. I probably could do with a manual bender (or benders, since bender and die are one) because I'm not doing that much, but your experience with roll bars, cages has me interested. The pipe dies (inside diameter?) supplied with the one they discounted are: 1/2”, 3/4”, 1”, 1-1/4”, 1-1/2” and 2”.
Here's the webpage ==>
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-hyd ... 0%3D%0D%0AWhat's your secret? The Williams Lobuck tools guys are very negative about this type of bender and even have a small webpage discussing it here ==>
http://www.lowbucktools.com/benderFAQ.htmlHow long did it take you to get proficient with it? How does it do with thin tubing like our 16 (1.6mm) and 14 (2.1mm) gauge tubing?
Do you ever need to use the dry sand packing or similar to get good results?
Thanks,