Tube Bending

[Crawford_The_Newbie]

Has anyone had any experience with the tube benders available from Harbor Freight?  I have a lot of fabrication experience in square tube and flat stuff but have not ever done any round tube stuff.  Will the Harbor Freight bender bend .120 tube?  Will it bend it without it looking like a muffler bender?  Do any of you have a better bender that you use that is a similar value?  Thanks in advance for all the info.

Crawford_the_Newbie

[reklund5]

The bender from harbor freight is NOT a tubing bender.  It's a pipe bender and/or a tubing KINKER.  It's not designed for tubing, but rather pipe.  Pipe is measured by its inside diameter and usually has a thicker wall than tubing.  Pipe size is referred to as it's "schedule".  You might have seen "schedule 40" pipe at Home Depot, used for sprinkler systems and plumbing. 

Tubing, on the other hand, is measured by its OUTSIDE diameter, and has a variable wall thickness.  That is, a 1.75" OD tube can have a wall thickness of .25", .090", or .120".

You can build parts from either material, but the general consensus is that tubing should be used for anything structural on a vehicle (roll cages, suspension parts, shock hoops, etc.).

To properly bend tubing, you'll need a good bender such as a Pro Tools 105 or a Mittler Bros. bender.  You have to buy the appropriate size die set for each size of tubing you intend to bend.  A manual bender with one set of dies runs around $600 most places, but it's the only way to fly.

Ryan

[Chad_Romine]

I almost bought one off pirate for 50 bucks last week until a guy told me that he broke the frame off bending some dom.

[BLACKDOG]

KYOTA, CALLING KYOTA TO CHECKOUT 3!!!

I think KYOTA uses a HF bender.  If I recall correctly, he made his bumpers, and sliders out of pipe, using the HF bender, but I know he switched to tubing for his exo, I'm not sure if he got a different bender or not.


for those of us that don't know, what is the difference in benders for pipe and for tubing?

[reklund5]

The big difference is in the dies, and where the pressure is applied to the tubing to do the bending.

On the HF unit, the pipe is held on either side of the bend with pins, and a hydraulic bottle jack applies pressure to the center (between the pins) with a formed die.  They're ok to about 90° on pipe, or soft tubing.

An actual tubing bender basically "pulls" the tubing around a die from one end, resulting in a bend with less distortion, and consistent tubing diameter throughout the bend.

I wasn't saying it couldn't be done with the HF unit in my post above...just trying to get some facts out regarding the differences between the benders.    I guess the "easiest" way to bend tubing accurately and consistently is with an actual tubing bender.

Ryan

[Hyena]

KYOTA got a real bender for his flatbed.  I had bad luck trying to bend even pipe in the HF bender.  Kinked the crap outa it and i even filled the pipe with sand to try and stop the kinking.

[BLACKDOG]

The big difference is in the dies, and where the pressure is applied to the tubing to do the bending.

On the HF unit, the pipe is held on either side of the bend with pins, and a hydraulic bottle jack applies pressure to the center (between the pins) with a formed die.  They're ok to about 90° on pipe, or soft tubing.

An actual tubing bender basically "pulls" the tubing around a die from one end, resulting in a bend with less distortion, and consistent tubing diameter throughout the bend.

I wasn't saying it couldn't be done with the HF unit in my post above...just trying to get some facts out regarding the differences between the benders.    I guess the "easiest" way to bend tubing accurately and consistently is with an actual tubing bender.

Ryan

I wasn't doubting your words Reklund, I wasn't sure what the difference was in benders.  I have no experience in bending anything other than IFS parts

[red]

I wasn't doubting your words Reklund, I wasn't sure what the difference was in benders.  I have no experience in bending anything other than IFS parts

havent bent my ifs yet on my suburban, but bent plenty on my nissan.

[Skinny_Pedal]

for the love of god people. pipe is for sh*t! use tube for your projects, and i wouldn't use anything less than .120 wall

also the dies on the hf PIPE bender are going to be a diffenent OD than tube.

[synwars]

for the love of god people. pipe is for sh*t!

I still don't believe it. Them manufacturers makes some pretty high quality pipe now-a-days. Besides, I know of some dumbbums who've made "pipe" bombs before. Pipe isn't just for poop!

[burnyota]

for the love of god people. pipe is for sh*t! use tube for your projects, and i wouldn't use anything less than .120 wall

also the dies on the hf PIPE bender are going to be a diffenent OD than tube.

-you also said that a 110v welder from HF could weld pipe but not tube...maybe you should lay the pipe down
there are lots of people who dont care about the benefit of tubing over pipe, because that is what they have-pipe
tubing is great for exo's, chassis , cages....etc  if you have the means of correctly bending and forming it..pipe will bend in a HF bender and you can use the crap out of it for exterior parts, like sliders, bumpers, crossmembers, whatever you want..
-not saying that it should be used or shouldn't..but tons of peeps out there use it, most people cant tell the dif without asking the guy who built it.

[BLACKDOG]

-you also said that a 110v welder from HF could weld pipe but not tube...maybe you should lay the pipe down
there are lots of people who dont care about the benefit of tubing over pipe, because that is what they have-pipe
tubing is great for exo's, chassis , cages....etc  if you have the means of correctly bending and forming it..pipe will bend in a HF bender and you can use the crap out of it for exterior parts, like sliders, bumpers, crossmembers, whatever you want..
-not saying that it should be used or shouldn't..but tons of peeps out there use it, most people cant tell the dif without asking the guy who built it.

my sliders are made out of sched 40, and I've beat the crap out of them.  Haven't let me down yet

[Hyena]

My Rear driveline is schedule 80.  That has taken some bad hits.  I trust pipe, it just weighs a ton.

[crapyota]

we used a hf bender to do a couple things and are using one to build a cage if you are patient it can be done but it wont be totaly as smooth as a true bender but we also didnt have $600 plus to buy a bender.. we were lucky to get tubing you know. i think this has been discused do a search.. some tricks to use a hf bender. take your time be slow. you can sleeve the material with another tube to slow down the kinking and the little dimples that the rollers cause. we also took a old bmx tire and cut it up and wraped the tube and that also helped alot. all in all if i had access to a real bender i would use it. but i didnt , so we used hf one on my buddies rig,  hf fabricateing rules..

[Crawford_The_Newbie]

Wow, Thanks for the responses folks.  I did not realize there was a difference between tube and pipe but now I do.  I am headed for the boards to do some research on tube benders, you say around $600 is a good price for one?

[reklund5]

$600 is a decent ENTRY price for one...

Check these sites out:

http://medfordtools.com/benders/

http://www.mittlerbros.com/

http://www.pro-tools.com/105.htm


Happy Hunting!
Ryan

[gotrocks]

I got a HF look alike bender.  I'll sell it to you if you want.  i've got dies up to 3 inch..  But I'll be honest. I doesn't like tubing.  I bent up some .120 wall 1.5" and yeah it doesn't like it at all.  I'm going to be investing in a real bender

[KYOTA]

I did make my front bumper and fender tubes out of pipe and used a POS HF pipe bender. Now I have a Pro Tools 105HD and built my flatbed with 1.75" hrew. Pipe is plenty strong but the thing is with the piper bender anything over about 45* flattens out the back side of the bend. I filled my pipe with sand to help keep its shape while bending but it still happens.
Gavin you have any experience with either or are you just jumping on the wagon? there are more than a few pipe exos out there that have been proven.

[synwars]

there are more than a few pipe exos out there that have been proven.

That's what I'm talking about...

[BLACKDOG]

there are more than a few pipe exos out there that have been proven.

RUGERs got one

[6.72:1]

I had a HF pipe bender. I took it back after the first time I used it.

[wa4x4]

The Harbor Freight pipe bender was not designed to bend pipe over a 90* angle, let alone tube.
Just a thought.

[Skinny_Pedal]

Gavin you have any experience with either or are you just jumping on the wagon? there are more than a few pipe exos out there that have been proven.

yeah i have head expeirence with both. im not hear just to start controversy. my personal opinion is that pipe is for poop. i personally wouldn't want it on my rig. id go hrew for bumpers, sliders and misc body protection. but for my in cab cage or exo i would only run DOM.

[gotrocks]

why's that.  HREW seems to be fine for all of that.  I've heard that DOM  it isn't as strong.

[IronClad]

  if boogerweldz  says pipe is a-ok  then i believe it is.  his DOM hoop failed while the rest of his PIPE  exo  sustained.  id rather run pipe than anything else.


other thing.. HF bender is for pipe.. pipe is measured in ID   tube is measured in OD which is why the dies are different.   

DOM truely isnt anything special unless you get special treatments and whatnot.    Plus  for an exo/bumpers/sliders  pipe would be BETTER   because  it does not dent like  hrew/dom will.   If you build it right  hrew/dom is no better than pipe. PERRIOD

[gotrocks]

I dunno I've got some marlin sliders and I've come down really hard on them before and they are HREW.  I coudln't even tell where they touched the rock. 

[Skinny_Pedal]

why's that.  HREW seems to be fine for all of that.  I've heard that DOM  it isn't as strong.

DOM not as strong? better go check your info. DOM has a higher psi breaking tensile strength

[Skinny_Pedal]

  if boogerweldz  says pipe is a-ok  then i believe it is.  his DOM hoop failed while the rest of his PIPE  exo  sustained.  id rather run pipe than anything else.


other thing.. HF bender is for pipe.. pipe is measured in ID   tube is measured in OD which is why the dies are different.   

DOM truely isnt anything special unless you get special treatments and whatnot.    Plus  for an exo/bumpers/sliders  pipe would be BETTER   because  it does not dent like  hrew/dom will.   If you build it right  hrew/dom is no better than pipe. PERRIOD

give me some facts that pipe is stronger. tellin me boogerwelds dom main failed but his pipe substained prooves not a dam thing. last i checked pipe does dent, i dunno what you talking about. but what do i know you worked at a fab shop and are the ultimate fabricator

[6.72:1]

No Skinny Pedal, the ultimate fabricator is me.




Wait...I have no body protection...-backing up slowly, okay turning very quickly and running in the complete opposite direction trying to avoid getting body slammed by the west coast folks-....

[ROCKHOPPER]

 I know tons of people running pipe with no problems. Ive seen one of my buddy roll his truck at least 25 times with no major damage. I think the biggest thing is how you build it not what you use. most of the cages ive seen are crap, people building them with little or no experience.