interestedparty
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 03:48 PM |
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How to make tube bender dies?
There's plenty of plans about for making tube benders, but they all have one short coming in that you then have to buy the dies, which are
expensive and mostly need to be got from the States
This is the sort of thing I mean
Any thoughts on how one could make something like this, even if it meant investing in some machinery?
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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mookaloid
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:00 PM |
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Block of ally and files or Burrs in a drill?
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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interestedparty
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:08 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Block of ally and files or Burrs in a drill?
Well at least you didn't suggest a block of granite with hammer and chisel. 
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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Mal
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:09 PM |
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For hand bending diameter 32x 1.6 wall aluminium tube for a cooling system I have glued and screwed 3 discs of 18mm birch plywood together and then
turned the radius form into the resulting disc.
With the disc bolted to a bench and combined with a tube stop strap I have produced reasonable bends.
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MikeR
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:10 PM |
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For the long straight bit - bit of wood + router = blank shape to be cast, there are plenty of 'how to cast in your garden' things on
t'internet.
Not sure about the curved unless you turned a VERY large bit of metal and cut it down.
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interestedparty
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:17 PM |
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I'm not planning a bit of plumbing here, I'm thinking about 2" rollover bar cds
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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hughpinder
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:18 PM |
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How strong do the dies and follower thing need to be (I ask because I fancy building a mandrel bender). Is aluminium strong enough? If so, carve the
dies from wax (dont forget to allow for shrinkage) , coat in plaster and try lost wax casting!
Hugh
ETA - I am also thinking of 2" *2.03mm CDS 355N steel on a 7 or 8 inch radius for roll bars +40mm*1.5 thich stainless for my exhaust
[Edited on 17/12/10 by hughpinder]
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interestedparty
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:23 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by hughpinder
How strong do the dies and follower thing need to be?
Good question, I think the bought ones are usually steel, but then they are expected to last a long time.
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list-- I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed-- who never would be missed!
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Neville Jones
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:25 PM |
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I've just got, this afternoon, some more dies for my JD2. Over £1200 worth!
I can now bend most sizes up to 2 1/4", up to 1/4" wall, with ease.
They make their dies on a big mill, and use solid steel. I've seen big dies made from ali in my local marine engineering works which they made
themselves, but they say that the ali dies are only good for up to 2mm wall, so should be ok for rollover stuff.
Cheers,
Nev.
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mookaloid
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 04:39 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by interestedparty
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Block of ally and files or Burrs in a drill?
Well at least you didn't suggest a block of granite with hammer and chisel.
I considered it but didn't think you'd take me seriously
I thought you could use the file for your 2" former and the powered burr in a drill for the stainless steel ones in 3" diameter
seriously though I like the idea of casting but use a polystyrene former in casting sand?
Cheers
M
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 05:02 PM |
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i would make both those in a lathe
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Rod Ends
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 posted on 17/12/10 at 05:15 PM |
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Hardwood dies - reinforced with steel
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AdrianH
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 05:30 PM |
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Quite some time ago I made some dies in the lathe to bend 1 inch tube with 1/8th inch wall.
You would end up with a round disk that you would then have to cut down to fit.
I did not have an easy way of cutting the semicircle in the round bar stock so spoke to a guy on the internet.
The guy is Mark Klotz, he has a web site full of utilities and is listed here
[url=http://www.myvirtualnetwork.com/mklotz/]http://www.myvirtualnetwork.com/mklotz/[/urlHalf way down is Ugroove.zip
A small progra he did for me so that I could use a parting type tool to cut slots in the bar to approximate the final shape.
I then finished by hand, you make as many custs as you wish up to you.
To bend 2 inch tube for roll bars you are going to need some serious diameter bar unfortunatly I would guess at least 9 to 10 inch diameter. That
will need one big lathe to hold in its jaws.
Adrian
Why do I have to make the tools to finish the job? More time then money.
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trikerneil
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 07:31 PM |
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I made dies by putting a milling cutter in the lathe chuck and mounting the die blank where the toolpost should be
LINKY
HTH
Neil (Tink)
ACE Cafe - Just say No.
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designer
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 07:36 PM |
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Why not just get the local engineering shop to do it, rather than faf about.
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Minicooper
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| posted on 17/12/10 at 08:09 PM |
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The 2" dies I have for my protools 105 bender, are seriously heavy and large bits of metal, my dies are cast and then machine finished, but they
could be machined, but like has already been said you would need a serious lump of metal and a big lathe
Cheers
David
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NS Dev
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| posted on 18/12/10 at 03:55 PM |
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As Minicooper says!!
Not wanting to p155 on your chips, but I have considered all this and ended up buying a complete Pro-Tools bender (from Matt Stakes,
"Stakesys" on the net, in Leicester: http://www.stakesys.co.uk/product/tube_bender/)
As said above, the dies are SERIOUSLY strong, and need to be, as well as extremely accurate. If they are not, you'll get tube slippage and
bugger up everything you bend!
Simpler still would be to ask one of the folks on here to bend the stuff for you, I have one (with 2" dies), Minicooper has one and I know that
chap on here from Nottingham way has one too.......................
You're quite welcome to pop up with your tube and bend it here if you bring a beer for me!!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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NS Dev
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| posted on 18/12/10 at 03:57 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by AdrianH
Quite some time ago I made some dies in the lathe to bend 1 inch tube with 1/8th inch wall.
You would end up with a round disk that you would then have to cut down to fit.
I did not have an easy way of cutting the semicircle in the round bar stock so spoke to a guy on the internet.
The guy is Mark Klotz, he has a web site full of utilities and is listed here
[url=http://www.myvirtualnetwork.com/mklotz/]http://www.myvirtualnetwork.com/mklotz/[/urlHalf way down is Ugroove.zip
A small progra he did for me so that I could use a parting type tool to cut slots in the bar to approximate the final shape.
I then finished by hand, you make as many custs as you wish up to you.
To bend 2 inch tube for roll bars you are going to need some serious diameter bar unfortunatly I would guess at least 9 to 10 inch diameter. That
will need one big lathe to hold in its jaws.
Adrian
that Klotz guy has loads of cool stuff on his site, found that the other day while looking into radius cutting so i could make some hole punch and
swage tools for my flypress!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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MikeR
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| posted on 18/12/10 at 04:56 PM |
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If you are making some Nat, let me know if its almost as easy to make more than one - i may want to buy one from you (depending on the price) -
probably hole ID of 1 3/4.
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liam.mccaffrey
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| posted on 19/12/10 at 06:20 PM |
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I have a protools bender too with dies for OD's, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 if anybody needs bends doing
[Edited on 19/12/10 by liam.mccaffrey]
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/12/10 at 09:12 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
If you are making some Nat, let me know if its almost as easy to make more than one - i may want to buy one from you (depending on the price) -
probably hole ID of 1 3/4.
Unfortunately I won't be making them, I can buy them cheaper than I can make em!
You're looking at around £60 for a 1.75" die
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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MikeR
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| posted on 20/12/10 at 12:21 PM |
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Yeah i know, there is a bloke doing them on ebay - but they're not a gentle curve, just a sharpe angle. Was just being hopeful. Oh well ....
didn't need one, just wanted one 
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NS Dev
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| posted on 20/12/10 at 03:22 PM |
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there are (or were) some curved ones on the dreaded bay too, but none are punch+radius, which is what I need
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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