Went to Leicester today to check out one of these

http://www.stakesys.co.uk/product/tube_bender/

Have to say it is a stunning piece of kit. Took some 2” 16g (1.6mm) tube with me because at that diameter it is only recommended for 2.5mm + (smaller diameters will allow thinner wall sections). Anyway despite being nearly 1mm below the recommended thickness it still produced a nice smooth bend with no wrinkling of the inner face.

Unfortunately they were out of stock but I have placed an order for when the next shipment arrives, sometime in December.

Initially I will be getting 2” and 1.5” dies so if anyone based locally has anything they need bending in these diameters feel free to drop me a line and you can pop round and give it a go

can't you get tube benders off ebay for £100 or so?

Got to admit it is a lovely bit of kit

[Edited on 17/11/09 by omega0684]

Like most things in life you get what you pay for, the cheap ones bend by using something akin to a car jack to push a shaped die into the tube bending it between two other contact points, usually this results in wrinkles (read weakness on the inside of the radius, especially on thin wall tubing. The pro tools bender like more expensive hydraulic machines draws the tube through shaped dies resulting in smoother bends. The only thing better being a full-on mandrel bender with internal as well as external dies supporting the tube. Basically you can make fully safe, legitimate roll cages etc. with this and you couldn’t with the ebay £100 jobbies.

So horses for courses

They are fantastic I have one, the £100 ones from ebay and machine mart aren't tube benders as they come with pipe formers I have one for sale. They are okay for heavy wall pipe stuff, if it's tube or thin walled all you do is crease it.

Cheers
David

Thats on the wish list for next year

Whilst at the total opposite end of the price/quality spectrum I’m also getting one of these:

[url=http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=99736[/url]

I know they haven’t got the best rep for quality and I originally planned on making my own but at $179 I couldn’t even get a set of rollers turned up, figure the rollers are the least likely thing to break and I can always reinforce or make new bits for anything else that fails

[Edited on 17/11/09 by orton1966]

Have a look at this site in the states

http://www.shopoutfitters.com/

Looks like good stuff, not going to 2 inch but still looks good.

Adrian

Orton you say come round but you don't say where you live

Yes, where are you Orton, anywhere near the East Midlands by any chance?

You probably have a lot of new friends who would like to meet you.

How thin is the thin stuff people are creasing with hydraulic benders? I've done quite a few ~90 degree bends in 3mm 33.7mm tube and never had one crease or wrinkle?
That's with a hydraulic, machine mart bender.

The above looks like a good machine mind you, just i've never had an issue with the simple machines ???

i was thinking of getting a machine mart one for an exhaust im going to make...
like this
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=27383&Referrer=NexTag

[Edited on 18/11/09 by A1]

quote:

---

Originally posted by A1
i was thinking of getting a machine mart one for an exhaust im going to make...
like this
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=27383&Referrer=NexTag

[Edited on 18/11/09 by A1]

---

I have a pro-tools bender glad I spent the money

I was very pleased with my top wishbones in particular.


top bone

A couple of people asked where in the east midlands I'm based. I actually live just outside Nottingham but untill I finish building my garage at home I will be setting up and using the bender at my work which is Colwick, Nottingham

mmm interesting!

I am in leicestershire and will be buying a bender from stakesy soon.

See my website for what we do, but it will be a big improvement on my current hydraulic unit, which is still £700+ new and nowhere near as good!