seat (sub) frame fab

[shakes]

Who is bending what with what?

I am wanting to Bend up a new tail section for my xr/tracker conversion. Most likely 22mm tube or close to.

My biggest issue is lack of tooling for this sort of work... No bender and no Oxy... Even worse no access to one.

Will I get ok results with a plumbers style bender, sand and MAP gas or similar? My biggest problem with paying a shop to do it, is I likely won't get it right first time regardless of how well I template it. In which case I'll come close to affording a proper bender.

Thoughts?

 

[High On Octane]

I've used the Harbor Freight tubing bender several times for different stuff. It's not the best one out there, but it gets the job done for about a 1/4 of the price of a good one.

Pros: About $100, bends smaller diameter pipe quite easily, Has different elbows for different diameter pipes and bends, Fairly small for easy storage.

Cons: Need to make some kind of stand for the bender to bend long pipes, Made in China, Not the best quality.


http://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-hydraulic-pipe-bender-32890.html

 

[DesertKZ]

I'd poke around on ebay a bit, found a cb hoop for $50 that fit my gt750 perfectly. Maybe you can find a few pre-bent tubes and weld them together?

 

[EdgeGrip]

Are you guys using sand for the mandrel effect or do you just bend it and not worry about it?

 

[High On Octane]

Sand will help keep the tube from kinking, but is PITA to use.

 

[shakes]

Thanks for the reply's. Buying a cheap bender might be the way to go.

I'd poke around on ebay a bit, found a cb hoop for $50 that fit my gt750 perfectly. Maybe you can find a few pre-bent tubes and weld them together?

I swore I'd do everything on this bike 100% by my own hand - today I found a hoop that will be custom built to your specs with a channel inset for slimline LED taillight and indicator strip. at $300 it's pricey but for the time involved might be worth it.