tubing bender
- Thread starter cootees
- Start date
MotoMadness
Coast to Coast
I got the JD2 manual bender and then went over to swagoffroad for their hydraulic ram kit and love it. Yes the cost of the dies is where all the money is.
I know it's not your question but I looked into getting a bender to do a swingarm brace with.
As I was figuring all the bends and stuff out, I realized that with the bender you are limited to the dies you have on hand. Not just the tube diameter but also the centerline radius.
So for my simple brace, I would have needed at least two dies plus the bender. putting me close to $900.
So I just filled the 3/4" tube with sand (and no I didn't bake it), welded a cap on one end, duct taped the other end and bent it with oxy/acetylene over some barbell weights, welding tank caps. Definitely takes practice to do it right but cost me nothing I didn't have lying around.
I would say if you were building multiple copies of something with a large number of bends of just one or two types, it'll be great. Definitely worth the price. But if you are making a handful of bends each of a different radius or diameter to make a one-off thing, the cost is tough to justify over a sand and heat bent tube.
As I was figuring all the bends and stuff out, I realized that with the bender you are limited to the dies you have on hand. Not just the tube diameter but also the centerline radius.
So for my simple brace, I would have needed at least two dies plus the bender. putting me close to $900.
So I just filled the 3/4" tube with sand (and no I didn't bake it), welded a cap on one end, duct taped the other end and bent it with oxy/acetylene over some barbell weights, welding tank caps. Definitely takes practice to do it right but cost me nothing I didn't have lying around.
I would say if you were building multiple copies of something with a large number of bends of just one or two types, it'll be great. Definitely worth the price. But if you are making a handful of bends each of a different radius or diameter to make a one-off thing, the cost is tough to justify over a sand and heat bent tube.
