DIY Tube Bender

catfishblues

catfishblues

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Location
Pfafftown, NC
I searched, but didn't find any threads regarding this. I know in many cases, by the time you get materials together, you're quickly approaching the cost of an off the shelf unit, but I'm still doing some research on it. I've seen all the old ones and heard good and bad about them. (Blind chicken, Gottrikes, I even got plans direct from Pro-Tools when they were giving them away for a pump-action vertical bender.) then I came across this one. http://grabcad.com/library/hydraulic-tube-bender-uses-protools-dies-plan-1#

It looks like it's based around the Pro-Tools HD bender, and has 2.5" capacity. That would be badass. I was wondering what others experience was, if anyone has built one.
 
Have u looked at roguefab.com they have a nice bender kit you have to weld together and add a ram (under $100) for under $600 with 1 die. Several friends and i went in on one few months ago and we are by no means experts but it seems to work pretty well and makes nice bends up 180* on 1.75 x .250 wall with hd kit. Pics of it welded, then after paint, and of a piece of 1.5 x .250 wall tube bent past 180*
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I bought the gottrikes plans years ago and built one using their hole spacing but using scrap materials. It's a little off for the smaller protools dies for some reason but that's been fixed. Anyways, all the plans are about the same but if I were to do it again I would just buy one of the cheap benders that comes with 3-4 sets of dies or buy a used pro tools bender and use the arms to build a vertical machine. I've used horizontal benders plenty and in my opinion they suck, comparatively.
 
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