Tube Bending. Any Words Of Wisdom?

Well I bent up some HREW 1.25 tube today. The first thing I did was to bend a 90* to see what it looked like.
It was fine. Just a little flattening but not bad at all. The 45* bends I did for my front bumper light bar are fantastic.
I will post pics of it tomorrow, it was too late to take pics when I finished welding. I am very proud of the light bar :burnout:

The hardest thing about it is keeping two legs of a hoop parallel.

Here is the 90 I did as a test.

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I cut and split some extra piece of pipe to place against the two "followers" to keep from denting the pipe when bending as close to the die as possible.

You can also order a prebent 90 degree piece of 2.0" .120 wall tubing, split it the long way and weld it into the closest size pipe die you have. This would allow you to bend tube with it.

Would also work with any size really. Just step up to make the "shim" for your pipe dies.

I wonder if you fill the tube with sand, and cap the ends, would it keep from the pipe from flattening as bad.

Also try to put the seam in the pipe to the inside of the bend. It keep the weld from splitting as easy if it's put into compression instead of extension on the outside of the bend.
 
Thanks Mac. I do see that the issue is that the tube fits a little loose and that's why it tries to flatten a little on a 90*. I thought about shimming it with some sheet metal but honestly for the 45* bends especially, the quality is great (for what I am doing). I have 7 sticks of 1.25 tube left, when I use it I will just buy A53 going forward. Like I say I am only making non-life saving stuff for now.

Some full length slider-esque steps for Brutus are the next tube project after I get this light bar bolted on.

I am also going to make a gate for the path at our property in the mnts and a bumper for my John Deere 265 lawn tractor....

I need to mix up some soap and water to paint on the steel to keep splatter from sticking. I am not used to welding pretty stuff LOL
 
Here is the picture of the bender setup as a brake.

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And this is it setup for dimple dies.

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Definitely a good tool to have around for the $$.
 
Copper tubing works good with the sand, er for coil springs;).
 
I helped a friend replace his rusted out dual exhaust on his f150 with one of these benders.
after we packed the tubing with playground sand and capped the ends there was very little flattening at the bends, they looked about like the bends pictured above. The rollers will still dent the tubing. If you try to bend exhaust tubing with no sand it will kink like a garden hose.
 
Mac the Brake idea is genius! I could make that to be removable really easily.
How did you make your dimple die, on a lathe?


hurt4x4, my rollers did not dent the tubing at all, but it was .120 wall.



I know I promised pics of the light bar today, but my friend Dan was ran off of the road yesterday 150 miles from home and his truck was totaled.
I had to go tow his work trailer home for him. Scumbag that did it didn't even stop.
 
ponykilr said:
Mac the Brake idea is genius! I could make that to be removable really easily.
How did you make your dimple die, on a lathe?


hurt4x4, my rollers did not dent the tubing at all, but it was .120 wall.



I know I promised pics of the light bar today, but my friend Dan was ran off of the road yesterday 150 miles from home and his truck was totaled.
I had to go tow his work trailer home for him. Scumbag that did it didn't even stop.
Click to expand...

I ordered a set of them off a vendor on pirate. They were around $150 for 5 sizes if I remember correctly.

I just took a piece of 3/4 pipe and put that inside 1" pipe, and welded that to the bottom of the 1" plate cut in a circle. This replaces the way the pipe dies fit onto the top of the ram. Gives a nice flat surface for the dimples or the lower die for the brake.

I made the lower die from same angle iron as upper, and just made wings that go to either side to keep it centered in frame and aligned with upper die.

I just flip the upper die over to either use the flat side for dimpling or straightening pieces or the angle iron side to brake pieces. Used 3/4 pipe that the pins for the rollers slid through to hold it.

When I brake pieces I put a c clamp on the bender frame to keep everything tight and properly aligned.

It works great dimpling up to .125" steel.

The thickest I have bent is I believe a 4" wide piece of 5/16. 1/4" and under brackets are easy. Much easier than the hammer and vise method...
 
Very cool idea and one I will be messing with.

Gonna try some 023 welding wire too, I stepped up from 030 to 035 a while back and while it is good for bigger stuff I miss the control of the smaller wire. I bet the 023 is very precise.
 
Looks great.

An idea for keeping the bends in the same plane.

Lay the bender down horizontally, and shim the frame level. Also shim the die level.

Then when you have to make multiple bends just use a level to ensure the tube remains flat and level. A lot of times once one bend is made I lay a piece of thin angle iron across both legs of a bend to make sure it is level to make the second bend.

Should be able to come up with a set of shims to continually use for each position and under the pipe to make it easier once you get it all figured out.

Should be pretty easy to use tape measure or caliper to measure ram extension With the bender flat with ground.

Keep a note pad of ram extension lengths and bend angles for that size pipe. That way as you bend more and more it will become faster to complete a desired bend.

I guess you could figure out a way to mount a digital caliper to the ram and die to free up a hand while bending.
 
The gears turning in my head are starting to hurt LOL.

You are not far from me, I need to come hang out and help you next time you do something. No worries, I am a pretty fart smeller, er, smart feller LOL
 
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