Tubing bender

Dawnpatrol said:
Does anyone have any experience with Rogue Fab benders? By the time you add air/hydro to a JD it seems to be in the same ball park price wise. It looks like the ability to bend vertically would be beneficial in most cases, and they look to add small helpful details to the product such as cheat sheets for measuring and predetermined offsets for the clamping block. I've been researching benders as well so also looking to hear from others experiences.
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Several buddies and I went in on a rouge fab bender when they first came out. We have built several cages and several other things with it. I have never used any of the other benders mentioned above so I can’t really compare but we have been very happy with the rogue fab bender. Only complaint I really have is our model you can’t bend all the way to a 90 without resetting the pin once. Little bit of a pain but Not a huge deal and the newer versions I’m pretty sure this has been fixed.
 
Ron said:
Love ya brother, but Imm have to call bullshit


The 0 just dropped in there, right?

250...that is... a lot.
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Believe it or not, back in the day I used to sell a lot of the CJ/YJ Cage kits on eBay. Remember, I’ve owned that bender since about 2000, that’s 19 years. :)
 
rockcity said:
Realistically, do you need air/hydraulic at initial purchase for a hobby/home fabricator and save some $$$? I’ve built probably 250 cages with mine without air/hydraulic, it’s easy enough with the ratchet system to not need air/hydraulic. But it sure is nice.
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If you would of forked over the extra $250 (figuring what it may of cost 19 years ago) you could probably built 350 cages or spent a few more weekends on the trail because you where waiting on your next order being able to build them so fast. :flipoff2: I agree it is not necessary, But as you said, it sure is nice!
 
89wrangler said:
If you would of forked over the extra $250 (figuring what it may of cost 19 years ago) you could probably built 350 cages or spent a few more weekends on the trail because you where waiting on your next order being able to build them so fast. :flipoff2: I agree it is not necessary, But as you said, it sure is nice!
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You are right about that. The extra $250 would have been well spent back then. But, for a couple cages or an occasional rock slider, it’s likely not worth it to save $ and space.
 
rockcity said:
Believe it or not, back in the day I used to sell a lot of the CJ/YJ Cage kits on eBay. Remember, I’ve owned that bender since about 2000, that’s 19 years. :)
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So long as you did 13 per year, or 1 per month everyone of those years...
 
Ron said:
So long as you did 13 per year, or 1 per month everyone of those years...
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There was a point where I was doing 5-10 per week. :D

Mind you, they were simple DIY kits with a total of 12 bends, and only 2 or 3 different set ups for bending, so it was pretty easy to knock out a bunch of them in no time.
 
Curtis_H said:
Several buddies and I went in on a rouge fab bender when they first came out. We have built several cages and several other things with it. I have never used any of the other benders mentioned above so I can’t really compare but we have been very happy with the rogue fab bender. Only complaint I really have is our model you can’t bend all the way to a 90 without resetting the pin once. Little bit of a pain but Not a huge deal and the newer versions I’m pretty sure this has been fixed.
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I have a rogue fab tubing bender as well, it’ll do 180 degrees.
I have both 1.75 6.0 CLR and 1.5 4.5 CLR and I have bent solid shaft with both.
It’s definitely best tubing bender for the money.
Only con I have found so far is if you clock a bend more than 20degrees you can not have two bends closer than 13 inches. Not a huge problem if you know this in the design process.

This being said jd2 is a great bender but the price to make it pneumatic just hurt the wallet to much.


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I have a Protools 105HD on a cart with air over hydro, and 1-1/4", 1-1/2", and 1-3/4" dies that I'll rent or sell.
 
I just got rid of my protools hd-105, even after spending extra to upgrade it, it's still wasn't as smooth as the jd2, which will likely be my next manual (to shortly be converted to powered) bender.

And I HATE dealing with the owner of jd2. If that gives you an idea of my faith in their product.
 
marty79 said:
sorry the other link didn't work. This one seems to be the best deal for the money
16 Ton Air Pneumatic Hydraulic Pipe Tube Bender Bending 8 Dies Included for sale online | eBay
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Sorry John, just saw this. You CAN make this work, but, the prep time and headache , it's just not worth it. This bender does bend, but it presses the bend, in one spot. With tubing, without excessive prep, it will flatten the tube, in the very best, it "may" bend slight bends. It has a purpose, but not for DOM type material. For pipe, sure, if you are building play ground devices or hand rails, but not cages. You can press a bend in pipe, DOM, you need to be able to roll the bend or radius.
I've never bent a single piece of tubing, but I have saw first hand what this bender will do to DOM. I have seen tubing benders in action though. From hand bent, to pneumatic assisted ones, both will get the job done, one requires more sweat than the other. One thing I would recommend though, it to get one with a degree wheel.
 
thanks guys for all the replies and input. I have found a great buy from a member who has a great air/hydraulic bender that is willing to give me a great deal. Yall know I'm cheap, lol, but I want to be able to offer professional quality work on cages, sport bars, bumpers and sliders so a quality bender is DEF a must. At work I've gotten used to the hydraulic one and done great work with it so I have to buy one that has similar capabilities. Thank you for the input again on siphoning through all the different options. Blessed weekend to everyone.
 
jeepinmatt said:
I'd really like to know more on this. 5 years ago the Protools was the go to. What has JD2 changed?
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I used a Pro Tools for a few projects. The bends are as expected. The start and finish bit the tube some and caused edges. I think the does could have used some massaging. The ratchet on manual would bind a bit but served its purpose. Over all the body and tooling were a bit rougher. Pins not as cleanly machined and the like. Over all it just felt less.

The second biggest gripe was the bend indicator. This unit wasn't near as nice as the JD.

The largest gripe, likely due to the dies was horrible disengagement. After smoothing the edges a bit it helped. The unit seemed to be built with some geometry differences causing it to fold past center on its pins. Like the pivot points where to deep causing it to snap shut or preload the tubing in a bind.
If it was a short tube and a deep radius (anything past a 90) would required opening the ratchet arms and body, inserting a long tube or bar, and jerking the tube free of the die and follower.

New out of the box I never saw a JD act that way.
 
jeepinmatt said:
I have a Protools 105HD on a cart with air over hydro, and 1-1/4", 1-1/2", and 1-3/4" dies that I'll rent or sell.
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What year was it made. The one I was reviewing is now probably 20 years old. Somewhere around 1998-2000 when is used it.
 
No, I wasn't endorsing the HF bender, just stating what I knew about it. I only used mine 1 time, as a bender, & it Kinked the pipe. [NotTubing] I just figured I had the Wrong material, & wasn't even the correct size, for the die. I have used it a couple times, to Straighten tie rods & pipes. I only bought it, Thinking I'd use it, & the Sale price was right!
 
I have dealt with and loathed the harbor freight tube notcher.

Which looks about the same as the ebay and even the eastwood notcher.
The run out on the end of the holesaw is 1/16 or better. No bearings. Bushings move all around.

It works ok.

I'd love the JD^2 but $$$
 
I have a Pro Tools notcher which has done its job.
 
Knowing how fuller rolls he's probably going to buy a Harbor Freight pipe kinker and use it. Which honestly can be done but it takes a shat ton of time and you have to be careful on thinner wall tube. Works tits for steering, track bars, and suspension links too.

This is how I used it for my front truss/ram mount. I had some dimpling but that could've been prevented if I would have made some roller guides.


Now if I were doing cages I would opt for a JD2, Rouge Fab is also an option but I'm not a fan of vertical benders.
 
Chris_Keziah said:
Knowing how fuller rolls he's probably going to buy a Harbor Freight pipe kinker and use it. Which honestly can be done but it takes a shat ton of time and you have to be careful on thinner wall tube. Works tits for steering, track bars, and suspension links too.

This is how I used it for my front truss/ram mount. I had some dimpling but that could've been prevented if I would have made some roller guides.


Now if I were doing cages I would opt for a JD2, Rouge Fab is also an option but I'm not a fan of vertical benders.
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I have a feeling he's going to opt for a used ProTools 105HD ;)
 
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