To me having a bender that needs the drive links reset after turning a 60 to degree bend was just a non-starter with respect to serious fabrication work. Even guys just starting out with a bender realize that the biggest reason for 'kinking', wrinkling' and 'distortion' is due to spring-back and every time you have to reset the drive links you are letting the tubing 'relax' or 'spring-back' and when the drive links are re-engaged there will be a slight indentation in the tubing once pressure is reapplied.
None of the vertical benders I looked had any provision for adding one of the various anti-spring back devices like we typically use on horizontal benders. This simple design flaw with vertical type benders is one reason that they have not taken a market share over the old traditional horizontal benders in the commercial fabrication industry. As I mentioned earlier some of the best vertical benders I saw were custom made in small shops and most of these had incorporated workarounds about the bending angle problem.
It was pretty obvious to me that some bender manufacturers where pretty good at having parts water-jetted but not so good at actually bending tubing so I went back to the plans that I'd originally downloaded since most of them were drawn by guys who actually had to bend some tubes in a real-world environment. My first choice of the home-brewed benders based upon recommendations by dozens of fabricators was the little Pro-Tools model HMP but after I reviewed the plans in detail and built a mock-up it was immediately apparent that this bender had some rather significant limitations so I put that one away on the shelf.
This is a good low-cost bender but I don't think that it works very well in a production fabrication environment and it's relatively expensive to build. The next bender I took a look at was another one recommended by a lot of people and that was the AH-Bender designed by Frank Takacs known to most of us as 'EuroFrank' at the boards.
The plans for this bender have been around a long time and have gone through several stages of refinement and improvement. I have yet to talk with anybody who uses one that doesn't have anything but good stuff to say about them.
Since this bender had such a good reputation I didn't even bother looking at the plans in detail with respect to operational issues and went ahead and built one.
This is an excellent bender but it didn't end up meeting one of my primary requirements and that was making a degree bend in one clean sweep without having to reposition the drive-links.
My other issue was that the unit was simply to low to the ground so that I always had to stoop over to load tubes, set the die and follower and position the digital protractor. I ended up using the bender while it was sitting on top of two plastic milk-crates and then it 'felt' great. The other drawback was that this bender is designed to use the Pro-Tools Model die sets and I much prefer the JD2 dies especially for bending thin-walled materials and stiff material like chromoly.
While researching vertical benders I had a chance to use a machine based upon one of Franks very early models the HD-Bender and to be honest I much preferred it to his latest version. I think that the plans for his original benders are still available and if you're serious about building a bender I'd suggest that you buy both sets of plans if at all possible. Building a vertical bender that uses a hydraulic ram is a whole lot different than building some of the other benders that we've posted fabrication plans for.
The biggest issue and a significant restraint is the hydraulic ram itself. Almost all vertical benders including some of those high-end models you see advertised on the Net use cheap imported 'air over hydraulic' long throw 8-ton rams. The physical dimensions and characteristics of these hydraulic rams actually set most of the design parameters a person can come up with when trying to build a bender.
Another problem with 'cheap' hydraulic and air over hydraulic rams is that most of them do not function unless they are mounted in such a manner as to have upward slope to the cylinder. This ram is sold by dozens of retail outlets under some other trade-names but in almost all instances it is just one of a dozen Chinese clones that make their way to America.
Some of these branded clones are verging on being pure junk and others are actually quite well made. It pays to shop around and buy your parts 'in person' so you can actually 'see' what you're getting. In general almost all of these cheap rams have a capacity of 8-tons with an air supply of psi. The minimum saddle height is There is nothing wrong with the capacity of these rams with respect to the force applied to the drive links.
In reality an 8-ton 16,psi ram is massive overkill since it only takes about psi to bend 2-inch diameter heavy-walled tubing in a typical bender. Beware that the stroke length is usually less than what is published. My particular ram had a useable stroke length of only inches and I think this is fairly typical for the lot. Most of these rams have what I call a 'deadzone' at the beginning of the stroke, which shortens the effective stroke length by as much as an inch.
There is a corresponding 'deadzone' towards the extremity of the stroke at full extension. I've also the seen the minimum saddle height for these rams range from Four polychrome 3D CAD images.
Full Bill Of Materials. Combined imperial and metric format. Format: PDF Package Zip file for instant download Print to your favourite paper size by choosing fit to page in your print options.
DXF files for you to take to you local laser cutter! DXF files are for single use only in accordance with our terms and conditions. Full Specifications. Suits Tube bending of round and square tube using commercially available die sets Build Full DIY or laser cut plate kit. Manual PDF Package; zip file for instant download. Manual contains detailed information, instruction, images and fully dimensioned CAD drawings Usage Tube bending of round and square tube Capacity Smaller sizes can also be accommodated by making additional die sets Suitable Die Sets Uses commercially available die sets.
Plans included for DIY die. Now you dont need this level of quality if you are gonna use it once a month for 10 minutes- so for lots of people a harbor freight knockoff is just fine. But I have had mine for about 25 years now, slowly buying and making dies as I need them, and for me interchangeability with hossfeld standards is essential.
The original patents have expired, so all three companies make dies that interchange. Hossfeld has the widest selection of dies for structural shapes- T's, angles, square and rectangular tubing, rail caps, etc. JD2 is mostly for auto related, so they are strongest in round tubing dies, while American Bender, started by ex-hossfeld employees, is using modern CNC technology to make a cheaper version than hossfeld, and cherrypicking the most popular dies.
That gives you the maximum flexibility to use storebought dies. And they have already worked out a couple of thousand different ways to bend things, so it makes sense to use their headstart, rather than try to reinvent the wheel.
I also would buy the hossfeld manual- I think it costs 15 bucks now from hossfeld, and it shows a million ways to bend stuff you never woulda thought of on your own. Also remember there are several other types of tube bender that might be better for your particular job- a mandrel bender like a muffler shop uses- which is not worth building yourself unless you need a LOT of parts bent. Or a hydraulic ram bender like they use to bend electrical conduit- a 3 point bend, with two rolls and half circle die.
Harbor Freight and Northern Hydraulic sell these cheap. Thanks for all the information. I'm just starting to build a go kart for our next door neighbor. Well, really he is 2 doors down.
I wanted to make as much of it as I could out of tubing. I didn't think you could use those pipe benders that Harbour Freight sells. I used to build off road go carts and used mostly 1"OD. You need a pretty skookum lathe to turn these. I would make my own 1" dies if I had the time but the big heavy ones I leave that to the bigger machines and pay, pay, pay!!!
I didn't think it was that far out of line, but his mom said she could get free tubing that size from where she works. I think she is a secratary at a steel shop or something that only does tubing. Junior, This sounds like one of the projects that my friends and I have in the makes right now.
The problem that we've got to now is that we have no arc welder. But this problem will solve its self soon enough as I'm now working at a place that will let me use theirs. It is a great deal. I work 10hr days and then have a week day off and can use anymachine not in use. One problem with tube bending is that you'll have it collapsing in on its self if you don't do it right. One thing I've heard for low volume bending is to fill it with sand and weld two end caps on the ends.
Then maybe you could bend it around something. I'd try heating it first with my aceteylene torch. But My suggestion thou is if building a go-cart, invest in a arc welder, you'll have far more need for it. This tube bender will bend a full degrees with ease. With these plans you make your own dies from a choice of engineering materials. The tube bending dies necessitate being turned on a lathe, but even a wood lathe can be employed to make the dies if preferred.
The only other tools required are a scriber or craft knife, a tape measure, a setsquare, an adjustable bevel, a hacksaw or cut-off saw, a pedestal or hand drill, 8mm, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm, 24mm drill bits, a welder, and an angle grinder or file for finishing. Great looking set of plans…it seems to be dialed in just right for my needs and it has become one of the most valuable tools in the shop.
Burns — USA. The Tube Bender 1 Manual guides you through each step of the construction process using plain-written instructions and highly detailed scale drawings. The drawings show dual dimensions to suit everyone; the metric measurement is given priority and is followed with the decimal inch measurement in brackets.
The simple and clear instructions lead you not only through the construction process, but also explain how to use your bender, how to read bending plans and how to calculate material requirements and measure bends.
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