[larry]

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online ... escription

cheap pipe bender is cheap! 100 bucks on sale, im going to pick one up this week to do my front bar, sliders and stuff

i understand theyre cheap for a reason, but for the little amount of stuff ill be making its perfect, im gunna try the whole packing with sand thing and hope for some decent bends haha

i reckon ill use the 1.5 inch die, and get whatever pipe fits that nicely or get 1.5 inch tube (i dont really know if people use tube or pipe :S )

who has had experience with these? all opinions welcome

[abclarke]

For $100 it can't hurt to give it a go!

[missmyljdaze]

Hi Larry- I dont know much about pipe or pipe benders,
I think pipe is measured by internal diameter, as it is intended to move liquids, so wall thickness (for different pressures) might affect the O.D.
and tube is measured by outside diametre as it is for construction use, so wall thickness (for strength) should not affect the O.D.


either that- or I could have it arse about!

stephen

[Fatzook]

abclarke wrote:

For $100 it can't hurt to give it a go!

They are good to have a play with, but rarely deliver a nice bend.

[bazook]

i bought one of these and even these are ok to do slides but nothing around 90 as it sqaushes the pipe
http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/P064

[Shansh]

I got one of the SCA ones when they were on special ages ago, its like fatzook said, they are fun to play with, but dont really give very good bends. They are OK on smaller diameter tube/pipe, i built a mini chopper frame with mine & it came out pretty good. When I started using it on larger diameters thats when it started to produce bends that werent so good.

It is still a handy thing to have "just in case" if you ever need to repair anything, just remember you arent really going to get super quality bends out of it

[missmyljdaze]

A mate of mine has a cheapy pipe bender that does good tight bends- did some simple mods to make it better.

to stop the pipe being dented each end of the bend,he added some pieces of half pipe welded to pivots (spreading the load)
he also fills the pipe with water and freezes it before bending to stop it collapsing (he has a huge freezer)

I guess the ice works much like filling the pipe/ tube with sand- but is easier to remove.

stephen

[zooky08]

http://www.izumi-products.co.uk/prodpage.asp?prodid=95
We have one of these at work that works of a 12v hydraulic pump. Can bend pipe abit more then 90 degrees.
Don't no how much they are though.

[2stroker]

I think that the bender itself is not the problem it i the dies that let them down, I know a fella with a very basic bender like the suoer cheap ones but he has a box full of good dies, I think the brand of the dies is "Dawn" and he has done some nice work with it.

[zooky08]

Yes dawns are the good dies/formers. That what we use on a cheap bender. Now we use them on the bender I posted above

[jonno_racing]

i have a cheepie bender with a dawn die
perfect bends every time!

[russty_2008]

me and a mate built my whole exo with a super cheap bender but had to buy dawn dies because the super cheap dies just kinked the pipe we tried filling them with sand heating them up but nothing would work if u cut a bit of pipe length ways and put them over the pipe your bending where the rollers sit it bends perfect

[Rockhopper]

so the big question. How much is a Dawn die???

[BlueSuzy]

Not sure. I would think maximum $100 for 1 die.

Hareandforbes used to have them..

this one looks good, not sure on shaft size where the pump goes, but looks like it has high sides http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/3PL0200

full listing http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Bender-Accessories

This was built with this cheap method. Looks pretty good to me.
Appsie's:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2090&start=480

[zukenutter]

Shansh wrote:

I got one of the SCA ones when they were on special ages ago, its like fatzook said, they are fun to play with, but dont really give very good bends. They are OK on smaller diameter tube/pipe, i built a mini chopper frame with mine & it came out pretty good. When I started using it on larger diameters thats when it started to produce bends that werent so good.

It is still a handy thing to have "just in case" if you ever need to repair anything, just remember you arent really going to get super quality bends out of it

X2 on all of above. I found that if I pushed it to do anything large and thick I got lots of dents and flat spots. If you don't want perfection it's great value at the "Special" price.

[BlueSuzy]

Well i just got one

Will be testing it out later/next mnth when its barwork time.

Going to hunt for a dawn die or similar.


It wont be perfect out of the box, but i think some tweaking it should come good.

[abclarke]

For the guys cluey with the dies, what's different compared to the one supplied? Are the radius machined differently? Or the length?

[just_cruizin]

Think it has more to do with the fit on the pipe. Need to avoid the dents the retainers put in the ends of the bend

[zukenutter]

just_cruizin wrote:

Think it has more to do with the fit on the pipe. Need to avoid the dents the retainers put in the ends of the bend

That's what I found most annoying. I was thinking next time i'd spray some WD40 on the retainer/roller so the tube can move against them better.




Or is that normal practice and I'm just a dumb ass.

[missmyljdaze]

use split pipe or tube to spread the load at the retainer pivot thingies to stop the dents.

[atari4x4]

missmyljdaze wrote:

use split pipe or tube to spread the load at the retainer pivot thingies to stop the dents.

this

[Fatzook]

abclarke wrote:

Are the radius machined differently?

No no no no no no. These dies are cast. NOT machined. They are made with rather large tolerances, poor finish, and fit, and these factors are why the finished bend is as it is. There are plenty of little tricks that have been mentioned here already which will better your finished product, but you are still limited by the large radius dies ( usually 8 or 10" for 32NB pipe) and the stationary roller blocks.

At the end of the day, this style of bender will produce a bend quality that is proportional to the amount of time/ effort you spend fixing the problems that come with a $250 product. I know that not everyone can afford, or justify the outlay of a JD or speedworx etc, but they are plug and play, and produce the same result, every time, without fail.

Wasting entire lengths of tube to kinks and dints gets old. QUICKLY!

[BlueSuzy]

Different radius dies have higher sides also. Keeps the tube in the die, not out and over.

[jonno_racing]

BlueSuzy wrote:

Different radius dies have higher sides also. Keeps the tube in the die, not out and over.

my dawn die is much more open than the crappy ones!