Learn Me: Tubing Benders

For those that did the Got Trikes bender, how much did you spend on materials and where is the best place to get materials?

I bought the plans and am putting together my shopping list and it is still getting expensive. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places?

Canadian dollar came to about $550 including one die, but that might scare you off if you see that as 'Murican coin. If you scrounge more, you can build cheaper.

I built the fancier version in the plans, and ordered the air/hydraulic cylinder from Northern Tool because Princess Auto didn't carry them at the time, and Harbor Freight doesn't recognize Canada.

I initially ordered the die I wanted from a 4-wheeler site in Ontario to save shipping and keep some coin in Canada, but they ended up just being the middle-man and ordered straight from Pro-Tools. I halted that and just had Pro-Tools ship (for free, I think it was) to a receiving company in Washington and I brought it across the border myself. Shipping to Canada was half what the 180° die cost.

In reply to SkinnyG:

Dang. Ok, will keep shopping around.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Bought one of these., and haven't used it yet. I ended up loaning it to a friend, and he's caged a half-dozen cars with it. He likes it. The die I got for it (1.75") has started to crack, though, so he ordered a replacement.

Thinking about one of these possibly. Looks like it's only rated for up to .095 DOM, and I was planning on .120DOM. Has your friend used it for .120?

AWSX1686 wrote:

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Bought one of these., and haven't used it yet. I ended up loaning it to a friend, and he's caged a half-dozen cars with it. He likes it. The die I got for it (1.75") has started to crack, though, so he ordered a replacement.

Thinking about one of these possibly. Looks like it's only rated for up to .095 DOM, and I was planning on .120DOM. Has your friend used it for .120?

No, he makes all of his cages out of 1.75 x 0.095, per LeMons spec requirements.

What rule book are you running by that requires .120 DOM?

After reading the website for the JD2, it mentions steel dies. The affordable bender uses aluminum. And I know that my friend has already had to replace the die on the AB once, after doing around a half-dozen cages with it.

For the little bit of extra money, the steel dies seem like a better deal, if you're going to be using it a lot.

volvoclearinghouse wrote:

AWSX1686 wrote:

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Bought one of these., and haven't used it yet. I ended up loaning it to a friend, and he's caged a half-dozen cars with it. He likes it. The die I got for it (1.75") has started to crack, though, so he ordered a replacement.

Thinking about one of these possibly. Looks like it's only rated for up to .095 DOM, and I was planning on .120DOM. Has your friend used it for .120?

No, he makes all of his cages out of 1.75 x 0.095, per LeMons spec requirements. What rule book are you running by that requires .120 DOM?

Gotcha. My main concern is that I believe I will need .120 to be NHRA compliant for the drags at the challenge. :/

I doubt I'll be doing more than half a dozen before I would buy something nicer anyway.

If you run a heavy car (3000lb as raced) in Lemons you will need the one that can bend .120.

According to my email records, I spent $175 on the materials (the local steel supply house is always happy to sell "drops" of material (the stuff they cut off from commercial orders) cheap). I used this pro-tools die so I could bend >90°, so ~$300 there after 10% off of got-trikes order, then $50(?) on the HF air over hydraulic jack on the coupon.

Total was somewhere around $525.

In response to your earlier comment, I'm not sure what could really be that much nicer about a tubing bender short of CNC, honestly.. This thing lets me dial in exactly what I want.

Of interest, so I'm just commenting so its in my list. Can't add anything to the conversation other than to say you all have really nice tubes

On Ebay JD2 dies are way more plentiful than the Pro Tools dies, fwiw.

I have a Pro Tools 105.

WonkoTheSane wrote: According to my email records, I spent $175 on the materials (the local steel supply house is always happy to sell "drops" of material (the stuff they cut off from commercial orders) cheap). I used this pro-tools die so I could bend >90°, so ~$300 there after 10% off of got-trikes order, then $50(?) on the HF air over hydraulic jack on the coupon. Total was somewhere around $525. In response to your earlier comment, I'm not sure what could really be that much nicer about a tubing bender short of CNC, honestly.. This thing lets me dial in exactly what I want.

Nicer than the affordable bender I meant, seeing as how it is aluminum.

Need to go check out my local steel supply house....

I have not used my Affordable Bender too much as of yet, maybe 50 bends total, I did a few .120 pcs and the rest were .095 and I can really feel the difference between them. Affordable said 120 was fine but I dont think I will be doing anymore with it. The chassis really complains but the .095 was really smooth. I also greased up the die after reading about how some of the people chipped the aluminium.

I will be looking for a better bender if I do another project like this one.

AWSX1686 wrote: Nicer than the affordable bender I meant, seeing as how it id aluminum. Need to go check out my local steel supply house....

Oh, sorry, I mis read it then :).

Both the places I've worked with over here show up with a Google maps search for "steel distributors" if that helps you find one.

NES steel in Tolland, ct and Logan steel in Colchester, ct are awesome, for anyone local:)

Just talked to a semi-local steel distributor and they had much more reasonable prices! Something like $130 or so for 24' of the 2"x 2"x 1/4" square. Then like $30 or so for the 1/2" x 3" plate I need. Now I just have to figure out how to get over there before 4pm on a weekday...

Probably going to make a list of the cuts I need and just have them cut the lengths. They said it'd be about $2/cut, but I figure since I don't have a metal chop saw yet it would take me forever or use the plasma cutter, but it wouldn't be as clean of a cut.

This is probably a good time to invest in a chop saw, honestly. I grabbed the $200 Dewalt from Lowes and it's been doing fine. It did struggle a bit cutting through 5/8" plate, but I think any chop saw would after it "bottoms out" and is cutting on both the front and back.

WonkoTheSane wrote: This is probably a good time to invest in a chop saw, honestly. I grabbed the $200 Dewalt from Lowes and it's been doing fine. It did struggle a bit cutting through 5/8" plate, but I think any chop saw would after it "bottoms out" and is cutting on both the front and back.

I might look out for one. It would be useful for sure.

I really want one of the dry cut saws, but they are very expensive.

I bought an abrasive disc chop saw, and other than being messy it works just fine and is much cheaper. It's the bomb for cutting tubing, not so good for solid.

I have an old beat-up horizontal bandsaw which is awesome for thick stuff.

I picked up an Evolution dry saw a while back. Cost the same as a abrasive saw. After the first day with it I gave away my abrasive saw. The Evo saw is 3X as fast cutting and has no dust, the cut is cold to the touch as soon as your done cutting and is quieter than the abrasive saw. I even went back and got the little version blades for the right angle grinder.

SkinnyG wrote: I really want one of the dry cut saws, but they are very expensive. I bought an abrasive disc chop saw, and other than being messy it works just fine and is much cheaper. It's the bomb for cutting tubing, not so good for solid. I have an old beat-up horizontal bandsaw which is awesome for thick stuff.

Very happy with Maryland Metals!!

That looks like a good start!

WonkoTheSane wrote: That looks like a good start!

Thanks! I think my girlfriend's brother-in-law will be able to do the drilling I need on the shop drill press since I don't have one yet. Then purchase the MIG welder and practice a lot... I could use the stick welder, but I also need practice on that one too.

Does anyone know what the standard radius is for 1.75" cages. A quick look at a NASA PDF showed at least 3x the tube diameter. I was curious if pretty much everyone uses a 6" die or 6.5" die? Or does it vary widely across shops? 

I also had the same thought on what it takes to build a Kart frame? .75" or 1" diameter tube? 3" or 4" radius etc.

I was hoping there might be a standard so I could feel confident getting two (very expensive dies) and being happy with them and not regretting that I should have got a half inch bigger. 

I work maybe 15 minutes from JD Squared. I think I'm going to go have a look at the model 3. Oddly enough I bend tubes for a living. Larger and heavier wall stuff than we are talking here. Also all aluminum. I think I could make some cool stuff having bending facilities at home.

Since mine was primarily for making roll cages and such, I opted for the 6" radius.  1.75x3=5.25, so I'm well above minimums for every sanctioning body I read, and the smaller radius makes the bends that much easier to for tightly. 

I can't help with what standards are across shops, though. I didn't see anyone else in the chump, lemons or SCCA forums reference using a 6.5", for what it's worth..