Tube Bender Project

[Jafa]

My Mrs has expressed a keenness for me to put a roll bar on the Zook since I squashed it...got a price from the guy who built my cage...$700 just for a hoop and a diagonal...FAWK That!!
I researched a bit on Pirate4x4 and found a few guys built their own from plans the purchased, so came out really nice, and they are tube benders, not pipe crushers. I have basically copied theirs, cept i'll be making my own dies instead of using Protools ones. This will be sweet for barwork on my winch truck as well as the Zook...
Heres a few Solidworks pics, hope I got the holes in the right place..or I might be making cromoly spagetti!! It will have a double acting hydraulic ram to do the hard work, we have a little hyd powerpack at work that will be "utilised" Most of the guys over in the states used either a manual jack system or an air/hydro setup.
More info and pics tomorrow

[coxsy]

like your design , have pulled 1" heavy wall pipe by hand through one , to make rings for gas burners was a workout any aadd on power will be good for you

[2MEKE]

Is this going to be a 1 off or will they be for sale?
What about die + plans??

[Jafa]

Is this going to be a 1 off or will they be for sale?
What about die + plans??

We'll get it built and see if it works first

[De-Ranged]

Hey jafa is that the "Go Trikes" one? if it is then
http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376183
I'm pretty certain someone has posted up dimensions for the arms on there not that I'd expect you to make a hash of it

Oh and if you are making your own dies and followers (damm I wish I had access to cnc ), could you do me a qoute... save me having to make a ball machining tool the one I'd really like to get sorted is the follower
Ideally I'd like to run the follower on a roller instead of a fixed slip block and this means a long follower this gets really time consuming doing it on the lathe in sections and then fitting them to a carrier due to lack of time I'm almost ready to change my design
If your interested drop me a line

[Jafa]

A slight design change, Hydraulic ram is ordered.....

Here it is ready to bend


bent 45 deg


nearly 90


then reset the ram and arm and carry on to 270 or right round to 180


The extra holes in the frame and arms are for A 1.75" X 6" CLR dies, so this setup will bend Dia 1.5" tube(MANZ rollcage stuff) with a centre line radius of 4.5 inches and also Dia 1.75" with a CLR of 6"
Reece, I'll let you $ for some dies when this one's complete

[De-Ranged]

very nice tweek to the design.... just one concern won't the follower wheel bruise the tube, I thought that was why all the benders used rub blocks for the larger contact area if not, I'm copying your idea

[Jafa]

No idea Reece, I dont see why it should bruise the tube, coz its free to spin as the tube is drawn through, but if it does, I can replace it with a block style one if needed

[tgaguy1]

I would be interested in the price for dies as weel Jafa. In fact a price for the whole thing and a price for dies would be good. Thanks.

[nz4x4]

Hey Jafa, Sorry I havnt measured the dies for you yet, have been tied up. Will get onto it asap.

[Dr_PC]

any updates on ths yet

[darinz]

Dan you can use my bender for a small liquid fee!
When I bough mine last year, the dies were over half the cost of the bender so I don't think you will save as much as you think unless you are making the die set as well.

[pagar]

Hey Darinz where did you get yours and what did it cost??? I could really use one myself. but am far to lazy... I mean fuel efficent to build one myself...

[darinz]

I bought it from Cardwells. I think from memory it was just under $1500, and that was with 38mm die set. The die set was over $700 so I only got one size. I was going to get a 50mm set as well but for the $$$$$$$$$$$

[new2zukes]

hi the prices seem quite alot for the dies, will this pipe bender do the same thing?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farmi ... -152625931.
i will be making or getting someone to make a role cage up and was pricing up a bender.

[turoa]

hi the prices seem quite alot for the dies, will this pipe bender do the same thing?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farmi ... -152625931.
i will be making or getting someone to make a role cage up and was pricing up a bender.

Hell no, those benders are crap. Good benders are worth every single cent

[new2zukes]

oh ok but do those cheap benders do the job or does it squash the tube?

[turoa]

oh ok but do those cheap benders do the job or does it squash the tube?

they squash the tube really badly, I borrowed one once because I really needed to bend some tube (and couldnt get hold of my usual bender) but ended up having to give it a miss because it squashed so bad

[darinz]

oh ok but do those cheap benders do the job or does it squash the tube?

It depends on what you are bending. Really thick wall tube can be bent by most benders but if you are using the normal rollcage tube then you need a good bender that supports the tube as it bends it. The pictures above show what is basically needed to get a good bend that hasn't buggered the tube. Mine works similar to this but it has the tube horizontal.
Don't forget most rollcage specs have maximum deformation rules so if the bender is crap then you cage won't comply or be safe!!!!!!

[2MEKE]

What's the status on this ....is she bend tube yet

[gary_in_nz]

yeah any updates on this bender??
got a decent amount of spare hydralic gear at work, including a single phase power pack (all the gear has come off a near new timber stress grading machine), so me and the guys are keen to make up a decent pipe bender.

[Jafa]

Sorry, forgot to update this,
Yep it bends tube great! Needs a bit of a tidy up, design wise, but it works fine

[tallsam66]

How would this unit perform?

http://www.topmaq.co.nz/product_detail.aspx?id=MEBE12100

[Dr_PC]

How would this unit perform?

http://www.topmaq.co.nz/product_detail.aspx?id=MEBE12100

Tried the swg-3b unit with the supplied formers and it crushed the tune with a really good former it worked well