What tubing bender do you reccomend?

[Engloid]

I want something to bend mainly thin walled tubing like:

Stainless and aluminum in sizes of 1.5" up to 3" diameters, with wall thicknesses of .125 and under. Bending out of these ranges will be so few and far between that I would just pay somebody else or buy those bends.

I am looking at machines up to and around $1000, but o course if I can get something for much less that will satisfy these needs, it would be great.

[vipermanz]

if i recall correctly, one of our members, Aaron, has had good results with a HF model, i am thinking about picking up one myself.

[Hickey]

You want a JD2 model 3 bender if you want nice results.
www.jd2.com

[echo8287]

Engloid ,blues2 has a bender(I think JD2 model 3) he converted to hydro you might do a search on the dark side for a little more info.
Some links}
http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk5/bender/
http://www.medfordtools.com/mb4.html
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/bendin_tube/index.html
http://www.vansantent.com/tube_bending_machines.htm
http://www.pro-tools.com/sitemap.htm
http://www.americanbender.com/index.html
David

[oldebrush]

Thanks a lot David.

That was an awesome selection of information.

Tony

[maxx levell]

Engloid,

I have one of the JD2 Model 3 benders that I purchased from VanSant. I got 2 different dies, one 1 5/8" on a 6.5 CL, and the other a 1 1/8" on a 3.5 CL. I love the thing!!! I use it to fabricate roll cages for drag cars. The smaller die set is for jr. dragsters. I am in the process of building a couple of them for my daughters. I would highly recommend this particular bender, and I would also highly recommend VanSant. They were very easy to deal with and were right on time.

HTH,

[maxx levell]

Engloid,

One other thing, go ahead and spend the money and get a centering head jig if you don't have one. I got mine from a local welding supply store. It is from Curv-O-Mark I think. It ran like $75, maybe a little more, but is WELL worth the money! It's a real time saver when it comes to getting your tubing aligned properly in the bender each time after you re-position it for your next bend. I had never heard of one until last year when I read an article in a roundy-round magazine and they showed a pic of one. I knew when I saw it that I had to have one.

Let's see...I think I'm done now :D !!

HTH,

[Engloid]

Do you have any pics of bends you made with yours?

I am a bit leary of the small units like that. I don't know that it will do what I want it to do. I want something hydraulic, I want reasonably priced dies, and I want to be able to 180 bends. I plan to do at least 1" and 2" tubing with it.

I have looked at the more expensive models like the RMD Model 150, and I like that design. The price I'm finding is $6k, but it can be leased for $120 a month...which could pay for itself easily, especially if I was selling bends for other people to fab their own stuff.

I'd like to get something cheaper, but I like the design and abilities of this machine.