Made A Stainless Steel Rail With My New JD2 Bender, After I Got Back From The Dentist

[William McCormick]

When I got back from the dentist at around 1:00 pm I started bending up a little rail job for a friend. It came out great, the bender seems strong it does chatter a bit on stainless steel, so I put some Beeswax on the pipe before it goes through the follow-bar, and it stops the chatter. I have used so many benders and have so many habits from them that it took me a few bends to feel at home with it. But all and all it works well.

The only other bender I have used that will do this tubing is the Hossfeld extra heavy-duty bender with the hydraulic system. And I am sure there are some high-end benders that will also do it but for under two thousand, those are the choices.







These are the wheels and Step-Locks that I plan to put onto a rolling table for the bender.




Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

If you are going to weld stainless steel tubing, you have to preload the pipe that is getting another pipe welded to it. Or it will bend a lot from the weld. I use a little gizmo I made that uses one C-clamp to preload the pipe. After it cools you just take it off and it is perfect.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[tapwelder]

Nice.

I put hydraulic on my mod 32 a couple months ago. I have only bent one test piece. Have used it manually on a couple of jobs. I think the the mod3 is a better manual bender than the mod32.

[Weldordie]

Those are nice bends. What is the machine with the huge pulley?

[William McCormick]

Nice.

I put hydraulic on my mod 32 a couple of months ago. I have only bent one test piece. Have used it manually on a couple of jobs. I think the mod3 is a better manual bender than the mod32.

I never used a JD2 until now. I have used Parker Hanifin, Greenlee, Gardner Bender, benders, and a few others that I do not know their name. Of them, the Parker Hanifin is the best design it is a one-shot that uses a giant internal chain to turn a giant spur gear that turns the die, but they will only do annealed stainless steel though. The chain is not big enough even for aluminum tubing and breaks every now and then. So far the JD2 seems like it will do it. I also have to do 1.5" and 2" stainless steel pipe which I haven't tried yet. I will update you when I try it.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

Those are nice bends. What is the machine with the huge pulley?

Thank You.

It is a punch press, there is no die in it. I will probably have a die to punch out squares for pans and maybe one with multiple circular punches for custom parts.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[MinnesotaDave]

That's nice work

[SweetMK]

I have always wanted a bender,,
is any of these benders capable of bending 1" diameter solid steel round bar?
Everyone talks about tube and pipe,, but, it is hard to find anything about solid round.

[tapwelder]

I have always wanted a bender,,
is any of these benders capable of bending 1" diameter solid steel round bar?
Everyone talks about tube and pipe,, but, it is hard to find anything about solid round.

Solid allows many options. What HF pipe bender would work. The JD2 benders will also bend it. Hossfeld would bend it too. Although pipe bender would work well and be much cheaper and die expense would be near zero. You could also use it for long radii.

[walker]

If you are going to weld stainless steel tubing, you have to preload the pipe that is getting another pipe welded to it. Or it will bend a lot from the weld. I use a little gizmo I made that uses one C-clamp to preload the pipe. After it cools you just take it off and it is perfect.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

I would be interested in seeing that tool if you get a chance to snap a pic. I have always used different pieces of heavy tube and shims, it never occured to me to build a tool.

[William McCormick]

I have always wanted a bender,,
is any of these benders capable of bending 1" diameter solid steel round bar?
Everyone talks about tube and pipe,, but, it is hard to find anything about solid round.

JD squared said it will do up to 1 1/2" steel round bar but you can only bend with a die that will cost around $300

There may be three different radius dies for 1.5" solid or tubing but the radius starts at around 5.5 centerline which without heat is probably as tight as you would want to go anyway.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

I would be interested in seeing that tool if you get a chance to snap a pic. I have always used different pieces of heavy tube and shims, it never occured to me to build a tool.

After I made a hydraulic tool to do it after the fact. I decided to make a tool to preload it, a clamp can easily apply the pressure needed. It is much easier than doing it after with hydraulic pressure. I sometimes make some pretty shotty ones with whatever I can find around the shop. I was home already so I drew a quick sketch of what I build approximately. It depends on the size of your material. That piece in the center over the pipe to be welded is turned and is larger than the 3/4" bar it is welded to.



Sincerely,

William McCormick

[tapwelder]

I like your design. Never considered offsetting the clamp.

[William McCormick]

I like your design. Never considered offsetting the clamp.

The long bar does not have to be parallel to the pipe you are welding either, just the clamp and the centerpiece have to be pretty much centered. I have used the same one to preload 3/4," 1", and 1 1/4" solid steel bar and I just used it on the 1.66" O.D. 1 1/4" pipe. But I am going to make one just for the 1 1/4" pipe that I will machine a little radius to match the pipe. And it will be parallel and centered on the pipe. I will permanently mount the C-clamp so that it can slide up and down the bar as well.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[tapwelder]

Funny. I have straightened tons of fencing and railing. With setups in that configuration. Yet when making a tool to preload tubing, I made it with the clamp in the middle. Symmetry?

[farmersammm]

If the fulcrum is centered, and the end points equidistant from the center, I don't think it matters where the clamp is. It works applying force to both sides of the pipe on either side of the weld if everything is in equilibrium.

[farmersammm]

if the clamp, and the other welded end piece, are the same distance from the center, you're really just forcing the pipe to rotate around the fixture itself. The fixture is the plane..........and the pipe is the material trying to conform to that plane.

[farmersammm]

In other words The damn center thingy is pushing against the weld area

[farmersammm]

Don't mind me. I just finished an entire tray of fig newtons, and I got one heckuva sugar high

You eat one, and you can't stop

[tapwelder]

his setup is easier to handle and fabricate. You can also get more leverage by moving the clamp. I am pretty sure i followed a design by Brainfarth. He made a nice one. So it is his fault, I built mine with a center clamp.

[William McCormick]

his setup is easier to handle and fabricate. You can also get more leverage by moving the clamp. I am pretty sure i followed a design by Brainfarth. He made a nice one. So it is his fault, I built mine with a center clamp.

I am often by myself so I prefer simple. Can you believe a lot of people find me irritating, haha? My son will not work with me anymore unless I have some needed technology or knack for doing it, haha. I do a lot of prototyping with a lot of different materials so I needed a design that is simple and can be made with any scrap I have laying around. If I do get someone to help me clean they throw them away.

Sincerely,

Wiliam McCormick

[William McCormick]

If the fulcrum is centered, and the endpoints equidistant from the center, I don't think it matters where the clamp is. It works by applying force to both sides of the pipe on either side of the weld if everything is in equilibrium.

You need to teach at a university if you are going to use words like that. I spit out my rice crispies at equidistant.


Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

If the fulcrum is centered, and the endpoints equidistant from the center, I don't think it matters where the clamp is. It works by applying force to both sides of the pipe on either side of the weld if everything is in equilibrium.

Actually, it seems to not care where you put the clamp, it maintains equal pressure on both sides no matter what, you just get more or less ease of tightening the clamp.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

If the fulcrum is centered, and the endpoints equidistant from the center, I don't think it matters where the clamp is. It works by applying force to both sides of the pipe on either side of the weld if everything is in equilibrium.

Whatever pressure you put on the clamp is doubled at the center, so you do not even need a real good C-Clamp to get it done. But I prefer quality anyway.

Sincerely,

William McCormick

[William McCormick]

Funny. I have straightened tons of fencing and railing. With setups in that configuration. Yet when making a tool to preload tubing, I made it with the clamp in the middle. Symmetry?

I made my hydraulic straightener with the mini Portapak jack in the middle, but I had the power to do it. A couple of times I was nearing 10,000 psi to straighten out a 1-1/4" stainless steel rail. I did not want to subject the Portapak Jack to the heat for preloading. So now I just use the single clamp preloader and almost never need to fix anything. On that note, I better find my mini Portapak Jack, haha.

Sincerely,

William McCormick