i sittin there goin i got a welder im a good mechanic. ill just build a custome tube bumber, but how am i gonna bend it without throwin big bucks on a hydrolic one?

 

Acetylene torch and bend it around a brake drum or something.

 

you can get two steel car wheels and weld them together,slide the tubing in the gap between the two wheels,heat it with a torch and slowly bend it

 

build your own bender. All you have to pay for is the die set and some steel. It will be much stronger than using heat to bend the tube.

 

like he said

 

please explain further. not to familiar with metal fab

 

www.pro-tools.com

www.jd2.com

 

harbor freight, its a peice of **** but after a year of trial and error you can do pretty well. if you have the funds do it right and get the jd squared or protools. im a cheap *** and am used to the harbor freight, haha.

 

The harbor freight one is a pipe bender, not a tube bender. Look at this for an idea: http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/tu...be-bender.html and then get the die's you'd need. <-- That is the expensive part that is too hard to make.

 

the HF is for pipe, but the 1" die fit 1.5 tube nicely. or at least mine does, haha

 

Your best bet is to have a couple of simple bends done by a local fab shop or find someone local that would bend them for a 6pack.....

 

Dies are the most expensive part I think. if youre gonna spend money on dies and then on steel and time to make your own, you are a very short way from a professionally built bender. worth the extra $$ IMHO.


Ive seen LOTS of great work from HF "pipe" benders. search pirate on the topic. Kinking is the main trouble and there are fixes

 

Pack the tube full of fine sand is one of 'em.

 

PITA. they are other ways, like making the bender strap the tube in better so it doesnt have a way to kink.

 

i have used both http://www.pro-tools.com/302.htm and the beast from jd2. my buddy had them for his shop but his partner bailed and took them and sold em. they are damn nice

 

Thats nice if your dont bend past 90* much, but for 500 you can get a 105HD and bend up to 180.

 

i have the pro tools model #105 and its a good bender not hydrolic but if you ever wanted to you can buy hydro kits for it but as is should be good enough and you can buy dies for this one that will go past 90 no need for the whole new bender but check on that one