Tubing Bender

[ogygopsis]

Hi Fellas,
I am thinking about buying JD2-Model 3 tubing bender. Will be using it to
form 7/8" dia X .058" 1018 dom steel tubing. Just wondering if any of you
have had any experience with this type of tubing bender and if they do a
nice job. I sent some pieces out to Michigan and what a disappointment!!
Deep scratches, kinks, pinched areas. These guys were supposed to be
professionals. I'm going to try doing it myself. Couldn't possibly do worse.
Any input or recommendations from you fellas will certainly be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ogygopsis aka biker-wayne

[Hent]

I haven't used one, but have read several good reviews on them. Maybe someone else here has some real life experience with it.

[deezildennis]

The guys in my Jeep club use the Big jd2's and they absolutly love them.....
I think you'll be ok.

Use lots of fraw lube though and make sure you file any burrs on the mandrels you kick up while using it..

[chopindan]

do you have a link to the bender? i'd like to check it out too.

[midyearguru]

I've found this to be a professional Grade tool that is comparable to the Hossfield at a fraction of the price. Easily upgradable to hydraulic operation. Still, a bit pricey if only used occasionally, but a must have in any fabrication shop.

[jeepster105]

I use the JD2 to bend thin walled chrome molly that is used to make the frame of our mini baja car. For those who don't know, mini baja is a racing series for college students run by SAE for engineering universities. Believe me, if we can bend stuff that thin withought kinking, then the JD2 is an excellent bender and you will have no problems at all

[~JM~]

BTTT.

I'm also interested in learning about tubing benders.

Does anyone have anything to add to this topic?

I know very little about the subject yet, so just about anything is helpful.

One of my main interests at this time is to learn how to work with aluminum tubing.

Thank you
~JM~

[steven Durham]

I have a Pro Tools air over hydraulic bender and have never made a bad or damaged bend I only use DOM tubing using the guideline provided by Pro Tools for minimum wall thickness for each type of tubing and tubing radius. I have both tubing and pipe dies so that for non structural projects I can use black pipe for things like welding karts and simple rails. I found a suppler that is cheaper than the manufacture and is Welcome to Rock Buggy Supply (dot) Com
The manufacture is www.protools.com and they even have a video about their benders and other tools. I have dies for 3/4 , 7/8, 1, 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 inch tubing and 1/2 and 3/4 inch pipe. None of these things are cheap but sending work out to be disappointed with the results is frustrating too. My bender is the One Shot HB302 but there are cheaper ones in their line up of tools. What I did before I ordered my bender was to contact the company and asked for a local reference of a customer in my area that I could talk to and my goal was to be able to get the same bender and passably share dies with another person to keep the cost of buying dies of different radius. The person I was able to contact just wanted to rent me his bender @ $200.00 for a weekend use. But you might use the same approach regardless of who'd bender you buy.
I have about $3,000.00 in all the bender dies and accessories and software. This could be used to make money bending handlebars and new front ends for mini bikes.
I have Pro Tools Tubing notcher and it works great it is mounted on a floor stand. take a look at my photo section I have pictures of the bender there. Steve

[ogygopsis]

Steve, Just a slight correction to your link to pro tools. You need to put a - between pro and tools ie.....Tube Bending Machinery, Pipe Benders, Tubing Notchers, Bead Rollers

[~JM~]

Steve,

Thank you for the information. Do you know how much effort is required to operate one of the manual benders?

In your opinion what would be the minimum pieces of equipment & dies required to build a frame?