tubing bender
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Freshman User
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 40
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From: ohio
tubing bender
can anybody recomend a decent tubing bender for minor fab work. i'd like to bend 2"od or 1 3/4 od . iv'e found some great machines on the net and have talked to alot of people locally but would like an opinion from somebody else that uses a bender. anything in the 500 to 1000$ range would be perfect for my needs. alex
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 18,488
Likes: 22
From: The Big, Oregon
I just got one a few weeks back, it's a Cummins Tool one, 12ton, and works awesome. It is more than capable up to 2" schedule 40 pipe. It will actually bend almost 2 1/2" diameter, due to actually being a pipe bender, not a tubing bender.
Posting Guru
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,671
Likes: 1
From: Eastern Shore, Md.
Depends on wether you are bending tube or pipe. For pipe I use a enerpac on alum. and stainless pipe up to 2 in. sch 40. and for tube I use a hossfeld. in which you have a variety of size and center line radius dies. Another good thing about a hossfeld is that you can bend almost anything on them from round to flat. Everbody has their favorites.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 347
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From: in a house
istead of welding end caps on every time another trick that works is using a peice of rubber 3/4" or so thick that's the id of the tube.( or just a bit smaller to clear any welding flash in the tube) drill a hole for a bolt and nut it with a washer on each side. when you tighen, it expands to hold in the sand. you can have a couple different sizes and reuse them.
Hotshot
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 18,488
Likes: 22
From: The Big, Oregon
I have been told I can just put duct tape on the ends too, but I just weld them on out of a habit of overkill. This way, I can be sure that the diameter of the pipe will remain absolutely constant, as the sand can't go anywhere. If a rubber plug or a piece of tape pops off the end, it's all over. Even if they deform too much, you can wind up with a crimp in the tube, so I just play it safe.
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Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
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You can buy varous sizes of rubber pipe plugs that plumbers use for pipe testing etc from plumbers supply houses and some good hardware stores.
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Elder User
Joined: Feb 2003
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YOu didn't say how fabrication inclined you are but you may wnat to get on www.blindchickenracing.com, they have an excellent step by step on how to make a bender for about $250. just an idea.