I have a 91 f150, with no license for 4 months, I want to build a in cab rollcage. I have taken welding all through high school. My dad is buying either a lincon, or a miller. My question is. How do i bend the tubing, i was thing a home made jig? any tips would be helpfull.

 

You really need a tubing bender for the job and for the wall thickness of the tubing you're gonna want it'll need to be a hydraulic bender. I've seen guys piece roll cages together with straight sections of tubing and weld them up but this is not near as strong and leaves a lot of points for failure.

 

Make some friends at the local exhaust shop.

 

NO DO NOT USE PIPE BENDERS.... a pipe bender will pinch the bends and weaken the structure. obviously the best way is also an expensive way... either a Pro Tools 105 tube bender or JD bender would be the best but there are other ways. you know you can order weld in kits from places like Jegs and summit that comes pre-bent.... all you gotta do is fit it, trim it, and weld it!

-cutts-

 

Not that I know, so I'll ask. Some muffler shops can do mandrel bends. I know mandrel bent tubing doesn't pinch or flatten out like a pipe bender. If you could find a muffler shop that does mandrel bends and could use their equipment this would work okay wouldn't it? It's just the regular "pipe" benders you want to avoid.

 

muffler shops that do mandrel bends can't bend .120" thick wall tubing! also.... i *believe* mandrel bends aren't meant for structural duties!

-cutts-

 

Sorry bout that, I meant too say mandrel pipe bender. But I did forget that most of these machines are not rated too bend thicker pipe.

 

no biggy, i would just hate to start seeing exhaust tubing roll cages with pinched bends!

-cutts-

 

Or you could buy tube with bends in them already through a steel and pipe shop, then weld straight pieces of pipe in thier to get the shape right, grannted this might not be the best for strenght, or the scrap shop might be able to bend the tube for you.