Manual pipe bender
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New User
Joined: Jan 2008
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Manual pipe bender
I have a manual pipe bender you know a hydrolic jack in a little frame with pipe dies bought for about $100 and i was wondering if anybody knows what one of these will do to exhaust pipe before i go buy pipe and try it myself Thanks
Hotshot
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 10,101
Likes: 40
From: Pa
It won't work good, I mean it will bend it but it will probably crip the pipe bad. Below is a pic of a 3" pipe I took off my truck that a local exhaust shop bent on a non mandrel bender. You can see how much the bender crimped the pipe. The ID of a 3" 16ga. exhaust pipe is a tad more than 2.875", at the bend the it measured that pipe measured 2.375" and that was only a 20-25 degree bend.
Street Queen to the extr3m3
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,554
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From: Lubbock, Texas
quick question... what is the difference in a regular pipe or tubing bender and a mandrel bender? Just wondering... I know it will give you different bends... But how do they work?
Carpenter Local 745
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,794
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From: on da beach
Mandrel benders have a follower inside the pipe.
The other type compresses the pipe.
Here is some information.
I have a Manual bender that uses a die and a follower on the outside of the pipe.
Tube Bending Techniques
The other type compresses the pipe.
Here is some information.
I have a Manual bender that uses a die and a follower on the outside of the pipe.
Tube Bending Techniques
Freshman User
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 47
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The piece that rides inside the pipe is called the mandrel and slides inside the pipe to keep it uniform while bending. A chrome mandrel is used for aluminized pipe and a bronze one for stainless steel. They have very close tolerances to the thickness of the pipe, you can't use the same mandrel for 16 guage pipe and then 14 guage pipe. The dies and mandrels run between $3500 and $5000 dollars. So if your bending aluminzed and stainless, you need 2 sets of dies. Very expensive proposition, our mandrel bender cost $70,000 and we probably have $175,000 in dies and mandrels
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Madison, SD
I buy mandrel bent aluminized tubing and a couple of lengths of aluminized straight pipe and build my own exhaust systems. It's time consuming, but you get the system you want without all the gimpy looking bends that the regular exhaust tubing benders leave....
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Senior User
Joined: Dec 2005
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My buddy made a bumper out of exhaust tubing and if you fill the tube with sand it will not crip like that. It is worth a try see if it works for you.
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New User
Joined: Jan 2008
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where do you get your exhaust supplies dave i know i can get the straight pipe locally but where could i get the bends at? so you just fill the tube with sand weld caps on the end and bend it the cut the caps off right i might have to try that but im still interested in buying the bends and doing that way i think it would be a lot faster
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,214
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From: Rio Rancho USA
Thats an old skool method of bending pipes. The trick is to get it packed as tight as possible, so it doesnt let the pipe crush when you bend it. Works well. Takes forever.
You can get bends everywhere online. Try Summitracing.com or Jegs.com
You can get bends everywhere online. Try Summitracing.com or Jegs.com
Carpenter Local 745
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,794
Likes: 11
From: on da beach
Brass instrument builders (trumpets etc) freeze water in the tubes and then bend the tubes. I guess it might work large scale too.
Try to find a fab shop in your area, ask them for mistake bends from the scrap pile.
Try to find a fab shop in your area, ask them for mistake bends from the scrap pile.
Freshman User
Joined: Oct 2007
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Our prices are better than jc whitney and you can get 5 degree increments all the way up to 90 degrees ( 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40........85, 90 degrees) and 10 degree increments over that (100, 110, 120, 130........180 degrees)
Mountain Pass
Joined: Apr 2008
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I have heard of the sand trick and also ways to modify it to fit the tube you are bending. The one I saw had a slightly large tube welded into what they call a die to get the shape correct. I have also heard of grinding them out to fit the pipe or tube you want. You can search real tube benders but they will run you about 500 pluss for a real one and you have to buy all the dies seperate for about 200. Try these threads because the off road crowd is real familiar with them:Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board