So, I have some $ earmarked for shop upgrades and since I decided to rebuild my compressor instead of replace it I've managed to free up about $1200 for a floor drill press and tubing bender. If I settle a bit on the drill press and just go with the Northern Tools $450 unit I can afford the Speedway bender with a full set of dies.
Is there a better unit I should be looking at instead, and why? Where is the sweet spot for a bender these days?
http://www.lowbucktools.com/benders.html
or
http://www.pro-tools.com/collections/tube-and-pipe-benders
This is what I have. We've done 4 cages with it so far and it's excellent.
https://www.jd2.com/
For a drill press I would scour CL and look for a vintage Rockwell or Craftsman. You might could free up more money.
I built this one from the Mechwerks plans and pro tool dies. Pretty simple, but had to improve it a bit to push 100% on the draw bolt straight down and only use a narrow northern tool "Jet" jack. Probably have $50.00 in it.
http://www.mechwerks.com/Mechwerks_plans_drawings.htm
http://www.mechwerks.com/Bending_tools.htm
DaveEstey wrote: This is what I have. We've done 4 cages with it so far and it's excellent. https://www.jd2.com/
I have beem eyeballing that one for awhile. I feel very strongly one will end up in my garage this winter. I am sick and tired of dealing with cage builders.
I have the Pro Tools 105 Heavy Duty manual bender, does a good job. Fabbed my own stand to save a few bucks. Thought about putting a ram on it but I don't bend that much right now, maybe down the road. No degree wheel either, I just use a piece of welding wire, easy peasy.
When I bought it there was a special of three dies of your choice for reduced price. Shop die prices before buying any bender cause some can outright kill your budget. I watch Ebay for deals on dies from time to time. The JD2 dies are a lot more common there so keep that in mind.
spitfirebill wrote: For a drill press I would scour CL and look for a vintage Rockwell or Craftsman. You might could free up more money.
I have an older 17" Craftsman pedestal floor model w/ 5/8" chuck , maybe 20 y/o. Prolly was made in Taiwan instead of China now. The newer ones don't look that bad but not as good as the older stuff. I really beat on this thing, for what it's done it's priceless.
In reply to DaveEstey:
+1, what I came to post
I have the pro-tools 200. I've done a couple of cages. I works really well. Drawback is not going over 90*
Gasoline wrote: I built this one from the Mechwerks plans and pro tool dies. Pretty simple, but had to improve it a bit to push 100% on the draw bolt straight down and only use a narrow northern tool "Jet" jack. Probably have $50.00 in it. http://www.mechwerks.com/Mechwerks_plans_drawings.htm http://www.mechwerks.com/Bending_tools.htm
Thanks for the link. I had been looking at the gottrikes bender plans, but I think I like the one you posted better.
http://www.gottrikes.com/Tube_Bender.htm
I bought a Hossfeld with a MASSIVE die set years ago. Then I acquired a 110V hydraulic pump and reservoir. Just need the cylinder to complete the package. That and time.
fasted58 wrote:spitfirebill wrote: For a drill press I would scour CL and look for a vintage Rockwell or Craftsman. You might could free up more money.I have an older 17" Craftsman pedestal floor model w/ 5/8" chuck , maybe 20 y/o. Prolly was made in Taiwan instead of China now. The newer ones don't look that bad but not as good as the older stuff. I really beat on this thing, for what it's done it's priceless.
My completely mint 50s era craftsman drill press (floor standing and from the original owner son) was 150. I just started using it as soon as I got it out of the truck. With no setup, it's already more accurate than any other drill press I've ever owned.
Save the money that you had planned to drop at northern on a drill press, and hit craigslist.
If you give me a location, I'll look on there for you and give you some reccomendations. Just hate to see a guy spend more for less.
I bought one of these 10 years ago. 40 or so cages in, the only complaint is the ram won't always retract without help. I presume that's a ram problem, not a bender problem.
http://www.mittlerbros.com/mittler-bros/tube-benders/hydraulic-90-tube-bender/90-hydraulic-tube-bender.html
JD2 for the win. I've used mine for 15 years and it still works mint. Its made from heavy steel. Takes some work to bend 1.75"X .120 by hand thou. I use a 5 foot piece of 2" pipe as a handle and it works out great. Gave up trying to bend pipe in the garage. Now I mount the bender on my trailer and use that as a work platform. Consider picking up a pipe vise, a good sized tubing cutter, and at the very least a cheapo harbor freight tubing notcher. Sure beats the sawzall.
Another vote for JD2. The model 4 is awesome.
Agree about getting a tubing notcher too - makes things much faster. Really need some good hole saws too if you're planning to do a cage.
What about the harbour freight tubing bender for a guy that will only ever do one or two cages?
spitfirebill wrote: For a drill press I would scour CL and look for a vintage Rockwell or Craftsman. You might could free up more money.
This is what I did. I got a full-size standup vintage 60s/70s craftsman press for like $40 from a machine shop that was relocating and didn't want to move all of their older equipment. They pop up on CL pretty often for cheap.
The dies are for pipe not tube. What that means is 1.5" tube is 1.5" on the outside with whatever wall thickness is listed on the inside. 1.5" pipe is approximately 1.5" inside diameter with whatever wall thickness outside of that. The dies are cut larger. You try and put 1.5" tube in a 1.5" pipe die and it will flatten out. The pipe bender is for bending steel gas pipe, fence posts, and stuff like that. The roll cage tubing benders have dies that are cut precisely to the dimension of the tube so that they don't distort the tube.
Bolted my tubing notcher to a flange w/ 2" DOM tubing welded on to chuck in a freestanding tripod pipe vise. 360° rotation, work from any angle. Drag the tripod vise out in the yard too, not confined to the bench. Comes in pretty handy when working w/ larger pieces of tubing. No more working like a monkey trying to berkeley a football.
Tubing notcher is a Ol' Joint Jigger bought from Summit. Pretty stout but the flimsy adapter/ insert for larger hole saw arbors crapped the bed after several years. Machinist at work made up another shaft in the larger size and works perfecto. Now have shafts for both arbor hole sizes. I prefer a Milwaukee 1/2" Magnum drill, slower speed w/ mucho torque won't burn up holesaws.
This is my GotTrikes bender. I'm happy with it, but nobody stocks the Pro-Tool dies locally. I should have modified it for the JD2 and JD2-ripoffs that I can source easily/cheaply locally.
I would never consider a pro-tools bender based on my experience with their customer service and product support.
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/midlana-first-book-build/74633/page2/
JD2 on the other hand was great to deal with, and having used both brands they both make a piece of straight tubing into an arc just fine.
I haven't evaluated the Mechwerks plans yet, and that may be the ticket for me if I can get it done on the cheap.
But if not, these guys will probably get my money: Rogue Fabrication Bender
Jd2 model 4
Look at air/hydraulic jack upgrade from swagoffroad for a quality/affordable power upgrade.
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