Tube Bender

[printcom]

I am in the market for a tube bender, I have had a quick look whats on the market ranging from the JMR, JD squared 32 to Baileigh RDB 100. They all have one thing in common - the dies are expensive. Most of the stuff I need to bend is fairly heavy wall but I wouldn't mind being able to bend lighter wall for exhaust systems.
Have you any suggestions, this a case of buy once, buy right.

 

[langy]

Cheap dies are just that, cheap

 

[Gareth0123]

I had a Baileigh and found the tube waisting and die marks to be completely unacceptable.


I've had my JD2 M3 for 5 years now and I cannot fault it. The dies may seem to be expensive, but like everything in this world you pay for what you get.

MY JD2 M3 produces bends with about 3% waisting (ovaling) around the radius of the bends which is considerably less than the 10%+ that the Baileigh produced.

There are also no visible marks at the start or finish of a bend with JD2 M3, although you can only just detect them when running your fingers tips over the finished bend, again something that could not be claimed when using the Baileigh.

I found Baileigh customer service to be completely lacking, and even though I sent them several videos of me bending tubes with their bender and clearly showing the waisting and marks it was producing they refuse to take it back and refund me. Ironically a couple of weeks later I sold it on ebay in an open unreserved auction for £25.00 more than it cost me.

Yes, tube bending dies and followers are expensive, I have two purchased from Tubela within the last year that have yet to earn their purchase price, but they have all been worth every penny I've spent on them and will last me a lifetime.

For the thick walled stuff you will need the hydraulic power kits, and if I am absolutely honest I really ought to get around to purchasing or better still making a proper hydraulic power kit for my bender rather than continuing to use the bodged and cobbled together Sealey hand pumped 10 ton ram kit.

 

[Mr Fro]

Gareth - I've been looking at benders for a couple of jobs I have coming up. the JD2 bender is overpriced in the UK and can be had from the US at a significant discount. I still fancy one though!

When you say thick walled needs hydraulic - what sort of thickness are you talking?

 

[Gareth0123]

The bender can probably be purchased from the states considerably cheaper, but have you factored in the cost of shipping, import duty, and if you are unlucky: import duty admin fee, and 20%VAT? they soon knock the cost up. Also a JD2 M3 in a box is over 25kg so air frieght is going to be a killer, and surface shipping could take up to 12 weeks.... just bite the bullet and buy from the UK distributors!

When I bought my JD2 M3, Tubela were the best option for me, very well priced and delivery the next day. I know that they still do the JD2 M3, because I purchased a new set of 3/4" NB/Sch40 dies from them only weeks ago. Stakesys have the JD2 M32 in stock and one point worth remembering is that the dies and followers are not interchangeable between the two models.

Anything over 1" O/D with a wall thickness of 12g (25 x 2) will need the hydraulic power pack if you are doing batches of more than one piece at a time. I do have a 1mtr long handle and I have modified the bender to accept the handle directly on the top of bender's frame for a 1:1 direct action for ERW tubes up to 1"O/D X 16g, and this long handle can also be fitted into the socket on the 2:1 ratchet mechanism when doing all tube sizes. With the 1 metre long handle in the 2;1 ratchet, 1 & 1/4" X 10g (32 X 3) wall is more than enough to manually do on a regular basis.

 

[printcom]

Thanks for the info, I have just been looking at the JD2 32 working on the basis that I might as well get something that I can grow into.
I couldn't help notice that they sell a hydraulic ram for £375 to convert the manual bender. Isn't that a bit excessive for a 10ton ram. As I already have a small 12 volt 200bar powerpack I don't really want to buy another if I can get away with it.

 

[Gareth0123]

Buy the ram separately

You will need a 10 ton capacity with at least a 14" stroke. Internal/external spring return single acting would be ideal for the job if you can find one, but if you have the correct spool valve already on your power pack then a double acting ram would be the dogs danglies.

 

[Shox Dr]

Buy the ram separately

You will need a 10 ton capacity with at least a 14" stroke. Internal/external spring return single acting would be ideal for the job if you can find one, but if you have the correct spool valve already on your power pack then a double acting ram would be the dogs danglies.

You don't need anything like 10tons. The main reason 10t rams are used is cost,[far cheaper than the 2-2.5t required].

 

[printcom]

I've done a nice deal with a JMR1000 hydrualic bender, mainly because I can have it soon instead of waiting a month plus. And the price was right. I have got to order a couple of dies - whats the best way of measuring an existing bend to determine the CLR.

 

[chevy2]

This way,
Use a piece of string and keep varying the length of it until you have a known point to work from that meets the centre of the existing bend at all places when rotated, the length of the string is the centre line radius, like this...

 

[printcom]

Thanks Chevy, simple when you know how.