Views on this tube bender?

[lchris21]

Seems a lot of stuff for the price? Obviously from our far eastern friends. Seems cheap enough for occasional use. £80 odd delivered......

Need to bend some 25mm ERW tube at 2mm wall which is within the spec of the setup.

anyone got any experience of using one. some mixed results online regarding ill fitting dies etc.....

 

[addjunkie]

I have used a hilmour conduit bender (EL25 /OR EL32) many times to bend 25 mm erw with a 2.5 wall. youll probably need to extend the handle a bit, Use conduit tube dies rather then pipedies, they are numbered for internal diameter of the pipe, for example 1 inch pipe has an id of 1 inch and an OD of more depending on the pipe spec. Tube dies tend to be deeper so the wall doesn't splay when bent.

As that one has a tube follower it will probably work quite well

 

[lchris21]

Got an old hilmor at the back of the shed, trouble is the 1" die is long gone.........might have to make my own with the CLR I need.....just came across these on my Google rabbit hole exercise

 

[Welderpaul]

IMO it will be junk. UK seller of Far Eastern pap.

You'd be needing your spinach before trying to pull 25x2 tube round it.

I'd be ready for something letting go when its under force.

 

[brightspark]

IMO it will be junk. UK seller of Far Eastern pap.

You'd be needing your spinach before trying to pull 25x2 tube round it.

I'd be ready for something letting go when its under force.

a very poor design for twisting only wheels held at one side if its cheap enough u could use it and beef it up a bit

 

[addjunkie]

I made my own die for a 32 mm tube, to go in a push through bender, made out of two slabs of ali bolted together then machined, with a home made weird long form too. Id show you a picture but it is all on my photobucket .............so not so good.

 

[gaz1]

if you do buy it its only worth the formers being put into a homemade 2 bar bender

something of this type

alternative is the clarke version

 

[500e]

there are some workarounds for different browsers out there photo-bucket must be loosing users by the drove

 

[frank horton]

I bought a ****** 10 ton Hydraulic tube bender for not much more, all depends how pretty u need the bend........at 90degrees this hyd tool leaves a little ding in the tube.......
prob my fault but I only use it to make the odd bends....gas bottle trolly, etc ......not that important to me anyway.......have an idea to stop the ding.....must try harder........
ebay item no is similar to mine.....132410562847.....70 odd squids........
good luck frank

 

[lchris21]

Found a spare 3/4 former lurking in the shed. Going to open that out to 1"...

 

[addjunkie]

Found a spare 3/4 former lurking in the shed. Going to open that out to 1"...View attachment 128181

I built this with a conduit bender from hilmour

 

[dobbslc]

I looked at those benders for my cafe racer seat hoop but the CLR was too big in the size tube I needed to use. In the end I bought a really old Hilmor conduit bender with loads of formers and made a nice job of the hoop.

 

[brightspark]

i have the hilmore conduit bender my gaffer had when I started work. ive used it for 46 years

 

[addjunkie]

I bought a ****** 10 ton Hydraulic tube bender for not much more, all depends how pretty u need the bend........at 90degrees this hyd tool leaves a little ding in the tube.......
prob my fault but I only use it to make the odd bends....gas bottle trolly, etc ......not that important to me anyway.......have an idea to stop the ding.....must try harder........
ebay item no is similar to mine.....132410562847.....70 odd squids........
good luck frank

You can pack out the pipe dies to fit tube, or make new formers

 

[angellonewolf]

buy a 2nd hand one for about the same price would be better ?

 

[KemppiFrog]

View attachment 128218
I built this with a conduit bender from hilmour

Neat! But how did you bend the wheels on a Hilmour? Looks tricky...

 

[KemppiFrog]

I made my own die for a 32 mm tube, to go in a push through bender, made out of two slabs of ali bolted together then machined, with a home made weird long form too. Id show you a picture but it is all on my photobucket .............so not so good.

On a more practical basis, that has reminded me that my supplier has a box of ally bits for sale by the KG. Likely there is a chunk of thick plate that I can turn to make the former for a 25mm SS tube bender to fit my DIY bender based on the Clarke /Harbour Freight design further up. Except that mine is made a lot tougher.

 

[gaz1]

you could in theory build up your own former just by using bars to create your own former

 

[addjunkie]

I have seen one made in 3 pieces two 8 mm discs and a disc the thickness of the diameter of the tube. Then bolted together. He had 3 centers, worked, erw tube didnt fatten at the bend. No fancy curved groves