pipe or tubing?

admin

I was thinking about buying one of those 16 ton pipe benders from Harbor Freight.I realize these are not the same as the much more expensive tubing benders.I know the difference in pipe and tubing is one is measured in I.D. and one in O.D. Is this the only real difference? I will be bending primarily 11 and 7 GA. material,Harbor Freight says this unit will make mandrel bends in pipe,but for that price I doubt it would.Is there any other disadvantage to working with pipe instead of tubing?I ask because pipe is much cheaper and using 11 or 7GA. it should be strong enough for most uses.Thanks for the help.-----MikeK.
Reply:take a look at lowbuck.comthey have a article on benders, hope that helps out a little, brian
Reply:Optimally one would want to use a tube bender to bend tube and a pipe bender to bend pipe.  But there is the perfect world and the ideal world and I find that most times I don't live in either ... I live in the real world ... lol . That said, you don't state your need for bending pipe or tube ?  what do you plan on making ?If you're gonna be bending NHRA spec tube chassis dragsters then by all means get a tube bender. If you wanna make the odd garage contraption out of some round stuff for use around the house, then get yourself a pipe bender. - jack
Reply:Well said, Jack.The pipe benders do a pretty good job of bending pipe.  I have one I used to make a two-seater go-kart.  Worked great, and the material is cheap.  Just depends on what you intend to do with it.