?'s on this bender...

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Hi,Was wondering if anyone’s used this bender for tubing, (tube fenders, possibly roll cage spreaders)Homier bender $$ is a factor or I wouldn’t be looking at this or the HF benders, I am saving for a decent bender but need to get some work done on my rig this winter.TIA, Tom
Reply:I bought the Harbor Freight version about 2 weeks ago. Works great need to tie it down to get best leverage, I bent 3/8 rebar lengths to fix an old rockpicker.
Reply:That thing doesnt have any tubing dies.So how the heck you gonna bend tubing with it?Some of those little cheeseball benders do come with tubing dies, but I cant imagine they work very well. thin wall tubing likes to collapse if not really well supported with dies.I suppose you could bend square tube with it, if you filled it up with sand, and welded the ends shut. I have heard of guys filling the tubing up with water, then freezing it, and bending it full of ice- then it just melts out when you are done.You could always just buy corners from RB Wagner- they make em for every size pipe and tube, round and square, and then they look real slick.http://www.jgbraun.com/pages/Jgbraun.html
Reply:Your right - I missed the tubing...The tool is for solid only
Reply:Yeah- the cheapest usable bender for tubing is gonna be the JD2 bender-http://www.jd2.com/ somewhere around 300 bucks, but then anywhere from 120 to 250 extra for each additional size of tubing you want to bend. But they actually work, are made in america, and will last you your whole life.
Reply:I have the Homier bender with pedestal. It is identical to the HF bender. I did however turn a set of tubing dies on my mini lathe for 7/8" tubing and have successfully bent 7/8" .083" diam DOM tubing. I can tell you, that size is about the largest diameter and thickness that you can bend with that bender. It also took me on the fully extended bar and my 6' son leaning on the tubing to get it moving.The bender is a great tool for flat, square and round solid stock but it is definitely not suited for serious tubing bends. Serious bending should be done with a JD2 style bender.PS. I have a post with pictures in another forum. Are we allowed to cross link in this forum??
Reply:I checked the FAQ and it looks like it's OK to post a link to another forum. Here's a link to my post on using the Homier bender as a tubing bender - http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/...+tubing+benderHere's a link to a finished project done with tubing bent on that bender. The post actually started as a question on welding tubing ( I'm a beginner weldor and don't know what I'm doing   ) - http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/...ghlight=tubing
Reply:I'm looking into getting a bender too. I'm leaning toward the Milliken ring roll bender ( http--www.millikendistribution.com-pdf-bendermanual.pdf ). I had a lot of luck with this style bender when I used to make awnings. We occassionally choked over sized pipe down the gullet of that thing and since you can bend it a little each pass it worked. Also you can move the rings and bend flat too which is cool. The down side of this style is you lose a bit of tube on each end and if you try to bend bigger tubing  too fast the sides of the tubing pinch inwards leaving it a bit distorted. Also it doesn't do real tight radiuses,Last edited by 12,000 Doors; 09-27-2005 at 08:12 AM.