What are you fellas using to bend square tubing?

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I have been looking for something to bend square tubing for a few projects I need to get done around my place. After I googled and youtubed for a couple of hours I ended up more confused than ever. I am looking to bend square tubing from 1" up to 2". I am looking for something simple and not some type of costly hydraulic bender. Just a manual type will be perfect. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks, Jason
Reply:I have a JD2 Model 3 bender.  It will handle up to 1.5" square tubing just fine and it is not that costly for the bender ($300).  However, each die is an additional cost and can get very costly is you need many sizes and radii.If you need 2" square tubing bent, I don't see a manual bender being the right tool.  1.5" is a bear, I can't imagine 2".  I converted mine to air over hydraulic and it's the berries now.You may be able to find 2" square dies for it though.  I haven't needed to bend 2" yet.Thanks,JasonMillermatic 210 w/ SpoolgunMiller 375 ExtremeMiller Trailblazer 250GMiller AEAD 200-LEVictor Journeyman O/A
Reply:Shop outfitters used to sell square tubing dies for their 20/20 Compact bender, but with the proliferation of cheap knock offs, they changed the design and the cost is now fairly prohibitive.You have to keep a few things in mind with this. 1" square tube is relatively easy to bend in the average wall thicknesses manually. As your tube size grows, it gets much harder to bend even thin wall tube. You need more leverage, thus the move to hydraulics. As tube gets larger, the wall thickness usually also increases. 2" 1/4" wall tube will be pretty much impossible to easily bend manually cold. Don't expect this to be "inexpensive. I think the biggest sq tube dies they made for the bender when they were still available, were for 1 1/2" and they ran something like $250 for a set. So to do 1" to 1 1/2", you'd need 3 sets 1", 1 1/4", 1 1/2") and you are in close  to $750 just in dies alone.There's a lot more to this as well, so it's not all that "simple"....No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Hmmmm, something to think about there. What about the harbor freight benders I read about in other posts? What type of material can be bent with those?
Reply:Define "bender"...There are three different units that are often referred to as "benders". The compact bender, the pipe bender that uses a jack, and the roller. All will bend, but they have different uses. The compact bender is probably what you will want to look at if you can find the dies to work with it. The pipe bender works on heavy wall pipe, but tends to crush and kink tubing unless you do some mods to make it better. It's usually for round pipe not square. The roller can be used to do square tube if you get the Swag Offroad dies I believe, but it's designed to do large radius bends, not small 90 deg angles really..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Yes Sir I was refering to the compact bender.
Reply:Originally Posted by jhogan2424Yes Sir I was refering to the compact bender.
Reply:I made a bender you can modify itoff the general idea to bend any size square tubing and ot doesn't crush either. Some guys on here call it the Pensacola bender. It cost me less than 25.00 to buy the metal and build it.
Reply:Here are some pictures Attached Images
Reply:I make fishing carts, and I've probley made over 100 carts with this bender works quick great and easy.
Reply:And I still use it everyday, to bend mostly aluminum but steel from time to time
Reply:Bingo.... That is about what I have been looking for. Could you explain a little on how you built it and what its' limitations are? Thanks, Jason.
Reply:Use 1/4 inch or 3/8 flat bar. I bent it cold but you could heat it up. I bent it around a small compressor tank. Lever is attached to the dye that I made.
Reply:They thing the touches the bottom side of the aluminum is a homemade roller that I made just a piece of 3/4 or 1 inch flat bar, I just grinded the sides to make them fit into some drilled holes. Just look at the pictures and kind of use your imaginantion. I might make a short video later of me using it.
Reply:Seetsnake is spam
Reply:Harbor Freight does not make a Hossfeld type bender -- not one that will bend square tube.  Their roll bender will work for long gradual bends.  I made this table with it, even though I didn't have the right dies at the time.  For tighter bends, I think you need to look at JD2 or Hossfeld or the like.  I have a Hossfeld #1, and I'm hoping I can find a way to adapt Howron's modular square tubing die to work with it.  If it works, then for $225 I'd be able to bend everything from 1/8" to 1-1/2" square tubing.Jack OlsenMy garage website
Reply:I think they make square dies for that tube roller