Anyone own one of these rollers

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Do they really roll 1.5" square tubing. How do you like it and was it worth the money.laterOrliehttp://www.hawkebender.com/ Attached Images
Reply:Here is a video on youtube.http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f
Reply:http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=99736   take a look at this one
Reply:[QUOTE=Orlie;320094]Do they really roll 1.5" square tubing. How do you like it and was it worth the money.laterOrlieQUOTE]I built the same sort of machine and they really do work. I have been able to bend 1" round into a 12" circle (2 pieces welded together) to make handwheels. The handwheel for the bender itself was made on the machine. I have rolled 1" square tube easily into a 3' circle and could have gone tighter. I did 2" 1/8" wall but only had to put a gentle bend into that, not sure how tight I could go. Roadkill was right about the HF machine, a nice piece for a lot less money. Just make up some dies for the 1 1/2" tube or modify the ones they sell for 1/2" sq.   http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=66598 Attached ImagesLast edited by Jim Stabe; 09-24-2009 at 05:06 PM.Cut an MGB and widened 11" C4 Corvette suspension and LT1 Chevrolet power & 6 spd. Pictures here:Part 1http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,7581Part 2http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,22422
Reply:even if you want to make your own bender the harbor freight one is cheap enough to cut apart and modify..
Reply:Originally Posted by Jim StabeI built the same sort of machine and they really do work.
Reply:Originally Posted by rode2rouenThat's a nice machine, Jim!Are the square upright tubes 2", or larger?Rex
Reply:Jim,    Thats a great looking roller!!! I just found this forum and I'm in the planning stages of building my own roller. I like alot of your ideas but I have a few questions. What diameter and length are your dies? What size shaft did you use for the upper and lower dies? To me it looks like you have bronze bushings in the lower dies? Is this correct? How hard is it to change the upper die? Is the upper die keyed to the shaft? What ton is the bottle jack you used? I hope you don't mind answering these question. I just don't want to under engineer anything and I also have a bunch of shafts and bearings on hand that I'd like to try and use.Thank you, Vince
Reply:VinceFor the rollers for smaller tube sizes I used some scrap shafting that was about 2 1/4", the larger one is from 3". If HF had their tubing roller out when I built this I would have bought one of theirs and either strengthened it (if it needed it) or used the dies in a home made machine. Either way you could make your dies to their dimensions to use in their machine or yours. The dies are nice and worth the cost of the machine by themselves, especially if you buy it on sale and use one of the 20% coupons. The axles for the dies are 1" because that is the size of the pillow blocks that I had, I'm sure it doesn't need to be that big. The lower dies turn on needle bearings that are really cheap from McMaster but bushings would work just as well. The upper die is locked to the shaft with a set screw bearing against a flat on the shaft. I would have preferred a key but the shaft has to pull out from the bearings with die taking up all the space between the pillow blocks. I used an 8 ton jack because I didn't really know how much I needed and it was on sale at HF. You certainly don't need bigger and smaller would probably work if you have one already.BTW - when you are rolling full circles like you will do for the handwheel, make 2 arcs about 2/3 of a circle that are the same diameter. Lay one over the other and mark the cutlines and then weld the 2 halves together. If you try to do it with one weld joint the tubing will have to be twisted into shape and won't run true.Cut an MGB and widened 11" C4 Corvette suspension and LT1 Chevrolet power & 6 spd. Pictures here:Part 1http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,7581Part 2http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,22422
Reply:Orlie, The hawkebender has been manufactured for over 15 years and they really do work. And the machine will easily roll 1.5" Square tubing 1/8" wall. Any technical questions email [email protected] edited by hawkebender; 09-26-2009 at 04:41 PM.
Reply:HiHere is a ring roller I built. Just check out others and find the part that you like and incorperate them into the one you build.  I did not want to remove to much to remove the material from the roller so I built a open type.For and full wheels I like to overlop the roll and cut off the extra as seen in picture.  Only works on smaller tubing or lfat stock.This is a DIY site so do itHave funTom Attached ImagesLast edited by acourtjester; 11-22-2009 at 12:50 PM.Reason: wrong picture