Very informative video. Since you prefer/strongly suggest, working the machine ‘horizontally’, as do I, buy the Harbor Freight, or any brand, ‘Engine Stand’, used or new, and BOLT the Bender to it, and you not only have a ‘Horizontal’ Bender, you also can ROTATE the Bender to achieve ‘Compound Angles’ in your work. And the Bender is in a comfortable STANDING working height, for healthier ergonomics. Also, you can drill holes through the Engine Stands Legs to put All-Thread, or Long Bolts with Jam Nuts, to make fully adjustable ‘Leveling Legs’. It’s easily maneuverable, and when you unbolt the Bender, you also have an extra, or still have, a fully functional Engine Stand, and stand alone Pipe Bender. I’m sure a person with your Fabrication Skills, had an ‘A-HA’ moment, and completely visualized in your head, exactly what I described. By the way I’ve subscribed. Thanks for the videos.
When bending any pipe make sure the weld seam is always on side not the top or inside the bend,, the weld seam had become harder and will not bend/stretch like the rest of the pipe causing a collapse or kinks.
@@dgtlionbarger open the end & dump it out to reuse in the next section you need to bend. The sand is only used to keep the pipe from collapsing on itself while you bend it.
@@deegan727 works a treat with these benders, moist sand, tamp it in and cap the ends with hardwood plugs, same principal when bending copper pipe, to make moonshine still coils, fill the pipe with water and freeze it, while frozen bend your coil and melt out water, one tight easy flowing coil.
Electric Deckhead Thanks good tips. I’m not doubting your water filled copper tube method as I’m sure you’ve done and that’s how you know that. It just sounds odd to me because I’ve seen my fair share of busted copper tube/pipe from freezing. Do you just freeze it to where it’s semi solid?
I’ve had extremely good luck with packing the tube with sand. All you have to do is throw a little duct tape over the end then run around the tube with the tape at the end and IT WILL hold the sand in. Sounds crazy but it will. Another trick I always used was to get a bucket and wet the sand down before you pack it in the tube. It packs way tighter wet! Lol ive got good results using this wet sand and duct tape method.
Well take a little extra time bending tube cheap or if you can’t take the extra 5-10min spend $1500-$2000 on a nice bender 🤷🏻♂️ I’m a cheap ass and most of my fabrication stuff is for fun while I’m drinking cold beer on the weekend so I’ll take the extra time and continue to be a cheap ass! 😂
J M lol well I like to laugh and have a good time! AND I want you to know I was Laughing! Because omg if you didn’t idk what I’d do! Lmao!! So now we are clear I was lol I think we can conclude with enough time sand and beer drinking you can bend tube with a hf tube bender! lol like omg 😘
Man you put my mind at ease. I'm just starting learning fabrication and bought a decent welder and this cheapo 16 ton bender. Was worried I just screwed myself out of 120 bucks but after watching this my bends look almost decent
Here's a useful hack I got from another vid... guy mounted the bender to an old engine stand. Just a tube welded to the bottom of the baseplate. That let him use it flat like this, but at waist height so he didn't have to kneel on the floor to use it. Plus he could rotate it if needed to make it easier to work with longer material.
Any and all Fab tips are good. That's the exact reason I've never purchased that tool. Thanks for the pointers. I've been in the welding & Fab field all my life, & one never learns it all.
Not so hard to see the difference in the stretching or bunching of the pipe material used in either machine. The Harbor Freight Bender is stretching the outside metal of your radius wile pinching the inside bunching it up in opposing directions. The other Bender stretches and pinches the pipe both outside and inside of the radius in the same direction . definitely leaves the strength of the pipe at your radius more intact . with the Harbor Freight bend you're always going to end up losing most your strength in that radius if not all no matter how many increments you bending but definitely the more the better but the more time-consuming we all know . I've had mine for quite a few years truthfully it doesn't get used a lot mostly for top rail of chain link fence when I want to make a radius instead of a corner . 4 rebar I'd have to say I like the Harbor Freight Bender better especially if you want your measurements more exact in your finished product . and it easily handles heavy rebar number 6 and heavier well I've used up to number eight that my job site Manuel cutter bender won't touch . the sand method does work very well if you have a little bit to do but if you have to make a lot of bends for a project . A spring will save you a lot of time and I have found a few very cheaply at the junkyard that have worked well for me one for bending 3/4 I found one that fits the top rail and I got several others that I found just because I know they might help one day with the Bender or other projects . mostly old garage door springs it amazes me how many sizes I found and there are . and it doesn't really matter whether you slide the spring inside or out it works just as well I thought about using a cable wrapped around the outside of the pipe but I haven't worked it completely out yet I've tried it . I picture making up a couple small Vise type pipe clamps that would fit several different sizes that would help hold the wrapped cable tightly around the pipe while bending. well I thought I was going to be able to retire , with the constant inflation actual yoyo of our hard earned slavery credits have push that label to semi-retired either way I don't have much need to bend pipe or bar, with plastic now the leader in the plumbing field there's not much need to bend metal pipe as in the past . and before fittings shaping and bending were pretty much your only choice . how many Remember the days of bending copper shaping lead and packing hemp to poor lead to seal our cast pipe. seems back in those days there was less worried about getting the job done so quickly to move on to the next one seems like there was more time spent to the details of getting the job done right . which is still very prevalent in our personal jobs in our personal life get out to job site were there as many Subs involved everybody running over everybody only caring about getting theirs done and getting paid and getting out of there turned into a real nightmare I think . got to give a million thumbs up to UA-cam and all those posting their videos here great source of sharing wonderful information carrying on many things that may have been lost . and has very quickly become the most valuable tool in my toolbox . finding it on UA-cam seeing how it's done so much easier then all the service manuals I have purchased in the past . much much loving gratitude to everyone posting watching sharing comments definitely today's best source of informational growth !!!!!!!!9 HHBpHhelps
Another trick I've used with my bender is to take a torch and heat the top side of the pipe. That edge naturally wants to stretch while being bent and the heat let's it happen a little easier.
Use great stuff to fill end so sand don't fall out. Sounds like a great idea with wet sand, just like what you build sand castles out of. Yup I can see that work very easy, then run the hose threw it after, then blow out with air and done. $500 bumpers for less. Piping is cheap enough unless roll cage CHROME MOLLY, then that saves lifes and worth it to be done right. Nice video. Thanks for the idea.
The die needs to be a snug fit on the pipe to prevent ripples in the inside of the bend. Wd40 helps the pipe release from the die. Medium to heavy wall only, no thin wall. Been using these chines benders for 25 plus years and its all about the fit in the die
Awesome vid. New sub. I have the Harbour Freight equivalent here in Canada from Princess Auto, and could never get it to work even after packing pipes with sand. Wanted to sell it, but now I'll give it try using your trick. Thanks.
I’ve used mine for many years and I’ve never had a problem with kinks maybe a little bit of a flat spot in tight bends. These are all good ideas and can help I’m sure
I have hopes after watching this video...always been the type of person that has the mentality "if you want it done right, get the right tools for the job" type of guy...BUT when it comes down to not knowing anything about bending tube and the fact that I'm not going to be bending tube every other weekend...makes sense to have patience and figure out how to use another cheap alternative...all I want it for is to bend some sliders and a bumper. Great vid man!
Try this out. Use the die one size smaller than what you should use. Works great. A guy that builds insane single seat buggies froms scratch and he only uses a harbor freight bender and showed us the trick
Just and FYI for you and everybody else that does;t know already, I'm not going to go into the history of the why, but dispute what many people think, pipe is NOT measured by the ID....Pipe size is a NOMINAL number. For instance, the only way you will ever see anything 1-1/2" on inch and a half pipe is if you cut a piece an inch and a half long. (All the "schedules" like 40 or 80 have the same OD BTW, only the ID changes.) and you can buy tubing with the very same 10 carbon low grade steel as pipe. There is nothing special about common pipe, or cheep tubing, either.
I just throw a red cloth shop towel folded twice and lay it on the die and it bends fine every time! I get about 3 to 4 bends per towel! Using a leather peice would eliminate using so Many shop towels! I get them for free though
If you want to pack a tube with sand, get kiln dried sand....... and a funnel. The kiln dried sand literally runs like water so you won't need to do any ramming to pack the sand in. You might need to bounce it on the floor a few times just to make sure, but I've filled a 2 meter length of 1/2" copper pipe in less then a minute (we were shaping the pipe into a base for something so we wanted to add some weight). I hope this helps someone 🙂
Nate, as always thank you! Curious question if you don’t mind me asking. I’m looking at making some fender bars for the front of my rig. How do you recommend I connect the top section to the bull bar and the bottom section to the sliders? Brackets, weld, both? I’m looking at purchasing the harbor freight tube bender for this. This will be my first tube bending project. 🙏🤙Looking forward to see how it goes.
Great video. I’ve been a welder/fabricator for years and have one of these. The packing with sand trick works for tubing better. And just tack a cap on either end when you have packed it. A piece of flat bar or something will work for temp caps. Great video man.
Thank you for making this video! I bought one of these a few years ago and have had mixed results on the couple jobs I used it for. Now I know what I was doing wrong.
Best thing you can do with your fabrication skills is to watch This old Tony ‘s video on his pipe bender he built and modelled off of a real bender-then build your own , if I wasn’t so lazy or had the proper power to be able to weld for more then a 1/4 inch I would have built one by now
I bent 2 inch scaffold tube with one of those put some tight bends in them. Found the best way was to use the 1 3/4 inch shoe, this way the sides didn't expand and stopped the top collapsing. Just needed a gentle persuasion to come off. I did get a couple of pressure Marks from the rollers, but nothing you could notice by eye. Sleeves would help.
I learned a trick when I was in Africa. My locals showed me that if you fill a tube with sand before you bend it, it doesn't crush at all, and you can make some pretty tight bends on thinwall tubing. It actually works quite well.
I had better luck with the orange hf bender that I borrowed from my cousin. I traded some steps for a new grey hf bender with the springs and it seems like it kinks easier. Not sure if they changed the dyes or if I just got too confident and got in a hurry. I usually add a little heat after I bend it to get the perfect 90 degree angle or more
i built a boat trailer with one of those from 75mmx50mmx3mm gal rhs the same way you used but removed the rollers for the square stock. worked a treat.
I find it won't kink thinner tube (1" or so) if you use a die that is "to small" and go all in one pump. The tube rides on the edges of the die and gets forced down into the valley as it bends, so it gets somewhat ovalized, but it it ovalized the opposite direction from what kinking would do, and the smaller diameter will match your die size. Only works for bends that you can do without moving on the die though.
Hello budy, how are you? I'm from São Paulo do Brasil, I just bought a tube bender just like this one, I'm having difficulty using this folder, but even without understanding English I could understand a little, thankful for the class, there is no one explaining it, I'm going to do one Baggage compartment of a Toyota Bandeirante, I'm using a tractor to talk to you, thank you very much.
filling the tube with sand is similar to how then bend the tube to make musical instruments like trumpets/tubas/etc. they fill the tube with water, freeze it and then bend it. keeps the tubing from bending. i wonder if finding an expansion plug like plumbers use would work good? for other bender work i've had my local muffler shop bend my tubing for roll bars/etc. $20-30 to make a few kink free bends was worth it.
I have one similar to the HF but possibly even cheaper!!! Rubbish for thin walled pipe but perfect (if you have nothing better) for thicker stuff. Bit by bit it'll bend it.
Thanks for the video it motivated me to try it! Went out and bought the 16 ton pipe bender. Used it for a few bends. Let me tell you it take a LONG time to do a decent bend on 1.5" tubing with a Harbor Freight pipe bender. Also, no matter how slow I went, no matter how many passes with small bends and tighter or more spread out bend marks, it leaves indentions on the tubing. If you go a little too much it will dent (or crease/kink if you really go far). The 16 ton cost me $180 plus tax and driving/tolls to go get it. Just my advice for anyone who can afford a little more money, go buy a JD2.com TUBING bender with the die size for what you're bending. You can get the manual bender with one 90 degree die for about $500-600. I went all out and bought a Swag air to hydraulic ram setup with Swag angle meter with multiple 180 degree dies and let me tell you - a perfect 90 degree bend on chromoly takes about 2 mins (vs about an hour for one with dents all along the inside from the pipe bender). If you're on a budget this will work if you have the time and patience, but honestly the hours of time you'll spend and likely the material you will waste with the learning curve, just spend a few hundred more bucks and then you can always sell the tool for most of your money back later! Or better yet look for a used one discounted already! Still this was a great video for helping out when we are needing to bend something on a budget or a one-time job.
On the one hand, I wish i'd found this video a week ago when I was trying to bend some tube for the kitcar and after kinking one piece, sought out a much better bender (the tube was still wrong as it turned out), but i did wonder about doing it in smaller increments. BUT given I was forming the main roll hoop for the kit car, i'm still happier I didn't use the small one in the end. Still, top tips! improvements to make and at least it's not wasted equipment for the future.
You nailed this tool! Awesome, thanks for sharing, I suggest you also mark your pipe with the marker and level to establish a centerline for easy reference... plus the factory weld maybe.
Just a thought, i would appreciate for you to create a Would "be a how to build a long arm DIY". It would be great because of The effort you put in your videos. Just watched your newest one.. The air tanks overview. Another great video!
Thanks! I have alot of information about suspension geometry and understanding of long travel suspension in my "tj stretch" video series. It's a home designed and built long arm setup with in a series about stretching your wheelbase. This might be exactly what your looking for! Thank you for watching!
I had a.fab shop n bought one of these dam things with the intention of doing a lot of orojects. Bought the largest version. Andd. Destroyed a shitload off materials for a refund. I demanded they demonstrate but no dice just a refund.
Good info. Seen a bunch of Y.T. video about this bender, many hacks, many people who should find other things to do rather then spread failing theories and waste huge amounts of time, valuable time. Subscribed.
really enjoying all your videos. good presentation, good structure, good lengths. Great advice. You have definitely given me lots of visual explanation, that is turning into inspiration. Wish you the best of luck going forward.
I think you will struggle with this bender for that project. It's going to want to kink pretty easily. But good luck! If you pack the crap out of it with sand I bet it would help!
Stick with sch. 40 pipe, black pipe preferably. Tubing has different O.D. dimensions and does not fit the bender dies correctly. Loose fit = kinks. Larger than plumbing pipe tubing "may work".
If the die fits the pipe correctly it will not flatten or kink. I've made many bends in steel electrical conduit with a good Greenly bender similar to this one with never a kink, not sure with thin wall tubing, however I have bent up to 1 1/4"EMT conduit with a manual shoe bender without issues either. It's all about the quality and fit of the dies.
Great video man. Just subbed. I was surprised you only have 12k subs! I'll be picking up one of those benders soon so build something for my LS swapped w100! Thanks!
I love those trucks! My UA-cam channel is fairly young and growth is slow lol. I started the channel a couple months ago with big aspirations! I'd like to hit 50k by the end of the year! Thank you very much for subscribing 👍
Dude if a harbor freight bender is all you have... MAKE THE ROLL CAGE... Throw some extra gussets on it. It will be better than not having one. Words I live by. "If it's worth building. It's worth*OVER* building!" May take more time but the peace of mind is priceless! As long as the bend doesn't look like trash it's probably alright. But I'm not high speed racing or going to flip off a cliff. My recreation I might roll a Max of 2 times not 10 or fall and land directly in the roof. If you are. Invest in a pro cage. You will thank yourself when the metal around you is crushing and forming itself to the cage but doesn't come any closer... Be safe it's not worth your life.
Fill it with sand and cap it off. If it’s a part I really care about (Life-saving rollcage for instance), I’ll sand fill it, place a small round tight fitting plug of steel over each open end of the pipe, and tack weld it. Then I make my bend on my JD2 and grind the tacks off. Nothing will ever be as good as a factory bend straight from the mill, but this is 2nd best and sure, it takes 10 more minutes per piece, but if you care, what’s 10 more minutes to possibly save a life? 🤷🏻♂️ Working in stages likes this seems to work as well, but if you combine both, you’ll have the best possible bend you can make in a home garage.
You can eliminate the Level (which it looks like you failed to check on the 2nd shot the way it's hanging down) by simply putting a 2x4 (or whatever size needed) under the ends of the pipe to support it. . . As long as the support block is in place you're good to go without having to look at the level or make any adjustments.
After watching quite a few of your videos on customizing a jeep, I have considered building my arms. I have fabricated for MANY YEARS but know nothing much about off roading except that I want to do it. So my question is about pipe vs tube. Can you use schedule 80 pipe for your steering components or do you need DOM tube? I know there are pros and cons to each but before spending time and money I really want to weigh all the facts
Tube is for high pressure applications and pipe is for low pressure. Great videos though i expect your channel to grow massive! Good luck and hope to see future videos!
Very informative video. Since you prefer/strongly suggest, working the machine ‘horizontally’, as do I, buy the Harbor Freight, or any brand, ‘Engine Stand’, used or new, and BOLT the Bender to it, and you not only have a ‘Horizontal’ Bender, you also can ROTATE the Bender to achieve ‘Compound Angles’ in your work. And the Bender is in a comfortable STANDING working height, for healthier ergonomics. Also, you can drill holes through the Engine Stands Legs to put All-Thread, or Long Bolts with Jam Nuts, to make fully adjustable ‘Leveling Legs’. It’s easily maneuverable, and when you unbolt the Bender, you also have an extra, or still have, a fully functional Engine Stand, and stand alone Pipe Bender. I’m sure a person with your Fabrication Skills, had an ‘A-HA’ moment, and completely visualized in your head, exactly what I described. By the way I’ve subscribed. Thanks for the videos.
Thats a good idea!
For anyone interested in the engine stand project: No need to thank me. ua-cam.com/video/JPDo4yzSSdI/v-deo.html
Great video, thank you.
Hey jerry rig. Love your videos
@@hardhatzues3656 no. No I don’t think so Not this time
When bending any pipe make sure the weld seam is always on side not the top or inside the bend,, the weld seam had become harder and will not bend/stretch like the rest of the pipe causing a collapse or kinks.
This comment sure helped. Thanks
Great tip.
Thanks!
Tube has welded seam, pipe is drawn... it has no "seam".
@@brewsterly2927 Every piece of pipe i have bent had a seam. And, I always made sure it was on the side of the bend, not top or bottom.
I built stockcars in the early 60s. I filled the pipe with sand - capped both ends. Thats all we had were benders like the Harbor Frieght bender
I’ve heard of that before. But do you just leave the sand inside?
@@dgtlionbarger open the end & dump it out to reuse in the next section you need to bend. The sand is only used to keep the pipe from collapsing on itself while you bend it.
I was going to comment about this. I seen that done on a Biker Build Off show many years ago. I’ll have to try it sometime.
@@deegan727 works a treat with these benders, moist sand, tamp it in and cap the ends with hardwood plugs, same principal when bending copper pipe, to make moonshine still coils, fill the pipe with water and freeze it, while frozen bend your coil and melt out water, one tight easy flowing coil.
Electric Deckhead Thanks good tips. I’m not doubting your water filled copper tube method as I’m sure you’ve done and that’s how you know that. It just sounds odd to me because I’ve seen my fair share of busted copper tube/pipe from freezing. Do you just freeze it to where it’s semi solid?
Built complete exhaust system for my truck,Lay a piece of old carpet in dye or possibly rubber.I used old carpet and my ex. pipes came out beautiful.
I’ve had extremely good luck with packing the tube with sand. All you have to do is throw a little duct tape over the end then run around the tube with the tape at the end and IT WILL hold the sand in. Sounds crazy but it will. Another trick I always used was to get a bucket and wet the sand down before you pack it in the tube. It packs way tighter wet! Lol ive got good results using this wet sand and duct tape method.
Takes way to long
Well take a little extra time bending tube cheap or if you can’t take the extra 5-10min spend $1500-$2000 on a nice bender 🤷🏻♂️ I’m a cheap ass and most of my fabrication stuff is for fun while I’m drinking cold beer on the weekend so I’ll take the extra time and continue to be a cheap ass! 😂
@@jamesterry9561 ya but you said lol in your comment...why? Does that not sound kinda weird to you? A grown man saying lol?
J M lol well I like to laugh and have a good time! AND I want you to know I was Laughing! Because omg if you didn’t idk what I’d do! Lmao!! So now we are clear I was lol I think we can conclude with enough time sand and beer drinking you can bend tube with a hf tube bender! lol like omg 😘
@@JM-yx1lm omg I say lol all the time lmfao. Guess I could just say ha ha ha but that takes more typing
Good video, camera work and audio. No annoying hard rock music blaring. Most youtube videos are ruined by ridiculous music.
Man you put my mind at ease. I'm just starting learning fabrication and bought a decent welder and this cheapo 16 ton bender. Was worried I just screwed myself out of 120 bucks but after watching this my bends look almost decent
Good! You can build some decent projects with this bender if you have the patience. Its definitely worth the price if you use it right 🤘
Here's a useful hack I got from another vid... guy mounted the bender to an old engine stand. Just a tube welded to the bottom of the baseplate. That let him use it flat like this, but at waist height so he didn't have to kneel on the floor to use it. Plus he could rotate it if needed to make it easier to work with longer material.
Any and all Fab tips are good. That's the exact reason I've never purchased that tool. Thanks for the pointers. I've been in the welding & Fab field all my life, & one never learns it all.
Clamping a piece on top with a u-bolt works great. I did that and now I can bend without kinking or distorting the pipe. Great vid
Just pack the pipe with sand, problem solved
Not so hard to see the difference in the stretching or bunching of the pipe material used in either machine.
The Harbor Freight Bender is stretching the outside metal of your radius wile pinching the inside bunching it up in opposing directions. The other Bender stretches and pinches the pipe both outside and inside of the radius in the same direction . definitely leaves the strength of the pipe at your radius more intact . with the Harbor Freight bend you're always going to end up losing most your strength in that radius if not all no matter how many increments you bending but definitely the more the better but the more time-consuming we all know .
I've had mine for quite a few years truthfully it doesn't get used a lot mostly for top rail of chain link fence when I want to make a radius instead of a corner .
4 rebar I'd have to say I like the Harbor Freight Bender better especially if you want your measurements more exact in your finished product . and it easily handles heavy rebar number 6 and heavier well I've used up to number eight that my job site Manuel cutter bender won't touch .
the sand method does work very well if you have a little bit to do but if you have to make a lot of bends for a project . A spring will save you a lot of time and I have found a few very cheaply at the junkyard that have worked well for me one for bending 3/4
I found one that fits the top rail and I got several others that I found just because I know they might help one day with the Bender or other projects . mostly old garage door springs it amazes me how many sizes I found and there are .
and it doesn't really matter whether you slide the spring inside or out it works just as well I thought about using a cable wrapped around the outside of the pipe but I haven't worked it completely out yet I've tried it . I picture making up a couple small Vise type pipe clamps that would fit several different sizes that would help hold the wrapped cable tightly around the pipe while bending.
well I thought I was going to be able to retire , with the constant inflation actual yoyo of our hard earned slavery credits have push that label to semi-retired either way I don't have much need to bend pipe or bar, with plastic now the leader in the plumbing field there's not much need to bend metal pipe as in the past . and before fittings shaping and bending were pretty much your only choice . how many Remember the days of bending copper shaping lead and packing hemp to poor lead to seal our cast pipe. seems back in those days there was less worried about getting the job done so quickly to move on to the next one seems like there was more time spent to the details of getting the job done right . which is still very prevalent in our personal jobs in our personal life get out to job site were there as many Subs involved everybody running over everybody only caring about getting theirs done and getting paid and getting out of there turned into a real nightmare I think .
got to give a million thumbs up to UA-cam and all those posting their videos here great source of sharing wonderful information carrying on many things that may have been lost . and has very quickly become the most valuable tool in my toolbox . finding it on UA-cam seeing how it's done so much easier then all the service manuals I have purchased in the past .
much much loving gratitude to everyone posting watching sharing comments definitely today's best source of informational growth !!!!!!!!9
HHBpHhelps
I Converted my hydraulic pump with an air assist type and added a longer hose and on/off controller and I can bend pipe twice as fast.
Another trick I've used with my bender is to take a torch and heat the top side of the pipe. That edge naturally wants to stretch while being bent and the heat let's it happen a little easier.
Use great stuff to fill end so sand don't fall out. Sounds like a great idea with wet sand, just like what you build sand castles out of. Yup I can see that work very easy, then run the hose threw it after, then blow out with air and done. $500 bumpers for less. Piping is cheap enough unless roll cage CHROME MOLLY, then that saves lifes and worth it to be done right. Nice video. Thanks for the idea.
The die needs to be a snug fit on the pipe to prevent ripples in the inside of the bend. Wd40 helps the pipe release from the die. Medium to heavy wall only, no thin wall.
Been using these chines benders for 25 plus years and its all about the fit in the die
I mounted mine to an engine stand so it can bend sideways.
I build drag cars, never been much into the off road scene but this fella sure makes it interesting. Nice vid man.
Thank you!
what is the power of the jack
Excellent videos. Straight to the point without stupid music or interruptions.
Awesome vid. New sub. I have the Harbour Freight equivalent here in Canada from Princess Auto, and could never get it to work even after packing pipes with sand. Wanted to sell it, but now I'll give it try using your trick. Thanks.
Great! I'm happy to help! Good luck buddy
I’ve always wondered that about the harbor freight bender, great video man!
Thanks! I hope it helps
I’ve used mine for many years and I’ve never had a problem with kinks maybe a little bit of a flat spot in tight bends. These are all good ideas and can help I’m sure
Guess what imma do. Build a roll cage with it 🤣
- soldier
I've done that with great results! Can be done.
I have hopes after watching this video...always been the type of person that has the mentality "if you want it done right, get the right tools for the job" type of guy...BUT when it comes down to not knowing anything about bending tube and the fact that I'm not going to be bending tube every other weekend...makes sense to have patience and figure out how to use another cheap alternative...all I want it for is to bend some sliders and a bumper. Great vid man!
Try this out. Use the die one size smaller than what you should use. Works great. A guy that builds insane single seat buggies froms scratch and he only uses a harbor freight bender and showed us the trick
I luv my bender only use it for sc40 pipe had great success once I figured out were my rollers would need to be placed great video
Just and FYI for you and everybody else that does;t know already,
I'm not going to go into the history of the why, but dispute what many people think, pipe is NOT measured by the ID....Pipe size is a NOMINAL number. For instance, the only way you will ever see anything 1-1/2" on inch and a half pipe is if you cut a piece an inch and a half long. (All the "schedules" like 40 or 80 have the same OD BTW, only the ID changes.) and you can buy tubing with the very same 10 carbon low grade steel as pipe. There is nothing special about common pipe, or cheep tubing, either.
Thanks! I just picked up used Sealey bender with the same design, and was afraid of kinking the material.
Really useful tips!
I just throw a red cloth shop towel folded twice and lay it on the die and it bends fine every time! I get about 3 to 4 bends per towel! Using a leather peice would eliminate using so Many shop towels! I get them for free though
Very interesting stuff! I haven't seen that method before, I will have to give it a shot 👍 Thanks for watching!
If you want to pack a tube with sand, get kiln dried sand....... and a funnel. The kiln dried sand literally runs like water so you won't need to do any ramming to pack the sand in. You might need to bounce it on the floor a few times just to make sure, but I've filled a 2 meter length of 1/2" copper pipe in less then a minute (we were shaping the pipe into a base for something so we wanted to add some weight). I hope this helps someone 🙂
I made an exhaust with the hf bender. Came out pretty kinky. I may try your technique out on another one.
Nate, as always thank you! Curious question if you don’t mind me asking. I’m looking at making some fender bars for the front of my rig. How do you recommend I connect the top section to the bull bar and the bottom section to the sliders? Brackets, weld, both?
I’m looking at purchasing the harbor freight tube bender for this. This will be my first tube bending project. 🙏🤙Looking forward to see how it goes.
Speaking of hacks. Here is one way to remove 40" tires! :) ua-cam.com/video/8UtS6ggQW1I/v-deo.html
I've been watching Bleep n jeep for ever, I just found this channel and of course subbed!
Great man! Thank you!
The dies are meant for schedule 40 or 80, but I did just like you did in increments and filled it with sand. It works.
Great video. I’ve been a welder/fabricator for years and have one of these. The packing with sand trick works for tubing better. And just tack a cap on either end when you have packed it. A piece of flat bar or something will work for temp caps. Great video man.
I have perfect results bending 1" tubing with the 1/2 die. no kinks
Thank you for making this video! I bought one of these a few years ago and have had mixed results on the couple jobs I used it for. Now I know what I was doing wrong.
Best thing you can do with your fabrication skills is to watch This old Tony ‘s video on his pipe bender he built and modelled off of a real bender-then build your own , if I wasn’t so lazy or had the proper power to be able to weld for more then a 1/4 inch I would have built one by now
Pack that shit with sand. It'll help the thin wall stuff, but only a little. EDIT: ha, yeah
I bent 2 inch scaffold tube with one of those put some tight bends in them.
Found the best way was to use the 1 3/4 inch shoe, this way the sides didn't expand and stopped the top collapsing.
Just needed a gentle persuasion to come off. I did get a couple of pressure Marks from the rollers, but nothing you could notice by eye. Sleeves would help.
I learned a trick when I was in Africa. My locals showed me that if you fill a tube with sand before you bend it, it doesn't crush at all, and you can make some pretty tight bends on thinwall tubing. It actually works quite well.
When bending track still in the mines ..with a track bender the same method is used 1” increments
Just something interesting 🤔
I had better luck with the orange hf bender that I borrowed from my cousin. I traded some steps for a new grey hf bender with the springs and it seems like it kinks easier. Not sure if they changed the dyes or if I just got too confident and got in a hurry. I usually add a little heat after I bend it to get the perfect 90 degree angle or more
i built a boat trailer with one of those from 75mmx50mmx3mm gal rhs the same way you used but removed the rollers for the square stock. worked a treat.
I normally release tension after 15 pumps too... wait, what?
I find it won't kink thinner tube (1" or so) if you use a die that is "to small" and go all in one pump. The tube rides on the edges of the die and gets forced down into the valley as it bends, so it gets somewhat ovalized, but it it ovalized the opposite direction from what kinking would do, and the smaller diameter will match your die size. Only works for bends that you can do without moving on the die though.
I just had to see it done. My hat's off to you buddy. Thiis dam thing handed me my ass. Very dissapointing.0
Thanks! In reality these things suck. It takes alot of time and bad language to get it to do what you want!
Bends can also change from one pipe to the next depending on where the seam is.
Hello budy, how are you? I'm from São Paulo do Brasil, I just bought a tube bender just like this one, I'm having difficulty using this folder, but even without understanding English I could understand a little, thankful for the class, there is no one explaining it, I'm going to do one Baggage compartment of a Toyota Bandeirante, I'm using a tractor to talk to you, thank you very much.
15 pumps is all it takes😏
You are exactly right. Taking your time and having patience is the secret. The stinger looks perfect. Pipe size is great. Another very good video .
You get what you pay for but it's not that bad for the price
filling the tube with sand is similar to how then bend the tube to make musical instruments like trumpets/tubas/etc. they fill the tube with water, freeze it and then bend it. keeps the tubing from bending. i wonder if finding an expansion plug like plumbers use would work good? for other bender work i've had my local muffler shop bend my tubing for roll bars/etc. $20-30 to make a few kink free bends was worth it.
Bender? Futurama?
Yes sir lol
fill the tube with water and freeze it , thats how brass instruments like tubas are made.
Sounds like a cool idea, I'll have to check that out 🤘
Doing it the quick way I see lol
I have one similar to the HF but possibly even cheaper!!! Rubbish for thin walled pipe but perfect (if you have nothing better) for thicker stuff. Bit by bit it'll bend it.
Thanks for the video it motivated me to try it! Went out and bought the 16 ton pipe bender. Used it for a few bends. Let me tell you it take a LONG time to do a decent bend on 1.5" tubing with a Harbor Freight pipe bender. Also, no matter how slow I went, no matter how many passes with small bends and tighter or more spread out bend marks, it leaves indentions on the tubing. If you go a little too much it will dent (or crease/kink if you really go far). The 16 ton cost me $180 plus tax and driving/tolls to go get it. Just my advice for anyone who can afford a little more money, go buy a JD2.com TUBING bender with the die size for what you're bending. You can get the manual bender with one 90 degree die for about $500-600. I went all out and bought a Swag air to hydraulic ram setup with Swag angle meter with multiple 180 degree dies and let me tell you - a perfect 90 degree bend on chromoly takes about 2 mins (vs about an hour for one with dents all along the inside from the pipe bender).
If you're on a budget this will work if you have the time and patience, but honestly the hours of time you'll spend and likely the material you will waste with the learning curve, just spend a few hundred more bucks and then you can always sell the tool for most of your money back later! Or better yet look for a used one discounted already!
Still this was a great video for helping out when we are needing to bend something on a budget or a one-time job.
The 'wet sand' effect is best for bending pipe/tubing. The water will occupy the air spaces between the irregular shaped granular materials (sand).
On the one hand, I wish i'd found this video a week ago when I was trying to bend some tube for the kitcar and after kinking one piece, sought out a much better bender (the tube was still wrong as it turned out), but i did wonder about doing it in smaller increments. BUT given I was forming the main roll hoop for the kit car, i'm still happier I didn't use the small one in the end.
Still, top tips! improvements to make and at least it's not wasted equipment for the future.
the bender works great if you actually use PIPE like it was designed for, not tubing
You nailed this tool! Awesome, thanks for sharing, I suggest you also mark your pipe with the marker and level to establish a centerline for easy reference... plus the factory weld maybe.
GREAT TIPS on the HFT Pipe/Tubing Bender!
Thanks for sharing this video with us all!😎
Take care,
🤓 -Thomas
Western Washington State
Good stuff bud . You got yourself a new subscriber here 🤘🏻🐿🤘🏻LuchMob 🤘🏻🐿🤘🏻
Just a thought, i would appreciate for you to create a Would "be a how to build a long arm DIY". It would be great because of The effort you put in your videos. Just watched your newest one.. The air tanks overview. Another great video!
Thanks! I have alot of information about suspension geometry and understanding of long travel suspension in my "tj stretch" video series. It's a home designed and built long arm setup with in a series about stretching your wheelbase. This might be exactly what your looking for! Thank you for watching!
I had a.fab shop n bought one of these dam things with the intention of doing a lot of orojects. Bought the largest version. Andd. Destroyed a shitload off materials for a refund. I demanded they demonstrate but no dice just a refund.
You demanded something from harbor freight?
I just built my own roller bender. This is just junk. Don't know why you tolerate it. Dandahermit.
FYI tube is sq. or rect angle pipe is round thanks for your help I learn from something from you.
Good info. Seen a bunch of Y.T. video about this bender, many hacks, many people who should find other things to do rather then spread failing theories and waste huge amounts of time, valuable time.
Subscribed.
Thank you! I definitely agree about some of the mis information you can find on UA-cam. Happy to have you as a sub👍
Great ideas. I have one of those things. Maybe now I can get some use out of it. Thanks!
Good man! Glad to hear it!
You missed one hell of a party on the busy Saturday night, hope to see you out on the trail soon, or maybe another fan run... 👍
Useful information and good production quality. I'm subscribed,
Thanks!
Great video- I'm just about to build a bumper on budget and you encouraged my to do so, thanks!
Awesome! I'm happy to help 👍
really enjoying all your videos. good presentation, good structure, good lengths. Great advice. You have definitely given me lots of visual explanation, that is turning into inspiration. Wish you the best of luck going forward.
I was going to make coolant pipes from 1.25 aluminum (1/8" wall) tubing, would that be ok ?
I think you will struggle with this bender for that project. It's going to want to kink pretty easily. But good luck! If you pack the crap out of it with sand I bet it would help!
A brief but thorough video presentation on how to get the most out of a cheap, limited tool to produce quality results. Excellent video!
Thank you!
Stick with sch. 40 pipe, black pipe preferably. Tubing has different O.D. dimensions and does not fit the bender dies correctly. Loose fit = kinks. Larger than plumbing pipe tubing "may work".
Great work! Try filling w sand, wet sand, cap ends w expanding test plugs.
If the die fits the pipe correctly it will not flatten or kink. I've made many bends in steel electrical conduit with a good Greenly bender similar to this one with never a kink, not sure with thin wall tubing, however I have bent up to 1 1/4"EMT conduit with a manual shoe bender without issues either. It's all about the quality and fit of the dies.
Great video man. Just subbed. I was surprised you only have 12k subs! I'll be picking up one of those benders soon so build something for my LS swapped w100! Thanks!
I love those trucks! My UA-cam channel is fairly young and growth is slow lol. I started the channel a couple months ago with big aspirations! I'd like to hit 50k by the end of the year! Thank you very much for subscribing 👍
@@DirtLifestyle would filling exhaust pipe with sand make a difference in the h/fr pipe bender
I have some bumpers I will be doing in the near future. Thanks for the tips on my Harbor Junk bender.😎👍👍👌👌⛏⛏
Dude if a harbor freight bender is all you have... MAKE THE ROLL CAGE... Throw some extra gussets on it. It will be better than not having one. Words I live by. "If it's worth building. It's worth*OVER* building!" May take more time but the peace of mind is priceless! As long as the bend doesn't look like trash it's probably alright. But I'm not high speed racing or going to flip off a cliff. My recreation I might roll a Max of 2 times not 10 or fall and land directly in the roof. If you are. Invest in a pro cage. You will thank yourself when the metal around you is crushing and forming itself to the cage but doesn't come any closer... Be safe it's not worth your life.
Wow. Great video! Informative, well produced, no BS. Thanks.
Thank you!
Jeez, what a great video. I just traded my old cherry picker for this exact pipe bender, new, so this came in handy.
Thanks for explaining the reason for the difference between ID/OD measurements for pipe/tube. I never quite understood why.
Thanks for the video, do you think with this trick I could bend a thin stainless steel 1 1/2 tube (2mm thick) for a boat railing without kinking it?
Great information...did not know you could use on side, I had a northern tool one that did not work on side...thanks
great video and commentary.. Subbed
Right on! Welcome aboard 🤘
Can you bend schedule 40 or 80 aluminum pipe with the HBF Bender.....?
1.25-1/5" .125 Wall thickness....?
Fill it with sand and cap it off. If it’s a part I really care about (Life-saving rollcage for instance), I’ll sand fill it, place a small round tight fitting plug of steel over each open end of the pipe, and tack weld it. Then I make my bend on my JD2 and grind the tacks off. Nothing will ever be as good as a factory bend straight from the mill, but this is 2nd best and sure, it takes 10 more minutes per piece, but if you care, what’s 10 more minutes to possibly save a life? 🤷🏻♂️ Working in stages likes this seems to work as well, but if you combine both, you’ll have the best possible bend you can make in a home garage.
Great video. Too the point. Informative 👍
Just buy a green lee hydraulic bender for the money it is much better
That's what the big boys in heavy construction have been using for decades with no jacking around with the tool.
You can eliminate the Level (which it looks like you failed to check on the 2nd shot the way it's hanging down) by simply putting a 2x4 (or whatever size needed) under the ends of the pipe to support it. . . As long as the support block is in place you're good to go without having to look at the level or make any adjustments.
Amazing video! I’m going to buy a harbor Freight bender now.
After watching quite a few of your videos on customizing a jeep, I have considered building my arms. I have fabricated for MANY YEARS but know nothing much about off roading except that I want to do it. So my question is about pipe vs tube. Can you use schedule 80 pipe for your steering components or do you need DOM tube? I know there are pros and cons to each but before spending time and money I really want to weigh all the facts
Fill it with sand?
That was a trick used in the ORIGINAL movie: FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX.
(With Jimmy Stewart & Ernest Borgnine, 1966).
I drilled holes in my die and base then slapped on some springs so the jack arm would decompress faster
Tube is for high pressure applications and pipe is for low pressure. Great videos though i expect your channel to grow massive! Good luck and hope to see future videos!
Yes I weld tubes in boilers that carry steam at 1200-1500 psi so the statement in video is totally wrong
You a boilermaker?
I used the crap out those befor I had the jd2 I would cap the ends of the tube an fill the pipe with sand an bend every inch or so
Already I like your Channel and I'm giving it a thumbs up and a try and just join today thank you for the good content.
Thank you!