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Uncle Stretch

Uncle Stretch

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Several people bought those benders from Harbor Freight ,And were going to report back to us as to whether they worked good or you wasted your money. If you bought one .....Will they bend good curves? and did you ever figure out if they will build a frame or not?
 
Yes I am curious about the Harbor Freight tubing roller as well.

Bicycleguy... what size tubing were you using? and how did it fit in the dies... was it loose? and does the roller come with different die sizes?a and you say it kinked thinwall tubing, what kind of radius were you trying to achieve? wondering approximately how far you can go without kinking or did it kink the tubing even with a slight bend?. Sorry for all the questions, but Im trying to figure out if its worth buying.
 
I've never done this but I have heard that when you're bendng thin walled tubing, you should fill the tube with fine grade sand. Not packed down but filled all the way. I think it's supposed to help disperse the pressure in one point and spread it out over a larger area, thus eliminating kinks. Just something I've heard 8)
 
Hey every body thats interested in any sort of fabrication should check out this site .
http://www.offroadfabnet.com/forums/for ... y.php?f=95
This section is just on benders. The HF tube roller is supposed to be ok. Their benders are PIPE benders and will not do well on thin TUBE the dies are sized for pipe if you use pipe like rigid conduit or gas pipe they hill bend ok. But really check this out they have a cycle section and have some bicycle builds in there. there are also a lot of Jeep sites that have good info.
 
I used my Harbor Freight roller to make the top tube on my gender reassignment. It seems to work fine. You are kind of limited on the size of tubing you use. Luckily they give you a die that is good for the main triangle tubes. Anything smaller and you are out of luck. I have seen where guys will bend tubes and then split them to make a type of shim to bend smaller dia. tubes. On this frame I first did the smaller bend near the seat tube. I did not like the straightness of the rest of the tube so I put a real gradual arch on the rest of the tube.
Picture151-1.jpg
 
still practicing with mine ... oh it will bend just fine ... just havent been able to make 2 pieces look the same without running out of tubing first lol
 
I bought the tubing bender not the roller.

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I tried bending 1", 1 1/2", 2" conduit and some left over top tubes I cut off old frames but it seemed to kink at even the slightest bend, I also tried some 2" thickwall water pipe and it bent just fine without kinking.
 
I have a bender like that and haven't had any trouble with kinking but I have had some small dents out where the rollers are. You might want to put some oil on the die to help the pipe slip to help prevent the kinking. I also use this to bend my seat posts back when I want to do one that way.
 
bicycleguy said:
I bought the tubing bender not the roller.

32888.gif


I tried bending 1", 1 1/2", 2" conduit and some left over top tubes I cut off old frames but it seemed to kink at even the slightest bend, I also tried some 2" thickwall water pipe and it bent just fine without kinking.
Click to expand...


That pic is of a pipe bender, not a tubing bender. It is for bending thickwall pipe only.
 

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