There is a book which will easily and quickly help anyone to bend any degree of angle from 0 to 180 degrees, with any size bender. All bends will be precise; a 37 degree bend will measure 37 degrees! All bends will look professional. Gain is easily understood for any bend with any size bender! Information about the easiest to understand workbook which can be used by anyone to become an accomplished conduit, tube or pipe bender can be found on a youtube website at /t04041951
this is crazy! i got a 12 ton pipe bender from northern tool, and i plan on making headers for my car, i was doing research on how to get mandrel bent results without the expensive machine! great work! im glad i ran into this!!
That is a Harbor Freight PIPE bender. It will ruin tube, unless you modify the die like HE STATES at the end. I have used table salt to fill copper and brass tube. If you pack the filler tight, you don't need a bender (maybe for measure). You can use 'V' in a tree or a telephone pole and a couple of guys to push on it.Have a BBQ and invite your big friends The key is having the MOIST sand packed TIGHT and wrapping it around something round.Either way, good video.Playgrounds are plentiful.
@BeauDirt1 hey there, im trying to make headers for my car, so when he said grind the dies, what exactly does he mean? and would you recommend a bit of heating? or no?
I tried one of these pipe benders a few years back, and took it back the next day. Ive heard of the sand trick, but seems like it would take 200 years to build a roll cage.
the reason the sand does not pop out is because the force vectors arent pushing the sand in the direction of the opening of the tube...sand and water has some air spaces that can be compressed slightly..btw is this possible to bend to a full large diameter perfect circle?
Nice video! Whats the tightest angle you can end up making while still using sand in the pipe? I got a set of handlebars i'm making for a project out of 1" OD and 3/4" ID chrome molly and i know that if i dont use any sand my bends will just flatten out for sure. For 2 of the bends i gotta make, i need to go past 90 degrees and i was just wondering if thats too extreme of a bend to make. Thanks.
I use the same piece of crap at work to make near any radius circles, I do it by marking off small increments and bending it just a little (4 pumps after slack). it takes forever but it'll get you to where you want to go
I bought one of these and it crushed all my tubeing, I didn't know this trick. I also never could get the thing high enough off the ground to bend long pieces of tubing. I returned it and bought a Pro-Tools Mandrel bender $600. Much, much better but costly life investment.
What if you wanted to make the pipe into a coil? Could I just fill it fill of sand, let it dry out in the sun for a couple of weeks, then tack weld one end to like an old water heater tank, then just heat it up and bend as needed until it coils all the way around?Heating it up while packed full of sand has me kinda worried. Heard it could blow up. Don't know how true that is.
Looks great and thats a great tip. Always happy to learn something new, thanks for sharing. Oh and you did a good job on this video. Very informative.
When I went to buy my bender my local machine tool shop was kind enought to demonstrate their Chinese $220 with the $1060 Bramley bender (looked the same diff. color).
The Bramley made perfect 2" steel pipe bends without packing unlike the chinese import.
So, I went home with the Bramley bender, figured the extra cost would soon pay off in just not dealing with the crap and hassle of preparing & cleaning every pipe and possible rusting in steel pipes. But hey thanks for the wake-up video.
Ok i didnt see anywhere where it showed how you modified the dies. Where is this information? Could you please clarify what you are bending in this video? Is this pipe or tube as there is a huge difference? Also if everyone is so worried about water in the pipe you could esily make a rig to flush the tube with solvent or something similar to flush the water out. I know on aircraft tube structures the tubes were coated inside with linseed oil before being sealed up with weld.
you modified the die - this is so it would handle the tube instead of the pipe, right? (slightly larger OD) Would pipe have the same collapsing bends unless filled with sand too? or is that more specific to tubing?
nice video though; I'm glad you spent enough time explaining things to make sure you were being clear!
thanks for the video! but how do you get the sand out of the pipe cause if you really pack it in there, i wouldnt imagine that getting it out would be to easy
@ViperOffroad it isn't as hard as you would think, we used a garden hose and just started at one end and as it removed the sand, we'd just continue pushing it through until it reached the other end. In some cases we had to go through both ends, depending on how complex of a piece we were working on. Thats it. Thanks
@dopescustoms Hi there, good vid, my mate used my Dawn benver on some steel pipe, flattened at the top. Im making rock sliders tomorrow. Trip to the beach first i reackon. Would it be advisable to treat the internal cannal of the pipe as to stop rust?
@dopescustoms Hi there, good vid, my mate used my Dawn bender on some steel pipe, flattened at the top. Im making rock sliders tomorrow. Trip to the beach first i reackon. Would it be advisable to treat the internal cannal of the pipe as to stop rust?
Thanks for the tips. I'm interested in making some things for a scout I have but I enjoy doing things the cheap way even when it's not as easy.Looking at a HF pipe bender and sandblaster. I wouldn't buy work tools there but these things are simple and I could spend more later after I try it.
Hi, that was really informative. I've had a pipe bender like that for years and I never knew about filling pipes with sand etc. Hence the cr4p bent out of shape tubes that I always get. Wish someone had told me all this before.
Just to clarify then that the seam should not be positioned at 12 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock but instead something like: 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 7 o'clock or 10'o'clock 'ish' - If you know what I mean.
It should be noted that any pipe filled with wet sand and PLUGGED to any degree represents a potential danger. Kept at the normal tempurature its safe to work with but if heat is added to adjust the bend ( talkin torch heat here) the water in the sand can turn to steam VERY fast and generate very dangerous pressures inside the pipe! Not only can it blow out a hammered in tapered pine plug ,,it can also blow pipe apart. Am a retired shipyard pipe bender (30 years experience)
Very good information! I have used the sand method a few times but I have not seen the water trick. Thanks, I can see that filling with water will yield a tighter pack of sand.
thanx for this informative video. Just had an idea for re-shaping the die.... you could glue some coarse abrasive paper on to the pipe and use that to file away at the die until it seat's nicely...kind of like how you would re-seat a valve on a cylinder head :)
From the looks of your tubing you are using welded seem tubing. Why not a fool proof alternative, you would have better luck with DOM tubing. Good tip though. any rust issues afterwards?
@craz3d001 AFTER THE BENDS TAKE THE TAPE OFF AND RUN A OLD RAG THROUGH THE PIPE, BLOW IT WITH SOME AIR AND IT WON'T RUST. U JUST CAN'T LEAVE IT GO FOR DAYS WITH WET SAND IN THE PIPE OR IT WILL RUST.
The reason the duct tape holds is that the sand is actually holding itself; when you push on the sand, it just pushes OUT against the outside of the tubing and actually locks itself in place. Little or none of the force gets to the end to push out the tape.
I was about to buy one of these for a small project at home but had never used a bender before. For me it's this bender or don't do the project. I'd hate to buy it and have it not work but this vid shows me that it'll work.
Great stuff. You saved me a lot of money. I never had luck using those cheap pipe benders. I tried your technique and was able to make some good bends. Thanks.
You mention something about using a die grinder to shape the dies. Can you elaborate? If using 1.5" DOM, the 1.25" die is a lttle sloppy and the 1" is stoo small. Did/would you grind down the 1" to make it fit? Thanks for the great vid!
I race a dirt track truck and buddie you just saved me a bunch of money. They say "teach a man to fish". Thanks to your "good will", I'll use this info the rest of my life to build stuff. I can't say thanks enough for this.
i have one of these benders ,ive never bent anything but heavy wall pipe, and never had problems with kinking or flatening out ,but i wasent happy with the fit of the shoe's ,but what can you expect from china
I was that product at HF and the label said it would bend square tubing too. Have you bent square tubing with that thing? I need to bend a 2 inch square tube but not a huge angle. thanks
The referring tower happens to have been doubt's Children's play set. I suppose that you have point though, Except, our goal was to give 'HOW TO' to those who CANNOT afford a 'Real Bender'. Thanks for the feedback. Take Care and God Bless!
ugh, I bought one of these at HF and was very disappointed in it... the dyes were rough, the cylinder had mostly emptied itself in shipping and when I tried to bend .25"x 2" pipe, it crushed it....
HF sells a tubing crusher packaged in a tubing bender's box.
How did he modify the die. I tried to bend metal electrical conduit (20 mm OD) using the 1/2" die and it flattened at 50 degrees, I had it full of wet sand and no joy.
The only OD that we have bent was 1.5 inch or 38mm with a wall thickness of .95 & .128. If ya read down the comments, there is a full explanation on the modification that was performed to the dies on the bender. Thanks for the ?'s
that is a pipe bender,, pipe and tube are not the same,, if you attempt to bend tube with that bender, all I can say is,,, get ready to scrap a lot of tubing,,,
It looks like schedule 40 pipe to me,, I didn't see the galvy, but the only problem I had with the video was the referencing pipe as tubing, which could lead a novice to think they could bend tubing with this bender if they only pack it with sand, I liked the video though
awesome info, just bought one and spend a good amount of money on DOM steel pipe, was worried about ruining it. thanks alot. keep the videos coming!!!
Try sliding the tubing inside of a length of pvc schedule 40 pipe. The pvc pipe is the right size for the pipe dies it supports the tubing. Bend both the pvc pipe and the tube. I am not sure if the tube would flatten out on top. This would be faster and cleaner than using wet sand.
I believe the reason the sand doesn't force the tape off is that the pipe is stretched slightly when bending. So there is actually an increase of volume inside the pipe. Thus the importance of tightly packing the sand to compensate.
I'm pretty sure that your are right. The only thing is, through trial and error, we had discovered that the wet sand seems to pack much tighter allowing less flattening in the joint. Although you do make a good point, and something that I did not make mention of previously is that after you empty the wet sand out, you should make sure that the inside is VERY dry before welding.
Thanks Again. Be safe in your venture's and God Bless!!
Thanks for the video. I bought the Harbor Freight device you used and used the magnetic angle-measuring devices to do my project. Worked great! I also bent square tubing with a custom die I made.
So the point is to full the pipe with wet sand? so you can bend the pipe without flatin' the pipe???? sorry for my english but I've just got a pipebender and I have some problems with that... thanks
Yes, Wet sand is used, but as posted before you have to make sure that the sand settles to the bottom by tapping on the tube or using an air hammer as we did. As you add more Wet Sand the water will come to the top and just flow out. Be sure to get as much water out as you can. And as you are Tapping or Vibrating the tube, be sure to move up and down the tube. We started at the bottom and worked our way up 10 times for each amount of Wet Sand added.
what is the smallest radius bend you can get from the 1.5 die? trying to find bender to make sharp 90 degree for bumper ends.allso are you using playground sand..thanks the video says part 2 wheres part 1?? any chance you can do more videos with this bender ?/ thanks craig
what is the smallest radius bend you can get from the 1.5 die? trying to find bender to make sharp 90 degree for bumper ends.allso are you using playground sand..thanks the video says part 2 wheres part 1?? any chance you can do more videos with this bender ?/ thanks craig
I'll have to do some checking on the bend radius, but as far as the sand goes, yep, playground sand is all we used. Bender part one was from a previous video. We had included in at the end, just didn't specify that in the title.
Hi, I have just bought one of the cheap benders and am about to start making my bends. I'm using 1 1/4" pipe but I notice the 1 1/4" die is wider than the pipe. Did you modify one of the smaller dies to get an exact fit? The 1" die I got is just under 1 1/4" and I could grind it out to fit??
Yes, you have to grind it out for the fit. You need to be patient thought. Lay the pipe that your using in the die and look at it from the end and you'll be able to see how much needs to be removed. Continuously check this as your are grinding out the die.
I'm having trouble getting a smooth bend. I ground out the die to fit the pipe and packed the pipe with sand, but when I try to bend it, its creasing the pipe at the middle of the bend instead of bending it in to a smoothe curve. Do you have any ideas why its doing this?
I love this Hillbilly Engineering. Dude, you are a genius. This is exactly what I want to do to make some custom painting racks for the painters at my body shop here in Oregon. I'm going to order one of these from the local Harbor Freight. Using your technique do you think it will do a nice job on 1 1/2 electrical conduit? How about 2 1/2 exhaust pipe? Thanks man.
We used a air hammer with a piece of rubber on the end and vibrated it down. We continued this process until we were unable to put any more sand in the end.
good job..i have one of them benders it really sucks but i'm going to try the sand.Anyway to save money is good.. . IF you sandrail out at sivler lake.. see you there...
Question... Do you think this technique and bender could be used on the kind of black steel pipes you can get at Home Deopt? I am talking about Cold Rolled Steel pipes with 2" diameter (inner) and 1/8in wall thickness. I need to make some slight bends (like 15-20 degrees) in some coping for a skatepark. I also need to seam weld the ends... what kind of welder do you have in your other seam welding video? Thanks! great tips!
Just have to open them up a little bit to allow for the tubing to fit into the die. We had used a small piece of tube to assure for the correct fit. Good Luck and God Bless
We have only tried this on .098 and .068 wall tubing. My best advice would be to try it on scrap first. If that dosen't work then just be creative in trying to figure a way make it work. We tried several times and many ways not to do it, but it only took the once for the one that would work.:) Gook Luck
Damn!!I have never bent pipe in my cheapy bender without the sand packed in the pipe,the last job was in 43mm dia pipe with a wall thickness of 4.3mm.Luckily I only got a few flayt 90 degs that got binned!!I only I knew,something so obvious,I know with fine brass tube they fill it with water,cap it and put it in the freeser overnight then bend it,same principle,thanks!!
Simply because of the cost involved in either buying or paying someone to use there Mandrel Bender. We are trying keep the cost down to allow most anyone to relize that not all things are out of there reach. Thanks for the comment.
CAREFUL not to use seam welded tubing for roll cages. As you mentioned, this type of tubing is prone to splitting. Use only DOM tubing. THANKS for a GREAT video! Keep posting more of your innovations, please. : )
There is a book which will easily and quickly help anyone to bend any degree of angle from 0 to 180 degrees, with any size bender. All bends will be precise; a 37 degree bend will measure 37 degrees! All bends will look professional. Gain is easily understood for any bend with any size bender! Information about the easiest to understand workbook which can be used by anyone to become an accomplished conduit, tube or pipe bender can be found on a youtube website at /t04041951
Todd04041951 2 weeks ago
great experience. i have been having problem with making smooth bends. thanks now i know how to solve the problem
kariithiutu 3 weeks ago
Great tip!
tgkg 1 month ago
this is crazy! i got a 12 ton pipe bender from northern tool, and i plan on making headers for my car, i was doing research on how to get mandrel bent results without the expensive machine! great work! im glad i ran into this!!
juarez122191 1 month ago
glad i watched this i tried sand but it wasnt wet. and thanks for the tip on the dyes seems like they should they be ground deeper correct?
purpherder 1 month ago
That is a Harbor Freight PIPE bender. It will ruin tube, unless you modify the die like HE STATES at the end. I have used table salt to fill copper and brass tube. If you pack the filler tight, you don't need a bender (maybe for measure). You can use 'V' in a tree or a telephone pole and a couple of guys to push on it.Have a BBQ and invite your big friends The key is having the MOIST sand packed TIGHT and wrapping it around something round.Either way, good video.Playgrounds are plentiful.
BeauDirt1 1 month ago
@BeauDirt1 hey there, im trying to make headers for my car, so when he said grind the dies, what exactly does he mean? and would you recommend a bit of heating? or no?
juarez122191 1 month ago
I tried one of these pipe benders a few years back, and took it back the next day. Ive heard of the sand trick, but seems like it would take 200 years to build a roll cage.
charlene1450 1 month ago
Gday does is it matter what grade the sand is or can I just back the ute into any dune / river bed / beach and shovel away?
des2881 2 months ago in playlist Uploaded videos
@des2881 We had used play sand.
dopescustoms 2 months ago
Is this pipe or DOM Tubing? You said pipe at one point and tube at another...
masteroftables 2 months ago
the reason the sand does not pop out is because the force vectors arent pushing the sand in the direction of the opening of the tube...sand and water has some air spaces that can be compressed slightly..btw is this possible to bend to a full large diameter perfect circle?
porpoisefathom 2 months ago
@porpoisefathom this is one we haven't yet tried. if you do try, please let us know the outcome. Thanks
dopescustoms 2 months ago
Nicely done and explained. Ignore the idiots that dis this. Odds are they failed shop in school!
MGARestoration 2 months ago
Nice video! Whats the tightest angle you can end up making while still using sand in the pipe? I got a set of handlebars i'm making for a project out of 1" OD and 3/4" ID chrome molly and i know that if i dont use any sand my bends will just flatten out for sure. For 2 of the bends i gotta make, i need to go past 90 degrees and i was just wondering if thats too extreme of a bend to make. Thanks.
horrorkat10 3 months ago
I use the same piece of crap at work to make near any radius circles, I do it by marking off small increments and bending it just a little (4 pumps after slack). it takes forever but it'll get you to where you want to go
dogdove 3 months ago
I bought one of these and it crushed all my tubeing, I didn't know this trick. I also never could get the thing high enough off the ground to bend long pieces of tubing. I returned it and bought a Pro-Tools Mandrel bender $600. Much, much better but costly life investment.
ajohnson 5 months ago
What if you wanted to make the pipe into a coil? Could I just fill it fill of sand, let it dry out in the sun for a couple of weeks, then tack weld one end to like an old water heater tank, then just heat it up and bend as needed until it coils all the way around?Heating it up while packed full of sand has me kinda worried. Heard it could blow up. Don't know how true that is.
waterwart 6 months ago
Where is part one?!?! Id really like to see it!!
idiggplants 7 months ago
Looks great and thats a great tip. Always happy to learn something new, thanks for sharing. Oh and you did a good job on this video. Very informative.
Hollrobb 8 months ago
Great tips for starters such as myelf thanks!
nlongor1 8 months ago
Thank you for this video. The narrator was great at demystifying cheap and easy mandrel bending.
duanedragon2 8 months ago
what gauge and diameter is that rubing? I tried bending some 20 gauge today with that bender and it kinked and flattened
thanks
kellzsanator 8 months ago
Thanks
bscfrnd1 8 months ago
Thanks taking the time to make this video. I was having problems bending some 42mm until I tried this sand trick, worked a treat. Cheers!
DairyNZ 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
qual é o valor dela completa aguardo resposta jadsonflaviosabara@hotmail.com
leonardocsgtaiv4 10 months ago
When I went to buy my bender my local machine tool shop was kind enought to demonstrate their Chinese $220 with the $1060 Bramley bender (looked the same diff. color).
The Bramley made perfect 2" steel pipe bends without packing unlike the chinese import.
So, I went home with the Bramley bender, figured the extra cost would soon pay off in just not dealing with the crap and hassle of preparing & cleaning every pipe and possible rusting in steel pipes. But hey thanks for the wake-up video.
farrellhunter 10 months ago
Nice dude, you remind me of me. I think I love tools more than women..
Metalunique 10 months ago
Did you ever bend aluminum. I just both mine not to long ago and the 6061 cracks on me
witch grade would you recomend.? I read 6063T4 would be my best bet havent orderd some yet. but what do you think thanks Jer
Prosoundproduction 11 months ago
Is this a good bender for Exhaust Pipe bending?
jessestylex 1 year ago
You where using steel tubing , does the same trick work for aluminum
MASSEY4201 1 year ago
@MASSEY4201 Truthfully we have only used this for steel. If you try aluminum, Be sure to use a scrap piece first ;).
dopescustoms 1 year ago
Just wondering can you bend a 2-3" pipe up to 90 degrees with this type of hydraulic bender?
sidhucer00789 1 year ago
Ok i didnt see anywhere where it showed how you modified the dies. Where is this information? Could you please clarify what you are bending in this video? Is this pipe or tube as there is a huge difference? Also if everyone is so worried about water in the pipe you could esily make a rig to flush the tube with solvent or something similar to flush the water out. I know on aircraft tube structures the tubes were coated inside with linseed oil before being sealed up with weld.
MrBullfrog92 1 year ago
Does it work for 2.5mm and 1 3/4 inch OD
QSQCaito 1 year ago
thank you for that tip. i know im getting an $80.00 bender now :)
earthscraper69 1 year ago
@earthscraper69 ur welcome
dopescustoms 1 year ago
you modified the die - this is so it would handle the tube instead of the pipe, right? (slightly larger OD) Would pipe have the same collapsing bends unless filled with sand too? or is that more specific to tubing?
nice video though; I'm glad you spent enough time explaining things to make sure you were being clear!
jkddaddy 1 year ago
yea, but you wouldn't believe the ?'s I still get :)
dopescustoms 1 year ago
thanks for the vid. You should shorten it up a bit. Your explaining it like we are 5, lol.
Thomas0zero 1 year ago
thanks for the video! but how do you get the sand out of the pipe cause if you really pack it in there, i wouldnt imagine that getting it out would be to easy
ViperOffroad 1 year ago 2
@ViperOffroad it isn't as hard as you would think, we used a garden hose and just started at one end and as it removed the sand, we'd just continue pushing it through until it reached the other end. In some cases we had to go through both ends, depending on how complex of a piece we were working on. Thats it. Thanks
dopescustoms 1 year ago 2
@dopescustoms Hi there, good vid, my mate used my Dawn benver on some steel pipe, flattened at the top. Im making rock sliders tomorrow. Trip to the beach first i reackon. Would it be advisable to treat the internal cannal of the pipe as to stop rust?
robandjack 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@dopescustoms Hi there, good vid, my mate used my Dawn bender on some steel pipe, flattened at the top. Im making rock sliders tomorrow. Trip to the beach first i reackon. Would it be advisable to treat the internal cannal of the pipe as to stop rust?
robandjack 8 months ago
good deal man!
MrKoreyjay 1 year ago
Thanks for the tips. I'm interested in making some things for a scout I have but I enjoy doing things the cheap way even when it's not as easy.Looking at a HF pipe bender and sandblaster. I wouldn't buy work tools there but these things are simple and I could spend more later after I try it.
MrSafetymeeting 1 year ago
can u get 90 degree bends
oldsfan61 1 year ago
Hi, that was really informative. I've had a pipe bender like that for years and I never knew about filling pipes with sand etc. Hence the cr4p bent out of shape tubes that I always get. Wish someone had told me all this before.
Just to clarify then that the seam should not be positioned at 12 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock but instead something like: 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 7 o'clock or 10'o'clock 'ish' - If you know what I mean.
kdj69 1 year ago
Comment removed
kdj69 1 year ago
It should be noted that any pipe filled with wet sand and PLUGGED to any degree represents a potential danger. Kept at the normal tempurature its safe to work with but if heat is added to adjust the bend ( talkin torch heat here) the water in the sand can turn to steam VERY fast and generate very dangerous pressures inside the pipe! Not only can it blow out a hammered in tapered pine plug ,,it can also blow pipe apart. Am a retired shipyard pipe bender (30 years experience)
callmenort 1 year ago
thanks for the video.
tattoome5150 1 year ago
Very good information! I have used the sand method a few times but I have not seen the water trick. Thanks, I can see that filling with water will yield a tighter pack of sand.
toyotakurtis 1 year ago
THIS IS GREAT !! IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM !! THANKS D FOR THE TIP !! JIM FROM OHIO
acdctnt73 1 year ago
cool bends,I tried it in my shop works good but takes up a lot of time.I calling it getto bending
filmcostar 1 year ago
Can these pipe benders do 180 degree bends?
cash555 1 year ago
@cash555 I think a little bit over 90. But you know two 90 degree angles would equal 180-
QSQCaito 1 year ago
thanx for this informative video. Just had an idea for re-shaping the die.... you could glue some coarse abrasive paper on to the pipe and use that to file away at the die until it seat's nicely...kind of like how you would re-seat a valve on a cylinder head :)
whereisthejustice1 1 year ago
Excellent presentation, thanks for posting.
keyko555 1 year ago
VERY interesting trick - using wet sand. Thanks for the video. But, how fond are you of the company name? :P
eddiequest4 1 year ago
From the looks of your tubing you are using welded seem tubing. Why not a fool proof alternative, you would have better luck with DOM tubing. Good tip though. any rust issues afterwards?
jfg1517 1 year ago
wouldn't it rust inside out with the wet sand in there? o.o
craz3d001 1 year ago
@craz3d001 AFTER THE BENDS TAKE THE TAPE OFF AND RUN A OLD RAG THROUGH THE PIPE, BLOW IT WITH SOME AIR AND IT WON'T RUST. U JUST CAN'T LEAVE IT GO FOR DAYS WITH WET SAND IN THE PIPE OR IT WILL RUST.
acdctnt73 1 year ago
thanks for the video!
MetaView7 1 year ago
The reason the duct tape holds is that the sand is actually holding itself; when you push on the sand, it just pushes OUT against the outside of the tubing and actually locks itself in place. Little or none of the force gets to the end to push out the tape.
I was about to buy one of these for a small project at home but had never used a bender before. For me it's this bender or don't do the project. I'd hate to buy it and have it not work but this vid shows me that it'll work.
demjp8RqDA 1 year ago
This is a great video for a "shadetree" fabricator. Good video and don't mind the haters.
Blasphemous1980 1 year ago
@Blasphemous1980 IF YOU CAN USE YOUR MIND TO FABRICATE SOMETHING THEN IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR UNDER A TREE OR IN A SHOP!!
acdctnt73 1 year ago
Great stuff. You saved me a lot of money. I never had luck using those cheap pipe benders. I tried your technique and was able to make some good bends. Thanks.
msherry434 1 year ago
Thanks 4 sharing!
Do you think this same trick would work with 2.5 - 3 inch exhaust tube? because of the larger diameter and thinner tube walls... :S
Thank you!!
pablocruzdiez 1 year ago
You mention something about using a die grinder to shape the dies. Can you elaborate? If using 1.5" DOM, the 1.25" die is a lttle sloppy and the 1" is stoo small. Did/would you grind down the 1" to make it fit? Thanks for the great vid!
specialkcal 1 year ago
Goodman real good thankns for charing
yantur52 1 year ago
Thanks:)
dopescustoms 1 year ago
Nice job thanks
polert1 1 year ago
I race a dirt track truck and buddie you just saved me a bunch of money. They say "teach a man to fish". Thanks to your "good will", I'll use this info the rest of my life to build stuff. I can't say thanks enough for this.
Quadzilla907 1 year ago
very good information
1968hambone 2 years ago
i have one of these benders ,ive never bent anything but heavy wall pipe, and never had problems with kinking or flatening out ,but i wasent happy with the fit of the shoe's ,but what can you expect from china
thechevyscrounger 2 years ago
why dont you use seamless tube?
finney67 2 years ago
Nice tip. Thanks for posting it.
floridarobot 2 years ago
I was that product at HF and the label said it would bend square tubing too. Have you bent square tubing with that thing? I need to bend a 2 inch square tube but not a huge angle. thanks
hunt459 2 years ago
@hunt459 dont know if this helps ,i bend 1" and 3/4" square tube with my EMT bender ,does a nice job
thechevyscrounger 2 years ago
very good job..
bloodynuts2 2 years ago
Whats the inside radius like though ? any defect
kndypp 2 years ago
you could of takin the money you spent on your sand filling tower and bought a real bender
mikenkatek 2 years ago
The referring tower happens to have been doubt's Children's play set. I suppose that you have point though, Except, our goal was to give 'HOW TO' to those who CANNOT afford a 'Real Bender'. Thanks for the feedback. Take Care and God Bless!
dopescustoms 2 years ago
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ridewithanger 2 years ago
ugh, I bought one of these at HF and was very disappointed in it... the dyes were rough, the cylinder had mostly emptied itself in shipping and when I tried to bend .25"x 2" pipe, it crushed it....
HF sells a tubing crusher packaged in a tubing bender's box.
hvguy 2 years ago
How did he modify the die. I tried to bend metal electrical conduit (20 mm OD) using the 1/2" die and it flattened at 50 degrees, I had it full of wet sand and no joy.
68martinpe 2 years ago
The only OD that we have bent was 1.5 inch or 38mm with a wall thickness of .95 & .128. If ya read down the comments, there is a full explanation on the modification that was performed to the dies on the bender. Thanks for the ?'s
dopescustoms 2 years ago
have fun spending all ur time filling that with sand.
Develop247 2 years ago
@Develop247 just what I was thinking... save up a few extra bucks and get a model 3 from medford... or just build your own with a few hydraulics.
hvguy 2 years ago
that is a pipe bender,, pipe and tube are not the same,, if you attempt to bend tube with that bender, all I can say is,,, get ready to scrap a lot of tubing,,,
keithg818 2 years ago 6
Keithg your right on the money partner. Do it with that bender you will have one hell of a scrap pile.
StMichaelsCrew 2 years ago
am I correct to see that he's building a Sandrail Frame with lead pipe?? and some if it is galvanized??
berkelusa 2 years ago
It looks like schedule 40 pipe to me,, I didn't see the galvy, but the only problem I had with the video was the referencing pipe as tubing, which could lead a novice to think they could bend tubing with this bender if they only pack it with sand, I liked the video though
keithg818 2 years ago
anyone know the link where i can purchase one
sisco27 2 years ago
awesome info, just bought one and spend a good amount of money on DOM steel pipe, was worried about ruining it. thanks alot. keep the videos coming!!!
GottiJp 2 years ago
thanks man
drjhardwood 2 years ago
Try sliding the tubing inside of a length of pvc schedule 40 pipe. The pvc pipe is the right size for the pipe dies it supports the tubing. Bend both the pvc pipe and the tube. I am not sure if the tube would flatten out on top. This would be faster and cleaner than using wet sand.
kingmike40 2 years ago
With Aluminum Pipe ( 2'' ) do you think it could work ???
SuroitJack 2 years ago
Hadn't tried that, but if you do, plz let us know how it works out! Thanks
dopescustoms 2 years ago
Excellent and very informative,struggled with one of these benders on and off for years and never really knew the how to until now,thanks
kakashka308 2 years ago
I believe the reason the sand doesn't force the tape off is that the pipe is stretched slightly when bending. So there is actually an increase of volume inside the pipe. Thus the importance of tightly packing the sand to compensate.
user1qaz2wsx 2 years ago
is any body out there to know why some benders with same mechanisem they give a good bend result without filling or heating!!!!!?please
insideoutbeegees 2 years ago
thanks a lot for posting I bought one these and then after testing it was about to throw it away!why didnt I thought about it!1??lol
insideoutbeegees 2 years ago
LOL at duct tape!
websuspect 2 years ago
YOu the man!
disndat11 2 years ago
im pretty sure your supposed to use bone dry river sand so the inside of the tubing doesn't rust
fischerskidude 2 years ago
I'm pretty sure that your are right. The only thing is, through trial and error, we had discovered that the wet sand seems to pack much tighter allowing less flattening in the joint. Although you do make a good point, and something that I did not make mention of previously is that after you empty the wet sand out, you should make sure that the inside is VERY dry before welding.
Thanks Again. Be safe in your venture's and God Bless!!
dopescustoms 2 years ago
Thanks for the video. I bought the Harbor Freight device you used and used the magnetic angle-measuring devices to do my project. Worked great! I also bent square tubing with a custom die I made.
jurban1997 2 years ago
That is awesome, glad to here that it worked out for ya.
redlineriders2007 2 years ago
@jurban1997 please share how you built the square die
phoenixwinch 1 year ago
So the point is to full the pipe with wet sand? so you can bend the pipe without flatin' the pipe???? sorry for my english but I've just got a pipebender and I have some problems with that... thanks
Kaifanef 2 years ago
Yes, Wet sand is used, but as posted before you have to make sure that the sand settles to the bottom by tapping on the tube or using an air hammer as we did. As you add more Wet Sand the water will come to the top and just flow out. Be sure to get as much water out as you can. And as you are Tapping or Vibrating the tube, be sure to move up and down the tube. We started at the bottom and worked our way up 10 times for each amount of Wet Sand added.
Thanks
dopescustoms 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
what is the smallest radius bend you can get from the 1.5 die? trying to find bender to make sharp 90 degree for bumper ends.allso are you using playground sand..thanks the video says part 2 wheres part 1?? any chance you can do more videos with this bender ?/ thanks craig
eolsecurity 2 years ago
what is the smallest radius bend you can get from the 1.5 die? trying to find bender to make sharp 90 degree for bumper ends.allso are you using playground sand..thanks the video says part 2 wheres part 1?? any chance you can do more videos with this bender ?/ thanks craig
eolsecurity 2 years ago
I'll have to do some checking on the bend radius, but as far as the sand goes, yep, playground sand is all we used. Bender part one was from a previous video. We had included in at the end, just didn't specify that in the title.
dopescustoms 2 years ago
Did you tape off both ends, or did you weld up the one end?
jimeditorial 2 years ago
Just used good old Duck Tape on one end(many layers:) ).
dopescustoms 2 years ago
What size pipe did you used there bud? I mean schedule size that is.
daTERRORIZER 3 years ago
.095 and .128
dopescustoms 3 years ago
how does it compare as to mandrel type?
newcomer9747 3 years ago
Not sure, the price really hurt my wallet ;)
dopescustoms 3 years ago
Hi, I have just bought one of the cheap benders and am about to start making my bends. I'm using 1 1/4" pipe but I notice the 1 1/4" die is wider than the pipe. Did you modify one of the smaller dies to get an exact fit? The 1" die I got is just under 1 1/4" and I could grind it out to fit??
Thanks, Stu
stuwindsurf 3 years ago
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redlineriders2007 3 years ago
Yes, you have to grind it out for the fit. You need to be patient thought. Lay the pipe that your using in the die and look at it from the end and you'll be able to see how much needs to be removed. Continuously check this as your are grinding out the die.
Good Luck
dopescustoms 3 years ago
I'm having trouble getting a smooth bend. I ground out the die to fit the pipe and packed the pipe with sand, but when I try to bend it, its creasing the pipe at the middle of the bend instead of bending it in to a smoothe curve. Do you have any ideas why its doing this?
Thanks in advance for your help . Stu
stuwindsurf 3 years ago
I love this Hillbilly Engineering. Dude, you are a genius. This is exactly what I want to do to make some custom painting racks for the painters at my body shop here in Oregon. I'm going to order one of these from the local Harbor Freight. Using your technique do you think it will do a nice job on 1 1/2 electrical conduit? How about 2 1/2 exhaust pipe? Thanks man.
Zylfrax791 3 years ago
how do you pack it good??
infinite7z 3 years ago
We used a air hammer with a piece of rubber on the end and vibrated it down. We continued this process until we were unable to put any more sand in the end.
dopescustoms 3 years ago
do u have to fill it with sand
hondaryder1994 3 years ago
Yes
dopescustoms 3 years ago
good job..i have one of them benders it really sucks but i'm going to try the sand.Anyway to save money is good.. . IF you sandrail out at sivler lake.. see you there...
dustenscot 3 years ago
Question... Do you think this technique and bender could be used on the kind of black steel pipes you can get at Home Deopt? I am talking about Cold Rolled Steel pipes with 2" diameter (inner) and 1/8in wall thickness. I need to make some slight bends (like 15-20 degrees) in some coping for a skatepark. I also need to seam weld the ends... what kind of welder do you have in your other seam welding video? Thanks! great tips!
sk8rdad 3 years ago
Great workaround with a cheap bender! Never heard of this technique. I'm wondering though, how do you make bends on shorter pieces of tubing???
blaxpear 3 years ago 2
what did you use to fit or modify the dies? thank you for your video
fromps1 3 years ago 3
Thanks alot for the tip! I used to get flattened bends with my HF Bender. That sand is smart thinking!
mylyrics 3 years ago 2
Thanks for sharing!
vochitoken 3 years ago 2
Your Welcome! :)
dopescustoms 2 years ago
Great tip! I'll be buying a harbor freight 12 ton thanks to you Sir.
Doug in OR
brokenhopetattoos 3 years ago 2
What mod's did the dies require? Was is just smoothing the surfaces? Really enjoying the videos! Great help and money saving tips! Thanks Maurice.
areofall 3 years ago 2
Just have to open them up a little bit to allow for the tubing to fit into the die. We had used a small piece of tube to assure for the correct fit. Good Luck and God Bless
dopescustoms 3 years ago
what size and thickness of that pipe? can it be done it with a 1mm thickness?
hidupdonlod 4 years ago
We have only tried this on .098 and .068 wall tubing. My best advice would be to try it on scrap first. If that dosen't work then just be creative in trying to figure a way make it work. We tried several times and many ways not to do it, but it only took the once for the one that would work.:) Gook Luck
dopescustoms 4 years ago
Damn!!I have never bent pipe in my cheapy bender without the sand packed in the pipe,the last job was in 43mm dia pipe with a wall thickness of 4.3mm.Luckily I only got a few flayt 90 degs that got binned!!I only I knew,something so obvious,I know with fine brass tube they fill it with water,cap it and put it in the freeser overnight then bend it,same principle,thanks!!
silver760 4 years ago
Why not just use a mandrel bender???
bendingguy 4 years ago
Simply because of the cost involved in either buying or paying someone to use there Mandrel Bender. We are trying keep the cost down to allow most anyone to relize that not all things are out of there reach. Thanks for the comment.
dopescustoms 4 years ago
CAREFUL not to use seam welded tubing for roll cages. As you mentioned, this type of tubing is prone to splitting. Use only DOM tubing. THANKS for a GREAT video! Keep posting more of your innovations, please. : )
draygnol 4 years ago
Good information.
JRYANG9000 4 years ago
are you mexican?
tonyballa07 4 years ago
fabulous way to save big bucks! thanks!
drumsnbass 4 years ago
excellent and very helpful for a job i'm struggling with, I thought I would need sand, will this technique work exactly the same with ally?
wayneshephard 4 years ago