Pipe Bender - Worth it?

[Big_Eddy]

I need to bend some 1 1/2" pipe (sched 40) for a project for my son. It's a one off project and I need to make 6 x 90 degree bends. They are NOT structural.

I know I can slice the outside half way through, make the bends and weld up the outside, but I see the $99 and $149 Pipe benders (bottle jack, saddle and roller version) and I wonder if they are worth the $99, given they come complete with saddles for several different pipe sizes?

I'm not adverse to spending the money if they work well, as I'm sure I'd use it again off and on, but I hate spending money on something only to be frustrated trying to use it.

Good, bad, save my dough, wouldn't be without it?
Tips and tricks for using one?
Things to look out for?

Thanks

[Schnellboot]

Hi Eddie, for pipe benders I have been told to fill the tubes with sand, and compress it tightly with wood caps on both ends of the tube. Also the bender should match as perfectly as possible the section of the tube.
Hope this helps.

Regards:


Jerónimo.

[hankj]

Big Eddy,

I bought one of those from Northern Tool a year ago. Only needed it twice so far, but I'm glad I had it when I needed it! It is the bottle jack type you referred to, and it worked fine. I had to squiggle a length of black pipe around a couple of demolition-only removable rocks, and the bender worked sweet.

Hank

[Vicegrip]

The saddle and roller type work OK for non race cage type stuff. They will leave dents on the back of the pipe where the rollers contact. More so with thinner wall tubing like .120 or .95 I made a set of saddles from the next size pipe up from each size. They keep the rollers from denting and deforming the pipe on the outside. Cleaning up the bender saddle face helps too. Most are rough castings and I found that you can grind them some to clean up deepen them some and this makes an almost mandrel like bend.

[Sberry]

I have went down and bought rigid conduit sweeps for one off jobs too. Already bent flawlessly.

[fabricator]

Would 90 degree pipe elbows work? they can be bought for about 5 dollars each.

[2tay530]

those work great for 90 degree bends! I just folowed this.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GWT3N3m4bE4&feature=related

[SinGear]

There not a bad buy, I bought one and used it to Fab up half of a long travel golf cart project. The key as was stated above is fill the pipe with sand so it doesn't collapse, although we just duct taped the ends and it worked fine.

If your not opposed to spending a little money check into a JD squared, that's the one I have now and it seems like it was about $225 or so with an 1 1/2" die from tricktools.com if you plan to do more it's worth it just for the speed and not having to fill each pipe with sand.

Ok they went up a bit but still worth the investment if you plan to do more bending
http://www.vansantent.com/model_3_bender.htm

Here's the link