Harbor Freight Tubing Roller

[urch55]

Large radius "bends".

Thanks Ed that makes sense. other wise you would be limited to the radius of the die.

[etonline]

I read on some board, don't remember which. That the dies wheren't really 3/4" but where more like 1 & 3/4".

They haven't had one at my local HF. But if that is where you need to be double check them at the store before you buy it.

[allessence]

The quality of these units are less then stellar. For once in a while use for less than exacting work I think that it would work on thin stuff.

The reason is the sides are pretty thin material and the top plate is thin as well.

The rollers are on ball bearings.

I have some vintage (3 of them) wagon wheel benders that can be used for solid bars. And these work great. They are all Cast iron work horses.


The tubing benders by JD and a few other company's would be a better bet for Crome moly tubing. as the dies are designed to keep the tubing much more round then simply flattening on the sides to create the bend.

[nocheepgas]

The tubing benders by JD and a few other company's would be a better bet for Crome moly tubing. as the dies are designed to keep the tubing much more round then simply flattening on the sides to create the bend.

The JD2 bender is a different type of bender than the one being discussed. it makes (relatively) small radius bends where the HF unit makes a large radius bend of varying degrees based upon how much pressure the operator exerts on the die by tightening the rollers.

[jworman]

Has anyone used that HF large radius tubing bender? I would be using it for light fabricaton projects on mild steel from .065 to .095 wall. Was wondering if it worked ok and how it held up to use.

I bought one a couple of months ago. I can't say I've used it much, but I was impressed with the bend in steel tubing I got. There was some distortion, but nothing like the pipe bender.

They also have a set of dies for the machine for square tubing. I sprung for a set of them (@ $49.95) and I was impressed with the bend there as well. So far they only have them for 1/2" square tubing. I don't know if they will go to bigger tubing (and if not, I don't know why not).

A friend came to my shop and wanted to bend a large circle out of 1 1/2" X 1/4" strap. I didn't have the square tube dies then, so we centered it on a round tubing die. It took a little effort to keep the material centered but we prevailed and the bender made a very nice base for a stand he was wanting to build.

I expect to get good service from the machine. The sides aren't very thick, but they are in tension and it seems to be enough. The dies are pretty hefty.

Somewhere I may still have the 1' tube and the 1/2" square I bent. If so, and there is interest I can take a photo.

John

[Sonora Iron]

Somewhere I may still have the 1' tube and the 1/2" square I bent. If so, and there is interest I can take a photo.

Yes please! Inquiring minds would like to see!

[jworman]

I didn't find the tube yet, but we are getting a unusual (for us) bit of rain so I didn't prowl around in my scrap pile too long.

The square tube is bent about as tight as the machine will allow. The second photo shows the tube hitting the adjusting screw.

Also here is a photo of the small die and the large die. There is one in the middle.

As I said, I haven't used it much, but I expect to.

John

[Sonora Iron]

John thank you for posting the pictures!

Actually that isn’t very impressive for a smaller diameter bend! Years ago there was a member here with the handle of AZ Coyote I think. He posted these pictures of a modification he did to his Harbor Freights shape bender.
There sure seems to be a gap between the tubing roller and the shape bender far as size of radius. AZ Coyote’s method is good up to 3-inch, but the roller looks like it could only go down to 12 inch or so.

[Broccoli1]

It is NOT supposed to do small bends

It is a Roller not a Bender.


Try putting an Arch in some tubing for a gate with Az's modified Bender this is not a dig on AZ's mod-

If you need a Tube bender, buy a Tube bender

If you need a Roller, buy a Roller

[jworman]

John thank you for posting the pictures!

Actually that isn’t very impressive for a smaller diameter bend! Years ago there was a member here with the handle of AZ Coyote I think. He posted these pictures of a modification he did to his Harbor Freights shape bender.
There sure seems to be a gap between the tubing roller and the shape bender far as size of radius. AZ Coyote’s method is good up to 3-inch, but the roller looks like it could only go down to 12 inch or so.

I believe it's a completely different animal. This HF tube bender doesn't cave in the front and back. If you wanted a large circle or maybe run a liquid through the tube, it would be the way to go.

The AZ Coyote mod is a great one for tight bends, but it isn't good for what the other one is good for.

I have a home made bender like the AZ one that my neighbor made. It does a great job if you don't mind the distortion at the bend.

If you look here, and scroll down a bit you can see mine bending 1" and I've done 1 1/4" and 1 1/2".

www.zianet.com/jworman/shoptips.html

(sorry, I couldn't make the link work)

This works great for what it does, but I'd hate to make a wheel or something with a large radius with it.

John