Harbor Freight Bender

[monte55]

I also have a HF bender to compliment my home made bender. Pics in gallery.
It does things the HF won't. Anyway........one big question is what can you bend. Flat, solid etc are easy to bend. Bending sq tubing is harder as it wants to kink. Here is a piece I bent just to see if I could make it this tight. Material is 3/4 sq tube 14ga.

First...180 degree bend

Second... 3" dia piece of aluminum I had, enlarged center hole to 5/8" for pins, cut 1/4" groove in aluminum 1/8" deep so the 1/4" steel round ring snaps in and only half of the 1/4" ring projects out from the aluminum face.

Third...180 bend also

Fourth...3" die on bender with steel ring in middle of material to be bent.

Fifth... closer view of bender.

I will not take credit for the die idea....I saw it about a year ago on some site. You could take the round dies that come with bender and put grooves in them to snap a ring on. Take the ring back off when you want a flat die. I wouldn't weld it on. My ring just spins around.
3/4" sq tube is a great size for smaller carts etc. If I can do a 180 this way, anything less will be a piece of cake,.....think how much better some of the projects will look without all the angle joints and welds.
I got my HF bender on sale for $50.....well worth that.
BTW... you must stop the tubing from trying to move as you bend. I used visegrips next to the material stop.

[Handy560]

I was looking at that bender at HF yesterday... on sale like half price. I think I may need to go back.

I was really interested in that 36" brake they have. Not really high quality and I know I will get crap because it could be a weldin project, but for the little I use it, it may be ok?

Anyone have one of those?

John

[jjsjeff]

Do the HF benders bend pipe or tube? The reason I'm asking is that I don't have a steelyard near me and it would be easiest to build stuff out of 1/2", 3/4", and 1" black steel pipe from the hardware store. Or maybe water pipe is too rigid to bend?

[welderman23]

Do the HF benders bend pipe or tube? The reason I'm asking is that I don't have a steelyard near me and it would be easiest to build stuff out of 1/2", 3/4", and 1" black steel pipe from the hardware store. Or maybe water pipe is too rigid to bend?

you are correct.
the water pipe is harder to bend .I dont have a bender ,but they multiply the torque to bend whatever material around a die but it should be easier than sticking it in a vise and yanking on it

[fun4now]

the HF bender is only for solid stock, nether tube or pipe will work in it with the dies that come with it. as you can see monte55 came up with a way around that problem for square tube. if he sends it to me i can give ya a better set of test results.....
i have also done a little of the square pipe in my ring roller with so-so results there also but have not tried it with the bender. if you are looking for a ring roller the e-bay one is nice, add a ring to the 4 sticks they give ya for a handle and its top notch.
monte55 , let me know when ya get that off in the mail for me so i can watch for it.

[bialecki]

Can you post the part number for the Harbor Freight tube bender, I was not able to find it on their web site.

Thanks

[rich]

bialecki, the bench model is 44094-5VGA and the floor model is 31980-0VGA.

It just did a search on the word Bender on the Home Page.

Rich

[bialecki]

Thanks, I see they have it for $75.00, not too bad especially when I will not be bending tubes all day, but only now and then. I appreciate the help and advice this site offers.

[bialecki]

I also have a HF bender to compliment my home made bender.

I will not take credit for the die idea....I saw it about a year ago on some site. You could take the round dies that come with bender and put grooves in them to snap a ring on. Take the ring back off when you want a flat die.

monte55, can you expand on the "putting a grove into thew die". What does that do for you? And can you take a jpeg of the die and give dimensions?

Thank you,

[bialecki]

I also have a HF bender to compliment my home made bender.

I will not take credit for the die idea....I saw it about a year ago on some site. You could take the round dies that come with bender and put grooves in them to snap a ring on. Take the ring back off when you want a flat die. I wouldn't weld it on. My ring just spins around.

monte55 can you expand on the recommendation of putting a grove on the dies. What is the purpose of the grove and what are the dimensions? If possible can you point out the grove and snap ring on one of your photos?

Your help is appreciated. I just placed an order with HF for the floor mounted bender and twister accessory. They had the floor mounted bender on sale for $75. Also here is my contribution with future HF orders; I found this site that lists the coupon codes for discounts. I was able to get the $10 gift card with this order. Here is the url link: http://www.billt.com/harborfreight.htm

Thanks,