Bending Round Tubing...

[flamed181]

pack the tube with sand.the sand keeps the walls from collapsing I just picked up a new jet bender ill let you guys know how it works out.It bends 11ga like nothing

 

[birddog1148]

Here is a good link that has some mods to the HF "Kinker" as its called that is reported to work well.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/vi...ys=0&postorder=asc&highlight=benders&start=20
It a "pipe bender" not a tubing bender. Here is some of my work in pipe on the "Kinker"

 

[Sentrek]

I bent a test piece of 1" dia x 11 gauge to about a 85 degree angle with out any kinks. I figure if I pack the good stuff with sand and as long as I dont try to bend past a 90-100 angle I dont forsee any issues. I also slapped together this little stand for it. And yes, that is a left over bag of thinset I used as a counter weight so it wasnt tippy.
The bends in your photo looks good to me, I will be happy if mine turn out that good.

Shot at 2011-07-12

 

[birddog1148]

That middle pic in my last post the top bend on that rear cage was greater than 90, the 2 yellow lines, those were where I lined the center of my die up with, I did part of the bend, and then moved the pipe over to the next line and went again, to get that angle.

 

[Sentrek]

yeah, I noticed that. I dont think I will have any greater than a 90 but not for sure yet so if you can do that I think I will be good.

 

[Farmer Mike]

I have seen good bends with pipe benders but you also want to polish the cast pipe grooves as smooth as possible and use plenty of spray lubricant. Doing that lets the tubing slide. I finally got mad enough and bought a JD bender. No more kinks and 180 bends with ease. Patience is the key ingredient.