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Bender mounting ** UPDATE 8-04** Mounted and Bending!

MTBLAZER89

MTBLAZER89

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My bender will be mounted to my garage floor. It won't be permanent in it's location, but just set up when I need to use it. What should I use to do this? I'd rather not leave studs in the floor, but not sure if anchors are useable several times?

Tips, Advice?
 
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I put lead anchors in with 1/2 x 4 bolts. Holds down a 18" square plate. Works great. Just blow the holes out before bolting down.
 
X2

I would also suggest that you put set screws in the anchors when the bender is removed and not in use to help keep crap from filling up the anchor hole.
 
I used 4, 5/8 course thread ancors and bolts for my stand. When I bought mine my buddy offered to have his pipeing dept from his company make me a heavy duty stand using 3" pipe and a 8" welded flange. I modified it so I could pivot it while bending if necessary. It has 6 equally spaced holes and can be pivoted to 6 different posistions. Like Scott said, set screws are a good idea. Mine stays put all the time. There heavy sob's to be movong alot. These pics are of when I just did the first hole. Don't have pics of all six holes but you get the idea. It stays in the most optimum position but I have had to index it more then once.

DSCN0898.JPG

DSCN0900.JPG

DSCN0899.JPG
 
I thought y'all meant

bender-futurama.png


doing something lewd. :doah:

-- A
 
I'm no expert on cement anchors, but here's what I found..... originally I just had the bender bolted to the floor with 5/8 lead anchors....

they do NOT like to be reused.....as I begin undoing them and turning the bender so I could do long bends without hitting stuff.. the anchors started to fail in short order....

so here's what I did.. hunk of 1/4" around, made a clocking plate... i leave the main plate on all the time... and remove/turn the bender... I made a wood cover to fit over the studs when the bender is off... in a pinch i can pull the plate up... now I can undo 4 nuts and clock it 45 at a clip.. not as slick as Rob's, but it works...



handle001.jpg





handle002.jpg
 
I use what are called 'dropin anchors'. These give you a steel female thread in the floor that can hold up to the bolt being installed and removed repeatedly. When your bender isn't bolted down just screw in some flathead bolts to keep the dirt and crap out.
 
Captainfab said:
I use what are called 'dropin anchors'. These give you a steel female thread in the floor that can hold up to the bolt being installed and removed repeatedly. When your bender isn't bolted down just screw in some flathead bolts to keep the dirt and crap out.
Click to expand...

This is the best option. I sold hardware for four years and the drop in anchors are the way to go. Check these out. Home Depot has them.

http://www.itw-redhead.com/multi_prod02.asp

http://www.itw-redhead.com/multi_perf01.asp
 
I know its been a few months in the post now but I like to use hilti 3/8" coil anchors. They are very reusable, one can buy many extra springs and if you drill all the way through your concrete floor you can simply push the spring all the way through and thread another into the concrete. (good if your hole fills up with crap, just shove everything down into the dirt and put on another spring). You dont need to replace the coil, it can remain in place forever if you want to. Ive used these for years for everything from supporting wall braces (shoring) to scaffolds.

Many home depots now have hilti "areas" in the tool corral. Somebody from hilti will know what your talking about and may have some in stock, if not they could easily order them for you and ship them straight to your house. They are also a little cheaper than drop in anchors

The anchor....
http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/page/module/product/prca_rangedetail.jsf?lang=en&nodeId=-70765


Extra coils....
http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/page/module/product/prca_catnavigation.jsf?lang=en&nodeId=-70764

By the way, make sure you install them correctly. After drilling your hole, pound the anchor in only to the little groove in the shank of the bolt. Then you tighten the bolt down. If you pound the anchor in all the way then try to tighten the bolt up you will pull the bolt out of the coil.
 
Ok I got these drop in anchors from Home Depot, but they didn't come with a tool and I didn't see one anywhere in the vicinity. I've read the directions on the site and it just looks like a drift.

Anybody else just use a drift or a punch?
 
Yep, I usually just use a punch or a piece of rod. All you really need to do is 'set' the wedge that is at the bottom of the anchor. Make sure when you drill your holes, that you are going deep enough for the length of bolts you will be using. You don't want the bolt to bottom out on the wedge before your bender stand is tight to the floor.
 
DSCN4923.jpg


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I had to enlarge two of the holes in the plate by about 1/4" due to the bit wandering or something. Its secure though, and I also got bolts that are too long so I had to stack some washers to play with it :wink1:

I also lost one of my bolts that was too long :haha: Whatever it worked for the test run! :D


First piece

DSCN4926.jpg



Got real close on my first try. Went about 91* so I just tweaked it back some to 90*

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QUESTION: For my bend offset I came up with .125 as a value. Does that sound right? :dunno:

I can feel the bend started right where I marked the tube. I lined up my mark on the edge of the die.
 
When I did my bend offset calcs I ended up with a negative number (-3.8125")...

I was setting up the value so that I could line up the tubing marks to the outside of the tubing strap. It's a lot easier to see than peeking past the bender arms to find the edge of the die itself.

My calibrations are perfect now, but it did take a lot of trail-and-error and wasted tube to get all my springbacks figured out (it changes depending on the bend degrees, at least for me).

What calculation are you using to calculate the bend offset?



:usaflag:
 
Greg72 said:
When I did my bend offset calcs I ended up with a negative number (-3.8125")...

I was setting up the value so that I could line up the tubing marks to the outside of the tubing strap. It's a lot easier to see than peeking past the bender arms to find the edge of the die itself.

My calibrations are perfect now, but it did take a lot of trail-and-error and wasted tube to get all my springbacks figured out (it changes depending on the bend degrees, at least for me).

What calculation are you using to calculate the bend offset?



:usaflag:
Click to expand...

Actually I mistyped that Greg. It is -.125. Is it such a small number because I lined up on the edge of the die? I agree it was sort of a pain trying to look under the arms and see the mark. The strap sounds like a better idea :wink1:

I just used the formula in the pro Tools book. CLR + Mark Location + 1/2 of the OD - leg length= Bend Offset.

6+12+.875-19= -.125
 
I position my bend location offset similar to what Greg does, but I use the end of the block that the U-strap pins to. That block is always 3.750 long on the Pro Tools' dies, so my BLO's are typically in the -4.XXX" range.

Yes the amount of springback is affected some by the degree of the bends as well as the type of tube, ie: DOM versus HREW. It will also vary between runs of tube from the mill.
 
MTBLAZER89 said:
I also got bolts that are too long so I had to stack some washers to play with it
Click to expand...

This was one reason why I recommended the spring anchors, you wont have to play with the depth of the anchor and you dont have to worry about the hole filling up with crud. You could use all thread and a nut, that way you wont have to deal with the depth. But atleast you figured it out and are on your way to bending tube. :thumb:


Whats all this talk about bend offset? Does it have to do with where the bend starts and stops? Purpose being so you can determine the length of tube you need between bends? I dont know so sorry for the stupid questions. I read the pirate bending tube 101 and I think I can get the hang of it but it is honestly a little daunting. I just dont know what to do other then just start making a bunch of scrap tube with incorrect bends. That and it takes a little artistry to make your fabrication parts look nice and not goofey. I am going to try simple at first, some shock hoops with an engine brace. Then bumpers, cages, oh my, this is a little scary. To me regearing diffs was easy but not so much this.
 
The bend location offset is the distance from where the bend actually starts to where you want to make your reference mark. Some guys seem to be able to see the edge of their die, so that is why their BLO is small like MTBKAZER89's. Myself and Greg72 like ours out where you can see it better, so ours is a larger negative number.

If you're feeling a bit intimidated with tube bending, I would suggest checking out the Bend Tech software. it makes tube bending sooo much easier, and you're able to make complicated bends with ease.

http://www.2020softwaresolutions.com/index.htm
 
Ok I got new bolts today of the correct length so only 1 washer on each :D

I also spun the bender 180* as I had no idea what I was doing when I set it up I only had about 6 feet of clearance on the side you feed the tube in :rolleyes:

I measured my die and you are right 3.75" to the end of the block on the die. If I had used that as my mark my new BLO would be

6+8.25+.875-19= -3.875
 
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