bending .188 wall DOM tube is tough pics

[rdn2blazer]

so i needed to bend some .188 wall DOM. i asked here a month or so ago if anyone had any sugestions on how to bend heavy wall and got no replies. I have a M-TECH model NE5 manual bender. when i called M-TECH SUPPLY to ask if it would bend .188 wal DOM, the guy said "dude, do you know the tensil strength of DOM? that stuff is very strong. and .188 wall, thats thick stuff." so I asked what was the max wall? he said .154 max. and thats going to be tough and you still might cause some damage to the drive pins. said i could use stronger pins but then the bending arms might start bending. then the guy suggested putting some heat to the tube.

so that is the route I took. my bud and I heated the tube to what we thought was hot enough and nothing, could not budge it. i could tell the bender was under alot of load. so we re-heated the tube to where it just started to turn red, then we went for it. got about 25 deg worth of bend and it was going easy. then my bud shouts "THE FOLLOWER BLOCK IS MELTING!"

the aluminum inserts on the follower block melted and were dripping hot aluminum on the garage floor. so that killed our progress dead in our tracks. i had to order a new set so i had good dimentions to copy from. so i came up with machining 4140 cromoly follower blocks that im gonna heat treat, then titanium nitride coat them. this will aid in minimizing the friction and allow the tube to slide through the follower blocks much easier. i just have to machine the second blocks 2.0 radius them heat treat them.

here are the blocks, we will see how they work when im done.

 

[colbystephens]

interesting. where's the pics of melting stuff?

 

[MattK]

what do you need that thick of tube for?

 

[Greg72]

What degree bend were you trying to achieve??

Perhaps a more gentle CLR would remove some of the stresses?


Either way, it's fun reading your posts....there's always something cool going on!

 

[rdn2blazer]

interesting. where's the pics of melting stuff?

i through the melted blocks away, i tried to use them to make my new ones, but they were to far gone so i had to order the new blocks to copy from.


what do you need that thick of tube for?

you guys are gonna flame me but im doing front and rear tube bumpers.



What degree bend were you trying to achieve??

Perhaps a more gentle CLR would remove some of the stresses?


Either way, it's fun reading your posts....there's always something cool going on!

thanks man, the degree im trying to bend is about 130 deg or something like that, dont remember of the top of my head, and it is for the front bumpers stinger.
im doing these just for the hell of it. they will be stout
__________________

 

[steve_kibbe]

That is going to be one hell of a bumper, can't wait to see how much it weighs.

 

[trailblazr81]

Rock on!! This is one of the reasons my cousin and I made a forge. Makes bending tube/pipe so much easier. Well that and melting down beer cans and making little aluminum figures from old cast iron cookie molds.

 

[JeffHK5]

How does the NE5 compare to the Model 3 ? My buddy told me he bent 3/16 wall 2" DOM on his #3 with a 3' cheater bar and a nice "firm" pull.

He has been known to be full of shi+ in the past though!

Jeff

 

[rdn2blazer]

How does the NE5 compare to the Model 3 ? My buddy told me he bent 3/16 wall 2" DOM on his #3 with a 3' cheater bar and a nice "firm" pull.

He has been known to be full of shi+ in the past though!

Jeff

the only difference is the NE5 comes with a bronze bushing that holds the arms together during die changes. the model 3 you need a second pair of hands to do a die change. the bender will or could come apart during a die change. the model 3 has a degree wheel that is in 1 deg incerments and is a painted and han the degree marks silk screened on it, where as the NE5 has a wheel with 5 deg incerments that is unpainted and has the deg incerments engraved into it. i took my wheel which has the 5 deg inc. and used a 1/4 in tall letter "I" stamp and stamped each 1 deg incerment, then painted it.

and lastly i would bet that your friend IS full of ****, atleast I would have to see 3/16 2.0 tube bent in a manual bender to believe it. and my stand is not the cheesy 2x2 1/4 stock stand. i have a 3 1/2 X 1/4 pipe welded to a 1 in thick X 8 in dia. reducer pipe flange, its way heavy duty.