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good reasonably priced tubing bender?

jd70ssclone

jd70ssclone

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Im in the market to buy a tubing bender for personal use and maybe and rarely some side work to make sliders bumpers and a cage for my dads k5 my question is what bender out there is a good one that wont break the bank that y'all have had experience with?
 
IIRC I paid ~$600 shipped for my JD2. I like it, I've bent a few hundred foot of 1.75 DOM. It bends pretty easy.
 
There are a couple of popular ones that a few people will post up about. The part that breaks the bank is the die sets.
 
jd70ssclone said:
Im in the market to buy a tubing bender for personal use and maybe and rarely some side work to make sliders bumpers and a cage for my dads k5 my question is what bender out there is a good one that wont break the bank that y'all have had experience with?
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love my Pro Tools 105HD... awesome company too...
 
Pro Tools has a deal on the 105 right now. I think for $750 you get bender, stand, 1 die, degree wheel ..basically everything to get started. JD2 setup like that would be $850-900
 
I bought the JD2 cuz a lot of other people I know have the same one was we swap dies if we needed to.
 
jd70ssclone said:
Yea I hear its a great bender how much did it set you back?,what have you made? And can you recommend a notcher? Thanks!
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I forget exactly.. i did the HD, for the larger diameter it does over the regular 105 cuz I planned on bending a bunch of 2".. I did the stand, degree wheel, handle, 1.5" die and a 2" die..

if you did it on the cheap, you could make a stand and handle easy enough and save a few bucks... the handle is just 1" x 3" tube... funny thing is, I've yet to use the degree wheel... tho at some point I'll start...

I researched them a bunch and decided on the Protools over the JD2 for a couple minor advantages... nothing against the JD2... and after dealing with them, I really like doing biz with ProTools, very stand up company...

I have a cheapie $50 holesaw notcher from eghey.. it does ok.. i find anything other than a 90 it's much easier to use other methods, meaning a chop saw or plasma depending on how funky the joint/node is... but Pro tools has a couple nice holesaw ones between $200 and 300..

and I've done my bumper and cage....



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I've had my Pro Tools' 105 for about 14 years. At the time I did my research, and decded that was the best one for me. The biggest complaint I have with the Pro Tools bender is the backing blocks. It seems no matter what I do, I get galling on the tube. This due to the fact that the backing blocks are mild steel just as the tube is. This is more of an issue with CREW tube. The JD2 backing blocks have a replaceable bearing material insert on their backing blocks. IMO this is a better design than what Pro Tools is offering. And yes I have spoken to PT about this, and Jim just tells me that I need to polish my backing block. I've done that many many times, and it only works for the first 3 or 4 bends.

A couple months ago. I ordered a custom die from PT, to the tune of $300.00 plus shipping. When I received the die, it was of very crude workmanship, and the backing block pin hole wasn't even close to the correct location. When I called Jim at PT, he appologized, and said they had been having some employee problems. I know sh!t happens, but I just was not happy with what he offered to make the situation right. So I had to spend some more $$ on a lttle machine work, plus a couple hours of my time re-working the die and backing block.

If it weren't for the fact that I have a small fortune invested in dies (13 die sets) I would sell my PT105 and buy a JD2 #3. There's my .02 :frown1:
 
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big pappa b said:
Pro Tools has a deal on the 105 right now. I think for $750 you get bender, stand, 1 die, degree wheel ..basically everything to get started. JD2 setup like that would be $850-900
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I didn't pay that much, the model 3 came with everything you listed but the stand. A piece of 2x3 scrap worked just fine. :D
 
Captainfab said:
I've had my Pro Tools' 105 for abour 14 years. At the time did my research, and decded that was the best one for me. The biggest complaint I have with the Pro Tools bender is the backing blocks. It seems no matter what I do, I get galling on the tube. This due to the fact that the backing blocks are mild steel just as the tube is. This is more of an issue with CREW tube. The JD2 backing blocks have a replaceable bearing material insert on their backing blocks. IMO this is a better design than what Pro Tools is offering. And yes I have spoken to PT about this, and Jim just tells me that I need to polish my backing block. I've done that many many times, and it only works for the first 3 or 4 bends.

A couple months ago. I ordered a custom die from PT, to the tune of $300.00 plus shipping. When I received the die, it was of very crude workmanship, and the backing block pin hole wasn't even close to the correct location. When I called Jim at PT, he appologized, and said they had been having some employee problems. I know sh!t happens, but I just was not happy with what he offered to make the situation right. So I had to spend some more $$ on a lttle machine work, plus a couple hours of my time re-working the die and backing block.

If it weren't for the fact that I have a small fortune invested in dies (13 die sets) I would sell my PT105 and buy a JD2 #3. There's my .02 :frown1:
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I have the JD2, I grease the follower die/shoe regardless. I never get galling, and it makes bending the tube that much easier seeing as mine isn't hydro.
 
I always lube the backing block and the tube with white lithium grease, and I still get galling. Very frustrating......

tRustyK5 said:
I have the JD2, I grease the follower die/shoe regardless. I never get galling, and it makes bending the tube that much easier seeing as mine isn't hydro.
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That follower must be dead soft then...

Toughest bend job I did with mine was 1.5" 6061 AL tubing for 20 handrails I was building. 135 degree bend on one part. Not only did the follower get greased, but the aluminum tube got slathered the full length of the bend area. I went through about a gallon of green chassis grease.

Without burying the whole works in grease the tube would begin to gall, then rapidly progress to cracking and tearing.

I did radius and polish the leading and trailing edges of the follower, which made an immediate difference.
 
90'K5 said:
I didn't pay that much, the model 3 came with everything you listed but the stand. A piece of 2x3 scrap worked just fine. :D
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same here. I'm gonna hit up cuervo though for how he did his hydro conversion:waytogo:
 
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