Bender for roll cage
 

Hey guys,
Have any of you ever used a Greenlee pipe/ conduit bender for building their roll cage? Would this style do gradual bends like over fastback door window. Want a very tight fitting cage. Also, to those that have built cages, how important is it to have the smallest radius bender possible? Thanks


http://houston.craigslist.org/tls/542324166.html

thats not gonna bend 095 or .134 dom, look at pro tools manual bender or others. to get a decent hydraulic tube bender your gonna spend 1,500 minimum, and a 6 to 7 inch radius is perfect for most roll cages

www.vansantent.com
i got the jmr bender and its killer

if you're doing what i think you're doing, you need a tubing roller like this one:

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/p...roductID=18583

just so your clear on why its important to have the proper tool......what you need for a roll cage tubing bender is a "mandrel tubing bender". Mandrel benders pull the tube around the radius thus preventing the tubing from crushing. benders that push the die into the tube like the greenlee and cheap copies will crush the tube or even kink it. you can not use that rolling type tube bender for roll cages especially main hoops due to tight bends needed, and that bender in eastwood will not handle roll cage grade tubing. that thing is only good for light tubing. and a roller type bender has to go back and forth several times to get the final bend so it would be hard to duplicate bends over and over. look at vansant and they should have manual mandrel benders for about 500 or so. Check out the links below. tubeshark is a professional model the jd2 is an affordable model that is perfect for the home shop. and good price too! hope ive steered you in the right direction.

http://www.tubeshark.com/
http://www.jd2.com/

Marc

OOcustoms I think you are confused on what a mandrel bender is. You will never find a mandrel bender for $500 they are more in the ranger of $20000 with little to no tooling. A mandrel bender does what the name implies it puts flexible mandrel inside the tube that flexes with the bend and keeps the tubing cross section round. The type of bender you are buying from Mitler brothers or the like is just a tubing bender with a follower shoe this keeps the bends consistent but you will notices at the start and stops of the bend the tube will have mark in it were the cross section of tube is out of round. If in had a mandrel inside it that goes away. Any way mandrel bender is not necessary to roll cage.

Did not realize that Greenlee was that cheap:( .
But I did noticed on their website that it's radius is way too big.
From the little I have read and have always assumed, I will most likely need several benders/rollers to get a professional looking cage. So now I guess its time to make a decision on whether or not buying the tools would be justifiable. Sure seems like a lot of my project money ends up going to tools. What would be a reasonable price for 8 point cage with removable crossbar. The car is a 67 fastback that has no interior, floor, and soon to be dash.Thanks for the replies.

1300-2k, just the dom tubing will be 300-500
you do not need several benders to do a professional looking cage, the pro tools bender will do it, just your arms will be bigger after

I plan to call around. Thanks again.

Hi Travis !

Thought I would jump in. I have a Pro-Tools bender (HMP200C) and I can do a basic roll bar with no problem. Mine was $640 plus 67.00 in shipping. You do need to pump the handle - but I can bend 110 degrees easily in thickness up to 1/4 inch wall. I have a 6 inch die - but they carry all the way down to 4 in if you wanna go that tight.

Check my build section where I posted pics @ https://lateral-g.net/forums/show...t=5109&page=10

I'd highly recommend a digital level (mine is a SmartTool version) and get the how to bend tubing from Mittler Brothers. In their video they specifically walk through how to measure, setup, bend and check a 4 point roll bar. They provide the math formulas, radius charts and even give a real world way of doing the project with very little math. I watched the video a couple times taking notes, put together my measurements, plugged them into the formulas and nailed it. I found it VERY helpful as I'd never bent anything bigger then brake/fuel lines.

Another option is to do a paper template with measurements - and send those to someone. I used one of our sponsors here Ironworks Speed and Kustom for the hoops I needed that I couldn't bend - and they built what I needed and got them back to me. See page 14 of my build and you'll see those driveshaft hoops.

Good luck and remember - YOU CAN DO IT !!

Jim

PS, you will want to get the mittler brothers tube clamp for the SmartLevel too - man I CAN'T live without that assy !

Thanks so much for the info.. Sounds like good advice to follow if I decide to do it myself.