Bender for roll cage

[Travis77]

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

[68protouring454]

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

[Hoot]

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

[OOCustoms]

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

[B Schein]

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.

[Travis77]

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.

[OOCustoms]

Originally Posted by B Schein

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.

thank you brian for not tearing me a new one for that mess up. I was on the right track but my terms were off. I was under the impression mandrel was draw type bending. i was definitely wrong. so yes draw type would be his best bet and thats what i was trying to imply. thank you for the clear up on that! i appreciate it!

Marc

[Silver69Camaro]

Originally Posted by B Schein

You will never find a mandrel bender for $500 they are more in the ranger of $20000 with little to no tooling.

$20k would be cheap for a good mandrel bender. Ones similar to the benders we use are around $200k. But, like everything, you get what you pay for.