goaty Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Hi all, i am looking for a pipe bender in which i can use to bend pipe for exhausts (2.5inch for my 200tdi) but would also be handy to bend tube for roll cages etc. Found some on eblag and the bloke says it will bend exhaust tube fine but i was hoping for some more opinions, link below. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...E:X:RTQ:GB:1123 Anyone know anything of them?? this may also come in handy for work, which is a bonus but only if it does exhaust tube.Any other advice is welcome. thanks joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 It looks like a machine mart style cheapy, which will ripple the inside of the tube, making it unsuitable for roll cage work. No idea how it'll perform on exhaust pipe, i doubt it will perform as well as a proper mandrel bender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrfarmer Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 that type of bender flattens most pipes a bit as it bends them, so bending exhaust pipes may flatten them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 You can't bend exhaust pipe in that type of bender, it will not so much faltten as crease as soon as you try. For exhuast you need a mandrel bender, even the trick of filling with sand tamping down abnd pluging the ends will see at the very best a massively rippled exhaust. The MM and Clarke benders have IMHO Poor dies, these are equally often producuing poor qulaity bends with deformation which is frankly often unacceptable. Try to find a secondhand JC2 or Tubella type, they do appear on ebay now and again these will do cage type work but again not Exhuast nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Bates Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I've got a pipe bender like that one and as has been said above on thin walled steel it flattens or kinks it. On thick walled tube such as scaffold poles and gass/steam pipe its ok but not much else! Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
istruggle2gate11 Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Guys, its a combination of a lot of factors: Tube quality / specification = a major factor Die / Former Quality = a major factor Machine Quality / rigidity = a major factor Experiance = a major factor It is very wrong to say this type of bender is not up to the job, a prime example being DirtyDiesel, he has done countless cages with this type of bender and I doubt you will find a ripple or kink in any of them, indeed the ones he builds for himself and friends alike are faultless. I have the following type: Ridgid 3813 tip-up wing head 3/8” - 3”. Pump force: 130KN. Weight: 82kg. Its a quality piece of kit, the machine is superbly built and the formers are perfect, DirtyDiesel has one very similar (cant remember the make, might be tubella) and both produce fantastic results WHEN the right material is chosen. As for the exhaust, why not use the above said type bender and use thick walled pipe? It does not have to be thin wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mortus Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 exhaust pipe tends to split when you try and bend it, whenever ive seen somebody modifying a exhaust ive always see the cut and weld at a different angle approach. what are you doing exactly to your exhaust? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iomlt Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 would heating the pipe help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goaty Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 Hey, thanks for all the input. I did think of filling it with sand and heating it but this probably still wont be much cop, may just have to cut and weld loads of bits together unless i see an eblag bargain. As for the exhaust, i want to change my 200tdi so it has a centre box but up real high then follow the chassis along up high then at the back where the chassis drops down to the rear xmember, between the chassis and body and out the rear quater. I may have enough bits for a cut and shut but not sure if i have enough 2.5 inch tube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 That type of bender will not bend exhaust - but you've gathered that by now. The simplest (and cheapest) option is to buy a number of pre-formed bends and some straight tube then glue all the bits together. It actually works pretty well. My last several exhausts have been made from bits salvaged from the skip behind ATS. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
integerspin Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 You need a rotary bender for the thin tube. From memory they don't always use a mandrel when using the 'mandrel' bender so in effect it's just a rotary draw bender? I did alter a press bender so it was a rotary bander, it was a real bodge but bent thinwall ali tubing. If you look in exhaust catalogs they will probably list bends and straight pipe, well my 1982 Ti one does, I keep meaning to get a new catalog;-) Just looked at the Bosal online cat and it has bends and stuff. Course skip diving out the back of your local ex' place works. The place that used to do my Mandrel bending made proper 'nest of snakes' type headers, the only way to achieve the bends was sand bending. I sand bent 10swg and it worked amazingly but I couldn't achieve a tight[usable] radius on thinwall for headers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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