Tube Bending Choices

[Bill Howe]

I am interested in buying a piece of tube bending equipment for 1.5" tubing. Does anyone here have experience with different manufacturers? Recommendations? Is there any good review sites for these types of equipment?

Thanks
Bill

[Ron Sutton]

There are many good machines. I prefer & own a Mittler Brothers tubing bender.

[Schwartz Performance]

We also have a Mittler machine- works great!!

I've seen Baileigh Industrial marketing a lot lately, they appear to have nice machines as well.

-Dale

[astroracer]

I have a Pro-Tools 105. It has worked great for years and never given me a problem. I just built a stand for it last year and added an air/hydraulic bottle jack to power it. Now it is free of the floor mounted stand and can bend tube where ever an air hose can reach. Here is a link to the stand build in my Bad Ast thread.
https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/20086-The-BAD-AST-Project-Faze-II/page31?p=995065#post995065

[GNon18s]

I just bought a JDsquared (JD2) model 32. The manual version like I bought is @$400. Plus dies. Dies are @$225-$300. They have more expensive hydraulic assist units but I didnt feel I needed that for home projects.

[GNon18s]

Check out Pro-tools HMP-200 also. That was the other bender I was looking at but I couldnt find much feedback on it.

[sccacuda]

I've had a Mittler for 15 years. Awesome bender. Shoes and followers are expensive. This is more a production bender. If your just going to do a few here and there, the JD might be better. The biggest thing to look for is one that doesn't "neck" the bend.

[Buryingthesun]

I've had a Mittler for 15 years. Awesome bender. Shoes and followers are expensive. This is more a production bender. If your just going to do a few here and there, the JD might be better. The biggest thing to look for is one that doesn't "neck" the bend.


Do you have the aluminum shoes and followers? They should last "forever" if you lube them after each bend

[BAILEIGH INC]

I am here to answer any questions, remember all of you guys get the PT Hookup, nice little discount.

[Auto Rod Technologies]

I just bought a JDsquared (JD2) model 32. The manual version like I bought is @$400. Plus dies. Dies are @$225-$300. They have more expensive hydraulic assist units but I didnt feel I needed that for home projects.

I have the same one with the Hydro.. works great!

[latoracing]

As far as looking for a bender for home use, I had to consider how much I was going to use the machine. I really wanted a hydraulic, vertical machine until I started looking at the up front cost. After looking at the different benders, prices, and quality I ended up going JD-2 Model 32 manual. I work in a shop that has several mandrel draw tube type benders along with a new CNC multi process bending center. Expensive tooling, even more expensive machines which are great for production. I am not going to bend 100 bends in a hour at home, nor did I want to drop a bunch of $$$ on something I am only going to bend less than 30 bends on this entire project. I did build my own stand, and might convert this to a hydraulic vertical machine in the future. For the money spent, and the bend quality in 1.75" x .120" DOM tube, I am completely satisfied with my purchase. There are other fantastic companies with great products, JD-2 made in the USA helped make my decision for me.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://s1336.photobucket.com/user/latoracing/media/IMG_20140225_192517_zps5e1b5bcd.jpg.html)

[edog1]

Bill, what is your budget and how often do you anticipate the need for bending tubing? I just picked up a Baileigh RDB-150 Hydraulic Tubing Bender to replace my Pro Tools 105 HD bender. Now I need to save some money to purchase the dies.