When bending any pipe make sure the weld seam is always on side not the top or inside the bend,, the weld seam had become harder and will not bend/stretch like the rest of the pipe causing a collapse or kinks.

@andyeveland

3 жыл бұрын

This comment sure helped. Thanks

@StupidEarthlings

3 жыл бұрын

Great tip.

@MrDhandley

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@brewsterly2927

3 жыл бұрын

Tube has welded seam, pipe is drawn... it has no "seam".

@charlesboyd4469

3 жыл бұрын

@@brewsterly2927 Every piece of pipe i have bent had a seam. And, I always made sure it was on the side of the bend, not top or bottom.

Built complete exhaust system for my truck,Lay a piece of old carpet in dye or possibly rubber.I used old carpet and my ex. pipes came out beautiful.

Good video, camera work and audio. No annoying hard rock music blaring. Most youtube videos are ruined by ridiculous music.

Clamping a piece on top with a u-bolt works great. I did that and now I can bend without kinking or distorting the pipe. Great vid

I built stockcars in the early 60s. I filled the pipe with sand - capped both ends. Thats all we had were benders like the Harbor Frieght bender

@dgtlionbarger

3 жыл бұрын

I’ve heard of that before. But do you just leave the sand inside?

@oldSawyer

3 жыл бұрын

@@dgtlionbarger open the end & dump it out to reuse in the next section you need to bend. The sand is only used to keep the pipe from collapsing on itself while you bend it.

@deegan727

3 жыл бұрын

I was going to comment about this. I seen that done on a Biker Build Off show many years ago. I’ll have to try it sometime.

@electricdeckhead3083

3 жыл бұрын

@@deegan727 works a treat with these benders, moist sand, tamp it in and cap the ends with hardwood plugs, same principal when bending copper pipe, to make moonshine still coils, fill the pipe with water and freeze it, while frozen bend your coil and melt out water, one tight easy flowing coil.

@deegan727

3 жыл бұрын

Electric Deckhead Thanks good tips. I’m not doubting your water filled copper tube method as I’m sure you’ve done and that’s how you know that. It just sounds odd to me because I’ve seen my fair share of busted copper tube/pipe from freezing. Do you just freeze it to where it’s semi solid?

I luv my bender only use it for sc40 pipe had great success once I figured out were my rollers would need to be placed great video

Man you put my mind at ease. I'm just starting learning fabrication and bought a decent welder and this cheapo 16 ton bender. Was worried I just screwed myself out of 120 bucks but after watching this my bends look almost decent

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Good! You can build some decent projects with this bender if you have the patience. Its definitely worth the price if you use it right 🤘

I have hopes after watching this video...always been the type of person that has the mentality "if you want it done right, get the right tools for the job" type of guy...BUT when it comes down to not knowing anything about bending tube and the fact that I'm not going to be bending tube every other weekend...makes sense to have patience and figure out how to use another cheap alternative...all I want it for is to bend some sliders and a bumper. Great vid man!

Very informative video. Since you prefer/strongly suggest, working the machine ‘horizontally’, as do I, buy the Harbor Freight, or any brand, ‘Engine Stand’, used or new, and BOLT the Bender to it, and you not only have a ‘Horizontal’ Bender, you also can ROTATE the Bender to achieve ‘Compound Angles’ in your work. And the Bender is in a comfortable STANDING working height, for healthier ergonomics. Also, you can drill holes through the Engine Stands Legs to put All-Thread, or Long Bolts with Jam Nuts, to make fully adjustable ‘Leveling Legs’. It’s easily maneuverable, and when you unbolt the Bender, you also have an extra, or still have, a fully functional Engine Stand, and stand alone Pipe Bender. I’m sure a person with your Fabrication Skills, had an ‘A-HA’ moment, and completely visualized in your head, exactly what I described. By the way I’ve subscribed. Thanks for the videos.

@qomco

2 жыл бұрын

Thats a good idea!

@ChristopherJones16

11 ай бұрын

For anyone interested in the engine stand project: No need to thank me. kzread.info/dash/bejne/fIR40Zayqra5lKw.html

Thank you for making this video! I bought one of these a few years ago and have had mixed results on the couple jobs I used it for. Now I know what I was doing wrong.

Thanks! I just picked up used Sealey bender with the same design, and was afraid of kinking the material. Really useful tips!

You are exactly right. Taking your time and having patience is the secret. The stinger looks perfect. Pipe size is great. Another very good video .

Excellent videos. Straight to the point without stupid music or interruptions.

Here's a useful hack I got from another vid... guy mounted the bender to an old engine stand. Just a tube welded to the bottom of the baseplate. That let him use it flat like this, but at waist height so he didn't have to kneel on the floor to use it. Plus he could rotate it if needed to make it easier to work with longer material.

I’ve used mine for many years and I’ve never had a problem with kinks maybe a little bit of a flat spot in tight bends. These are all good ideas and can help I’m sure

really enjoying all your videos. good presentation, good structure, good lengths. Great advice. You have definitely given me lots of visual explanation, that is turning into inspiration. Wish you the best of luck going forward.

Great video. I’ve been a welder/fabricator for years and have one of these. The packing with sand trick works for tubing better. And just tack a cap on either end when you have packed it. A piece of flat bar or something will work for temp caps. Great video man.

I’ve had extremely good luck with packing the tube with sand. All you have to do is throw a little duct tape over the end then run around the tube with the tape at the end and IT WILL hold the sand in. Sounds crazy but it will. Another trick I always used was to get a bucket and wet the sand down before you pack it in the tube. It packs way tighter wet! Lol ive got good results using this wet sand and duct tape method.

@ryanrotten8595

4 жыл бұрын

Takes way to long

@jamesterry9561

4 жыл бұрын

Well take a little extra time bending tube cheap or if you can’t take the extra 5-10min spend $1500-$2000 on a nice bender 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’m a cheap ass and most of my fabrication stuff is for fun while I’m drinking cold beer on the weekend so I’ll take the extra time and continue to be a cheap ass! 😂

@JM-yx1lm

4 жыл бұрын

@@jamesterry9561 ya but you said lol in your comment...why? Does that not sound kinda weird to you? A grown man saying lol?

@jamesterry9561

4 жыл бұрын

J M lol well I like to laugh and have a good time! AND I want you to know I was Laughing! Because omg if you didn’t idk what I’d do! Lmao!! So now we are clear I was lol I think we can conclude with enough time sand and beer drinking you can bend tube with a hf tube bender! lol like omg 😘

@pauljordan3064

4 жыл бұрын

@@JM-yx1lm omg I say lol all the time lmfao. Guess I could just say ha ha ha but that takes more typing

Any and all Fab tips are good. That's the exact reason I've never purchased that tool. Thanks for the pointers. I've been in the welding & Fab field all my life, & one never learns it all.

You nailed this tool! Awesome, thanks for sharing, I suggest you also mark your pipe with the marker and level to establish a centerline for easy reference... plus the factory weld maybe.

Thanks for explaining the reason for the difference between ID/OD measurements for pipe/tube. I never quite understood why.

Great information...did not know you could use on side, I had a northern tool one that did not work on side...thanks

i built a boat trailer with one of those from 75mmx50mmx3mm gal rhs the same way you used but removed the rollers for the square stock. worked a treat.

Love this channel, I've learned so much cool stuff about fab work and wheeling , been watching nate do his thing since bleeping jeep, glad to see you branched off and didn't stop, thank you for passing on a lot of knowledge , you sir are a scholar and a gentlemen 🤘

Well done! Such a pleasure to get good information without any "ums" and "uhs" and without someone telling you three times what they are going to show you before they finally get around to 30 seconds worth of salient information. I'm definitely subscribing to this channel! Main-line learning at its best. . . . many thanks.

A brief but thorough video presentation on how to get the most out of a cheap, limited tool to produce quality results. Excellent video!

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I've been watching Bleep n jeep for ever, I just found this channel and of course subbed!

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Great man! Thank you!

Use great stuff to fill end so sand don't fall out. Sounds like a great idea with wet sand, just like what you build sand castles out of. Yup I can see that work very easy, then run the hose threw it after, then blow out with air and done. $500 bumpers for less. Piping is cheap enough unless roll cage CHROME MOLLY, then that saves lifes and worth it to be done right. Nice video. Thanks for the idea.

Dude, one of the best videos with lots of explanations and thought put into this. Thank you

@DirtLifestyle

3 жыл бұрын

No problem man! This is one of my first videos lol I'm glad it holds up 👍

I learned a trick when I was in Africa. My locals showed me that if you fill a tube with sand before you bend it, it doesn't crush at all, and you can make some pretty tight bends on thinwall tubing. It actually works quite well.

I bent 2 inch scaffold tube with one of those put some tight bends in them. Found the best way was to use the 1 3/4 inch shoe, this way the sides didn't expand and stopped the top collapsing. Just needed a gentle persuasion to come off. I did get a couple of pressure Marks from the rollers, but nothing you could notice by eye. Sleeves would help.

I’ve always wondered that about the harbor freight bender, great video man!

@DirtLifestyle

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I hope it helps

I build drag cars, never been much into the off road scene but this fella sure makes it interesting. Nice vid man.

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@ayasokta

3 жыл бұрын

what is the power of the jack

Jeez, what a great video. I just traded my old cherry picker for this exact pipe bender, new, so this came in handy.

Wow. Great video! Informative, well produced, no BS. Thanks.

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Dude, your videos are so great, keep this up!

Your videos are so helpful. Thank you

Thanks for the video it motivated me to try it! Went out and bought the 16 ton pipe bender. Used it for a few bends. Let me tell you it take a LONG time to do a decent bend on 1.5" tubing with a Harbor Freight pipe bender. Also, no matter how slow I went, no matter how many passes with small bends and tighter or more spread out bend marks, it leaves indentions on the tubing. If you go a little too much it will dent (or crease/kink if you really go far). The 16 ton cost me $180 plus tax and driving/tolls to go get it. Just my advice for anyone who can afford a little more money, go buy a JD2.com TUBING bender with the die size for what you're bending. You can get the manual bender with one 90 degree die for about $500-600. I went all out and bought a Swag air to hydraulic ram setup with Swag angle meter with multiple 180 degree dies and let me tell you - a perfect 90 degree bend on chromoly takes about 2 mins (vs about an hour for one with dents all along the inside from the pipe bender). If you're on a budget this will work if you have the time and patience, but honestly the hours of time you'll spend and likely the material you will waste with the learning curve, just spend a few hundred more bucks and then you can always sell the tool for most of your money back later! Or better yet look for a used one discounted already! Still this was a great video for helping out when we are needing to bend something on a budget or a one-time job.

Great work! Try filling w sand, wet sand, cap ends w expanding test plugs.

The die needs to be a snug fit on the pipe to prevent ripples in the inside of the bend. Wd40 helps the pipe release from the die. Medium to heavy wall only, no thin wall. Been using these chines benders for 25 plus years and its all about the fit in the die

I came up with a hack that works pretty well. I drilled a 5/8" hole in the center of the mandrel (below area where tube goes) and used a muffler clamp to hold the tube to the mandrel and prevent kinking. I've put 90 degree bends in 2" diameter steel tubes, both 0.120" wall and 0.25" wall. I've also bent 2" diameter 0.25" wall aluminum tube. I like the multiple bend method shown here! Definitely trying that next time!

I've been going around and around trying to justify the cost of a JD2 or similar bender for the few times I've needed to bend tubing. I keep coming back to this one and I think I'm going to give it a shot for the winch bumper project on my '68 Bronco... Great tips. 👍

Love the picture of Bender from Futurama on your pip/tube bender

I Converted my hydraulic pump with an air assist type and added a longer hose and on/off controller and I can bend pipe twice as fast.

Great video- I'm just about to build a bumper on budget and you encouraged my to do so, thanks!

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Awesome! I'm happy to help 👍

Another trick I've used with my bender is to take a torch and heat the top side of the pipe. That edge naturally wants to stretch while being bent and the heat let's it happen a little easier.

The dies are meant for schedule 40 or 80, but I did just like you did in increments and filled it with sand. It works.

Try this out. Use the die one size smaller than what you should use. Works great. A guy that builds insane single seat buggies froms scratch and he only uses a harbor freight bender and showed us the trick

You missed one hell of a party on the busy Saturday night, hope to see you out on the trail soon, or maybe another fan run... 👍

Awesome vid. New sub. I have the Harbour Freight equivalent here in Canada from Princess Auto, and could never get it to work even after packing pipes with sand. Wanted to sell it, but now I'll give it try using your trick. Thanks.

@DirtLifestyle

5 жыл бұрын

Great! I'm happy to help! Good luck buddy

Useful information and good production quality. I'm subscribed,

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Nice Job. I was waiting for someone to mention the sand component. I do believe that packing the inside with sand that you will keep the tubing from collapsing and have very successful results. I myself have just started to weld within the past 5 years so I am by no means an expert on metalwork but really enjoy making things.

Awesome video! Learned a bunch.

Amazing video! I’m going to buy a harbor Freight bender now.

I have some bumpers I will be doing in the near future. Thanks for the tips on my Harbor Junk bender.😎👍👍👌👌⛏⛏

GREAT TIPS on the HFT Pipe/Tubing Bender! Thanks for sharing this video with us all!😎 Take care, 🤓 -Thomas Western Washington State

Awesome video! Looking at building one similar to your JD2 hydraulic bender!

Thanks Nate! Super helpful!🙌🏻🙌🏻

Nicely done, very informative.

I love your Jeep pickup! Great video too!

On the one hand, I wish i'd found this video a week ago when I was trying to bend some tube for the kitcar and after kinking one piece, sought out a much better bender (the tube was still wrong as it turned out), but i did wonder about doing it in smaller increments. BUT given I was forming the main roll hoop for the kit car, i'm still happier I didn't use the small one in the end. Still, top tips! improvements to make and at least it's not wasted equipment for the future.

Never knew there was a difference between pipe and tube. Great content.

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

FYI tube is sq. or rect angle pipe is round thanks for your help I learn from something from you.

Awesome little bender!

Great video, thank you.

@hardhatzues3656

3 жыл бұрын

Hey jerry rig. Love your videos

@Pedro72740

2 жыл бұрын

@@hardhatzues3656 no. No I don’t think so Not this time

Bends can also change from one pipe to the next depending on where the seam is.

I liked your method in other videos about finding where to mount your pipe in the bender using your pre bent cut off pipes. Would like to see how that corresponds to this where your bend doesn't start with a clamp on the pipe.

Great channel man. I’m learning tons.

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks man! Glad to hear it!

If you want to pack a tube with sand, get kiln dried sand....... and a funnel. The kiln dried sand literally runs like water so you won't need to do any ramming to pack the sand in. You might need to bounce it on the floor a few times just to make sure, but I've filled a 2 meter length of 1/2" copper pipe in less then a minute (we were shaping the pipe into a base for something so we wanted to add some weight). I hope this helps someone 🙂

Thanks for the tip on the rollers and sleeve the pipe so that it doesn't get the little flat spot divot

Great video...thanks mate. I love the bender sticker on the Jd...lol.

TURBO WHISTLE!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOO!!! Thanks nate That puts a smile on my face

@DirtLifestyle

5 жыл бұрын

Lol no problem, me too 🤘

This really helped! Thanks!

I use the same tricks. We call that concentric bends. Commonly used in the electrical field running rigid electrical conduit pipe for running duc bank or running pipe handrails on elevated spherical tanks in chemical plants and refineries. There is a formula for concentric bending to keep from getting the bend ridges so it's a smooth constant bend.

So glad you started picking up the subs !

awesome info i want to make minibike frames i've seen youtube video where others use the HF pipe bender but they go into little detail , this site was Great very informative about the HF bender and what it could do + the inch marking idea no one has ever said that.

Nice video, as always Nate!!

@DirtLifestyle

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Congratulations on the Channel

Nate, as always thank you! Curious question if you don’t mind me asking. I’m looking at making some fender bars for the front of my rig. How do you recommend I connect the top section to the bull bar and the bottom section to the sliders? Brackets, weld, both? I’m looking at purchasing the harbor freight tube bender for this. This will be my first tube bending project. 🙏🤙Looking forward to see how it goes.

Great tip man 👍🤘

filling the tube with sand is similar to how then bend the tube to make musical instruments like trumpets/tubas/etc. they fill the tube with water, freeze it and then bend it. keeps the tubing from bending. i wonder if finding an expansion plug like plumbers use would work good? for other bender work i've had my local muffler shop bend my tubing for roll bars/etc. $20-30 to make a few kink free bends was worth it.

I bent a piece of 2 inch EMT on my H/F bender for an exhaust pipe for a 73 Commando. Had to cut a couple pieces of 1/8 inch thick soft aluminum to put in the die or saddle, if you will, so they would conform to the die to tighten up the side clearance so as to not kink the inside radius of the bends. Got the hump over the rear axle done pretty fair that way with just one slight kink at the peak of the hump. I have seen auto parts pipes almost the same condition. Give it a try

@Dirt Lifestyle An awesome way to take up the slack in the dies is to use a heavy wall tire tube. I used an old one from my dual sport bike and it made a world of difference on this bender. Just cut it to the size of your die and use it in between the die and the tube.

@dannysrigid

6 ай бұрын

You're the first comment mentioning the actual size of the dies. The loose pipe dies are the biggest cause of kinking due to unsupported tubing in the bend zone. I made 1/16" shims using 16 ga sheet metal wrapped around the tubing size I want to bend, and then bending the whole thing around the full length of the die, then trim the excess sheetmetal. For the smaller sizes (1" to 2.5") 16 ga did the job. I've also seen people fabricating "follow dies" that replace the rollers, by splitting a tube that slip fits over the tube to be bent and some square tubing and gussets. No more roller dimples. I keep the shims in the same box the dies are stored in

Great ideas. I have one of those things. Maybe now I can get some use out of it. Thanks!

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Good man! Glad to hear it!

Very awesome!!! Time equals quality!!!

Your idea about doing it in increments is by far the best I've seen . Thanks for the video and info .

If your going to do a lot of bending , measure the ram travel and the degrees of bend you get. This should allow you to make consistent bends. I’ve used this bender to make pipe railings with good results.

Great video. Too the point. Informative 👍

Absolutely great video! Thank you very much. Looks like I will be going to Harbor Freight this weekend cringing the entire time and hoping I don't curse your name the rest of the weekend LOL

Your bender sticker is awesome!

Great shop ya got there - and some fine looking rigs. Cheers

@DirtLifestyle

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks man!

Thanks man. Very informative. 👍

Great stuff thanks for the tips👍👍

That was a great video man!

I put a loop on my die to hold tube down long ago, it does help quite a bit in my opinion

I drilled a couple holes in the webbing of the die, I made 2 d rings from 3/8 steel that you slide the pipe through into the die. so the pipe cannot rise out of the die and it works well. You can make a plate or die sized pipe in half to slide inside the d rings with a fine thread nut in the middle and bolt to really put some force on holding the pipe in the die. Works well. Have to smack it one time with hammer after bend and release to get the assembly to let go.

I have one similar to the HF but possibly even cheaper!!! Rubbish for thin walled pipe but perfect (if you have nothing better) for thicker stuff. Bit by bit it'll bend it.

If you can use 7/8 dom or chrome moly tubing the 1/2" pipe die will fit that size tube very well. Using .065 wall you can get good bends with the bender without any modifications at all.

Great video slick trick!

Great content, keep it up.