I’m likely to be building 20 dining table bases that have a radius’d (arc / circle segment) part in the weldment. And i don’t currently have a tube roller. I’ve usually built my own tooling like this. So the one thing i’m not looking for is product suggestion. But i’d love to hear from those who have traveled this path.
Maybe the advice is to get someone else to do the bending for this one project. Maybe folks will tell me that this tube bending is a process that you really want to have a big, multi-process machine to do (ie: don’t have a dedicated machine for this). Maybe i don’t realize that i could just build a jig / form and bend tube in it by hand.
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This is likely to be 25 x 25 x 2.5 mm (1" x 1" x 1/10" wall). 80 parts.
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I have a small fly press. Not typically used for bending tube, but who knows.
I have a massive worm drive (gearbox) and some pillow block bearings - that could be the start of a roller build.
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So, should i buy a second hand hydraulic tube bender? Build an overkill machine for this task? Am i missing an option?
For repeatability, you can’t beat a Hosfield bender. Draw back is you have to buy the die for radius you need for that project, but we’ll wirth it In Time saved, you aren’t stopping ever couple psses to check it. They are a little pricy if you buy the hydraulic set up, which I don’t think you’ll need for that size material? I use mine pretty regular, the guys that are really knowledgeable at using them clam they would sell there first born child before they sold their hossfeld, I’m not gonna lye there is some labor involved in the manual version. eBay has them all the time, and the guy up there that run the place are top notch guys. Side note don’t buy the nock off “American bender” dies I’ve found them to be sub par material nd had trouble with the radius being correct. That’s why I get for stepping over. Dollar to save a dime!
Also it can do a whole lot more than just tubing, I do a lot of one off surf, super handy for brackets and clips. And if you have eye for it, free bending with the hossfeld is a Faster cheaper option.
For the size of tube and number of parts, I’d look at something along the lines of a manual Hossfeld bender or one of the many knock-offs of the design. That said if I understand the chunks of tube to be bent are only 25mm long, I think a sketch of what you’re up to would be helpful. Benders usually need some room to grip at least one end of the part being bent, so if the goal is small arcs with no straight section, then the approach is to cut after bending: perhaps you cut many arcs from one bent part? The key with tube is proper dies & I’d put my effort into bender and dies rather than looking at hydraulics.
On edit: not enough coffee yet–totally agree with Gringo’s comments.
–Larry
As an example of what the Hasenpfeffer bender is? Or as one i should buy?
It’s $2750, and would cost at least that again to ship it (to South Africa). So I’d make one before i bought that one.
This bender certainly seems to be the solution to the quesion / scenario i’m asking about. Great to have generally, and a way to do the task that is the immediate demand. I’m gonna get lost in vids etc investigating them now.
Yep just and example of them on eBay for you, there’s several YouTube videos of guys building them, “this old Tony” is. Really cool machinist that hss video on building one I think!
If youre looking to bend complete rings the a roll bender is what you need. Swag off-road makes one.
Regular benders use a set radius die, and well yes you can bump bend a radius with them a roll bender is faster and more repeatable. The first one will take more time as you will need to figure out how much down stroke you need to apply to achieve your desired radius. Once you’ve got that you just roll it back and forth on the following pieces till you hit that same down travel on the pressure die.
I built a 3 roll bender some 25+ years ago. There are lots of examples on you-tube; they do need to be built stout, of course. Here’s an example:
Is there a roll for torch heating the raw stock before the bending process. Would this allow for use of a less beefy bender and make the bending less apt to buckle?
I’m going to assume you mean “Is there a role for torch heating the raw stock before the bending process?”
I love the thinking. Reaching outside of the mindset of ‘bender must bend’ and thinking how to create a successful system rather than forcing and demanding a result.
Unfortunately heating wouldn’t be very much help in my case of the large arcs. There isn’t a single, sudden, demand on the material, enough to cause buckling. And especially if i choose to roll tubes into arcs, the rolling is successive gentle persuasion to deform just enough to cause change, but not enough for catastrophic collapse. Then repeated, achieving through cumulative effect what would have been too much in one go. That’s almost the reason to do it with a tube roller. So avoiding the buckling is already catered for in this way. And i suppose another way to say the same thing is that choosing the tube-roller process would be a way of avoiding the cost and complication of getting heating into the mix.
Worth stating, that there’s no half way with heating. It’s only going to significantly change the material’s response above glowing orange temp. So just a bit of heating would add complication with no gains like being able to use a less beefy bender.
Any process using dies also helps prevent buckling to at least some extent. Even the dies in a roller might seem like point-contact application of force, but are shaped to support the workpiece in just the right way against the types of bending you don’t want while the type you do want is going on.
So heat bending would certainly work. But as long as it’s do-able without, the cold forming is going to be cheaper, etc.
Let’s just say I have been needing to “unbend” plate and bar stock up to ½" thick that I “formed” by hitting with my skid steer, or bent on an implement of the skid steer by the “it should be able to do this” line of thought. Without oxyacetylene torch heating, I would have been totally unable to bend what I needed. So when I read of your project, it seemed reasonable to ask. I have a hydraulic press that is 10ton, and I occassionally wonder if I would kill myself with a more powerful one. My skid steer is doing 120HP and most implements are not made to hold up to over 90. My bad, but more power is of course better, at least until…