Hello all.
As some of you know, I occasionally bend tubing for some applications where hose is not practical, or expensive. In my 'real job', I have a hydraulic powered bender that is adequate. But, sometimes you just need a bender at your home garage or hangar. So, like alot of you, I've bought many different kinds to accomplish the task at hand. But, in the name of improving quality, I've done some real life experiments with a couple of different benders that I would like to share.
I started out with an inexpensive 3 size, 90* bender from the tool isle at a major automotive parts house. Works well for general, fairly large radius bends, with aluminum or steel. Not good for stainless. What happens is stainless is alot more resistant to bending, so the rivited pins in the pressure die begin to 'wallow out' the hole in the die. This leads to a sloopy fit, and poor quality bends.
I progressed, like alot of you, to a Imperial 470FH, mainly to keep from buying several different benders. I modified mine to fit in a vise, and cut a slot in the forming die to accomodate the tube sleeve. Works very well, if you are bending 3003, or 5052O aluminum, or steel. Worked for a while bending 304 stainless, but eventually the pins began to loosen, like the earlier version. Several modifications to remedy this failed to work like I wanted it to.
So----I purchased 2 benders--Imperial 364FHA 1/4 & 3/8. Now---alot more expensive than a 470, and for guys that are bending aluminum only, they are overkill. BUT---so far I am very pleased with them. I have modified both with a small steel angle bracket for vise mounting, so I can use 2 hands, and not fight the bender and the tubing. I have also modified the forming die to accomodate the tube sleeve, so a shorter distance from flare to backside edge of the bent tube maybe done. ( Those of you with an Andair valve and Andair filter know what tube I'm talking about.) I have made several stainless tubes recently, both in testing, and for customers, and I'm pleased to report that they look very good.
Both of these benders use steel compoenets vs. aluminum for its forming and pressure dies. As for the tube forming, the 1/4 bender can bend a 180* bend that has about 15/16 inch between the insides of the tube, and still has very little tube shrinkage on the outside of the bend. The 3/8 gives 1-7/16 between legs. With care, you can make bends with pretty short distances between bends.
So---if you are looking for a quality bender, that makes very nice bends, I recommend the 364 series Imperial benders. They will last through many builds. At $80+ they are alittle on the high side, but very well worth the money. Until someone comes out with a inexpensive CNC mandrel bender, I will be using these.
Tom
As some of you know, I occasionally bend tubing for some applications where hose is not practical, or expensive. In my 'real job', I have a hydraulic powered bender that is adequate. But, sometimes you just need a bender at your home garage or hangar. So, like alot of you, I've bought many different kinds to accomplish the task at hand. But, in the name of improving quality, I've done some real life experiments with a couple of different benders that I would like to share.
I started out with an inexpensive 3 size, 90* bender from the tool isle at a major automotive parts house. Works well for general, fairly large radius bends, with aluminum or steel. Not good for stainless. What happens is stainless is alot more resistant to bending, so the rivited pins in the pressure die begin to 'wallow out' the hole in the die. This leads to a sloopy fit, and poor quality bends.
I progressed, like alot of you, to a Imperial 470FH, mainly to keep from buying several different benders. I modified mine to fit in a vise, and cut a slot in the forming die to accomodate the tube sleeve. Works very well, if you are bending 3003, or 5052O aluminum, or steel. Worked for a while bending 304 stainless, but eventually the pins began to loosen, like the earlier version. Several modifications to remedy this failed to work like I wanted it to.
So----I purchased 2 benders--Imperial 364FHA 1/4 & 3/8. Now---alot more expensive than a 470, and for guys that are bending aluminum only, they are overkill. BUT---so far I am very pleased with them. I have modified both with a small steel angle bracket for vise mounting, so I can use 2 hands, and not fight the bender and the tubing. I have also modified the forming die to accomodate the tube sleeve, so a shorter distance from flare to backside edge of the bent tube maybe done. ( Those of you with an Andair valve and Andair filter know what tube I'm talking about.) I have made several stainless tubes recently, both in testing, and for customers, and I'm pleased to report that they look very good.
Both of these benders use steel compoenets vs. aluminum for its forming and pressure dies. As for the tube forming, the 1/4 bender can bend a 180* bend that has about 15/16 inch between the insides of the tube, and still has very little tube shrinkage on the outside of the bend. The 3/8 gives 1-7/16 between legs. With care, you can make bends with pretty short distances between bends.
So---if you are looking for a quality bender, that makes very nice bends, I recommend the 364 series Imperial benders. They will last through many builds. At $80+ they are alittle on the high side, but very well worth the money. Until someone comes out with a inexpensive CNC mandrel bender, I will be using these.
Tom
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