Well, call me silly but I think there might be more to tube bending than I figured. I got the right size die for my 16 ton tube bender but all didn't go well. Hmm ?
I call the pipe benders you get at princess auto "pipe kinkers".
That's why real tube benders are expensive, they're precise tools.
I have a Pro-Tools bender from TMR. It's not hard to spend a couple grand on dies.
If they were cheap and easy, everyone would have one.
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Well it was fun trying and fun learning. I used electrical conduit from Home Depot. I took my time and tried marking out 1" increments and moving the pipe with every bend but no luck. Ah well, some things I can do and some things I can't. But thank you for the input guys. I was just hoping to make the headers myself to see if I could. It would have been nice.
I use to try to fabricate alot of different things ,but then it became obviously clear to me... If you want to save time and money ?
Just go out and buy the item or at least the proper tools. Then you'll have more time (and money) to enjoy life rather than a fixation keeping you awake at night.
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I bought a kit and got the wrong radius. Another expensive mistake. I make a lot of those but I learn from them. Thank you Jarvis and 30-S6. I really enjoy trying to make stuff even if I fail sometimes. I still learn. In this case, I designed and mocked up a set with each tube being 20" and conforming to a fender header design. I'd just like to finish up what I spent so much time on because in steel, they would look great !
So far, I learned a pipe bender is the wrong tool. Now I have to build or find a tube bender. As rat rod Bob would say, "Gettin there, just aint got it yet."
On a smaller scale, I started to bend a short piece of 1/4" brake line. I did the inverted flare which came out nice. I did have the fittings on too. I did both ends and it looked good. I was doing all this just by holding the tubing up close to where it was going. When I went to screw the fittings in to the hole, they didn't go. Too big. It should have been 3/16" line. Better luck next time.
-- Edited by jarvis1 on Friday 30th of August 2024 12:09:57 PM
