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School me on tube benders and intro to fabbing

smokeyyank

NAXJA Forum User
Did some searching but wasn't able to find a lot and not the biggest fan of Pirate. Looking to get a tube bender to start on some fab work. Was wondering if someone can give me some advice on what is a good set up for a beginner and any other advice for starting to fab? In my goggle searching looks like JD2 and Pro tools 105 are great starters. Also was looking at the one from rouge fab that seems decent. I'm going to tear the XJ apart and will need to fab roll cage, bumpers and some other stuff. I'll admit I have 0 know how on this. So the more info the better.

Thanks!
 
Go jd model 3 and a swag hydro mount. Read the bending bible on pirate and watch videos on youtube.
 
Please get someone to mentor you if you're going to build a roll cage. You don't exactly want to learn from your mistakes on something that's meant to protect you from harm. If the cage tacos, there's a good chance you won't have the opportunity to learn anything else.
 
Thanks for the info. I have no intent of just diving in with out knowing what I'm doing. I also meant exo cage not roll cage. In either case I still want to be able to do it right. Would definitely love to have a mentor and imagine can find someone local that would be willing to help. Have a few buddies that are welders by trade and my Dad has a decent Miller but I suck at welding. So still lots to learn.....

Just for anyone else that may want to search on it.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/articles2/tech/bendin_tube

http://www.billavista.com/tech/Articles/Tube_Bender/index.html
 
I built one using a bottle jack. It works ok and was cheap to make, but I wouldn't do it again. My dad later bought the jd2. For the money it's a great tool. I'd go that route
 
Go red and see if you can win one.
 
Get better at welding out of position and around tube. Harder than it looks.


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My Rogue does a good job ...lol...but you need a welder to put it together . A cage is not rocket science and even a poorly built cage puts you ahead of the guys with just a sheet Metal roof , but like I said it is not rocket science . I suggest you buy a bender with at least 90 degree bend capability and a cheap tube notcher I suggest the notcher because notching angles with an angle grinder gets old quick . Get a 1.75 die that tube size is the best compromise between size for fitting places and strength ...also pick up some 1.5 tube so you can fix tube fitting mistakes .
 
Well for the welding part I may just get everything tacked together and have a buddy finish it off. Will definitely get a notcher. I know there are some ways to build/hack/fab one pretty cheap. Been watching some vids on youtube doesn't seem to be that difficult but it will take some brain power. Hopefully will get the jeep to my dad's shop in the coming weeks and start tearing stuff apart. Looking like the JD2 with a swag mount will be perfect for what I need. Although there is a guy in the springs with a pro tools and 3 dies asking $700.

Other question, with a air ram do I still need to have the bender bolted to the ground or would I be able to put it on a cart? My thought is I could put it on a cart because I do not need it bolted to gain leverage to pull the handle since it's a air ram.
 
Well for the welding part I may just get everything tacked together and have a buddy finish it off. Will definitely get a notcher. I know there are some ways to build/hack/fab one pretty cheap. Been watching some vids on youtube doesn't seem to be that difficult but it will take some brain power. Hopefully will get the jeep to my dad's shop in the coming weeks and start tearing stuff apart. Looking like the JD2 with a swag mount will be perfect for what I need. Although there is a guy in the springs with a pro tools and 3 dies asking $700.

Other question, with a air ram do I still need to have the bender bolted to the ground or would I be able to put it on a cart? My thought is I could put it on a cart because I do not need it bolted to gain leverage to pull the handle since it's a air ram.


HoboFreight notcher works well after.ot is shimmed so it cuts straight , which takes all of a few minutes using either a washer or cutting a sheet of 16 guage as a shim . I have becone rather quick however at simply holding my tube up to where I want to put it and marking my lines on it and cutting it with the grinder .

Air over hydro should not need the stand since the Ram is pushing .

Brand new Rogue is $650 a air over hydro ram from hobofreight is $ $80 . It takes 10-15 minutes to weld it together it is cut to fit itself together .
 
Perfect thanks. well guess I know where sme of my next paycheck is going.....:D
 
I did not like my rogue. Sold it and went back to a jd style.

I know you had one ...it seems to bend a tube fine for me . I don't like a few things about setting.a tube up in it , but do like being able to remove the tube with the follower still clamped to the tube thus being able to put it right back on the bender where I left off should I need to bend it more .

What were your negative points with it if I may ask.
I only use mine for personal use making bends on my cage when changing things or replacing damaged tube , so you may find weak points with it since you do much more work than myself with it than that .
 
To me it was a pain to setup and a pain to re bend because I had to remove the clamp deal every time due to building tight to the body for cages or tight to the grill for bumper , stuff like that.
Re pinning sucked, actually all my pins sucked to mess with and the die seemed to gaul up and I had way more tube deformation than acceptable.
All issues I have never had with jd, protools, or bailegh.
 
To me it was a pain to setup and a pain to re bend because I had to remove the clamp deal every time due to building tight to the body for cages or tight to the grill for bumper , stuff like that.
Re pinning sucked, actually all my pins sucked to mess with and the die seemed to gaul up and I had way more tube deformation than acceptable.
All issues I have never had with jd, protools, or bailegh.

Yeah the set up I figured it seems time consuming . I lube the die every bend if I don't I do see mild deforming., but.Dustin aka HUDFAB built the original cage on my XJ with a JD2 same one Josh uses at Hooligan offroad and there is no noteworthy difference in the bends in tube of the original cage work vs the tube I added and replaced...but yeah...lol...the set up time seemed long to me I just never used another style so nothing to compare that to , but you are confirming it ...but she works for my personal use .
 
Thanks for the info. Good to hear the differences between everything, both positive and negatives. The more I read the more I see people liking the jd2.
 
I have a notcher that looks pretty much the same as the baliegh industrial one. It does great for 90 degree notches and absolutely sucks for everything else. Im pretty new to eyeballing notches, so I got one of those pipe masters but haven't had a chance to use it.
 
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