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Opinions on this bender

My honest opinion... Dont waste your time with it. I'm sure it will bend tube just fine but there is on HUGE drawback that I noticed instantly. Its the bend radius. All of the dies no matter what size utilize a 7" radius which is ridiculously large. It will make trying to fit tube around things a real pain plus you can't put bends as close together. Also, that bender is limited to 1.75" material which is big enough for most applications. What do you do when you need to bend some 2" though???

The ONLY good thing I can see about it is the cost of the dies. They are pretty cheap. But if its like everything else, their cost would be an indication of their quality.

My suggestion... Buy the got trikes plans and build your own OR buy a bender from JD2. The JD2 benders are nice and can easily be outfitted with a hydraulic ram from harbor freight or northern for cheap. Also they have dies for almost any tube size and bend radius you can imagine. Yeah they cost more but really that other bender has junk dies... All of this coming from someone who does this for a living and has literally made thousands of bends.
 
Thanks. That's what I was looking for. My friend has offered me his when he was done with his project, but I don't want to have to rely on him. I've got other stuff I can do I guess.
 
I love the GotTrykes.
 
Team Willys said:
My honest opinion... Dont waste your time with it. I'm sure it will bend tube just fine but there is on HUGE drawback that I noticed instantly. Its the bend radius. All of the dies no matter what size utilize a 7" radius which is ridiculously large. It will make trying to fit tube around things a real pain plus you can't put bends as close together. Also, that bender is limited to 1.75" material which is big enough for most applications. What do you do when you need to bend some 2" though???

The ONLY good thing I can see about it is the cost of the dies. They are pretty cheap. But if its like everything else, their cost would be an indication of their quality.

My suggestion... Buy the got trikes plans and build your own OR buy a bender from JD2. The JD2 benders are nice and can easily be outfitted with a hydraulic ram from harbor freight or northern for cheap. Also they have dies for almost any tube size and bend radius you can imagine. Yeah they cost more but really that other bender has junk dies... All of this coming from someone who does this for a living and has literally made thousands of bends.
Click to expand...

Good advise IMHO. I have a bender I play with but don't have the experience to use it well. It's a JD2 I believe. I love it and the dies are solid.

old_man said:
I love the GotTrykes.
Click to expand...

I think that is what Doug built.
 
I have the Gotrikes as well, and have bent PLENTY of tube with it. My father also has one and uses it almost daily. We built them both at the same time...
 
Thanks everyone. I am hoping to borrow one from my friend, but i dont know if that will ever happen by the time i want to build a hybrid cage. Might have to go with the Go trikes bender...
 
Looks like it should be interesting to try to drill out those 2" square tube pieces perfectly, other than all the drilling I'm not worried about any of it.
 
Question for the GotTrykes owners: once complete with 1 die set, how much do you have in it, excluding labor? I think I'm gonna do this too, just planning a budget. Thanks!
 
DaYeep said:
Question for the GotTrykes owners: once complete with 1 die set, how much do you have in it, excluding labor? I think I'm gonna do this too, just planning a budget. Thanks!
Click to expand...

i have around 600 in mine but like a said i paid to have all the flat stock laser cut. if i had cut it myself it would have saved me a bill. the whole thing can be built from 1 stick of square tube so i can buy it at wholesale prices :D


as much as a new jd but thats everything including die and the air/cyl, plus it bends vertically and doesn't need a floor mount for my limited space needs
 
94xjsport94 said:
That's not bad... What wall tube did you use, 3/16 or 1/4"?

Returning customers get a discount, when that time comes, anyone wanna hook me up? :D
Click to expand...

1/4 wall...its a friggin hoss. Some of the cross pieces in the upper structure are 3/16 wall but that's because my chop saw died and cutting 1/4 with an angle grinder sucked.

very heavy
IMAG0319.jpg


pieces i had cut out by Tyler at Rock Solid Fab....you'll have to talk to him about the plates, he might still have the cad file
IMAG0304.jpg


i used to throw it on a small shop cart at my last job, but its just as comfortable to use at home on the front porch :D
 
Very cool....I'm gonna make one!
 
It takes practice, you will screw up a few pieces of pipe.

If anyone is interested in a tube bender project, I have a set of cnc plasma plates for a JD2 type bender. The hard part is done. Im not gonna do anything with them and would let them go for a good price.
 
stumpXJ said:
It takes practice, you will screw up a few pieces of pipe.
Click to expand...



i have screwed up some some tube....everyone does, sometimes you get lucky and you can fix it. sometimes not :D


i think i finally have the patience to start getting better, we'll see how it goes
 
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