Harbor and freight bender? worth it?

Originally posted by skip1100



I have to drive a long way to bet tube or DOM. I can only get pipe close by.

you can also order it online and have it shipped to your door.. not always an option but its nice just seeing all your shit getting dropped off

There's alot of good tool info over on metalmeet.com & weldingweb.com if that helps.

Originally posted by ChumpChange



Originally posted by e10pvmt



what about there standup bender similar to the JD2 bender....its 139 with dies....only thing i noticed was it says solid tube and pipe.

it will only bend solid tube and pipe.

i have one of the cheap harbor freight benders, they do work, they are not nearly as nice as the others but for the money it works fine for me. i made upper and lower control arms and bag mounts with it and a tubular bridge. i only use dom tubing and as long as it is a thick wall you wont have a problem with kinking up to 90%. after 90% depending on how tight the bend you are making it will try and wrap over the edge of the die and kink. depends on wether you want to spend the money on a more expensive one i got mine on sale for 70 bucks so you cant beat it for that price.



well i am only needing it for some lower arms, some mounts, and some bracing.....but you say i may be able to get away with it using DOM which is fine with me and readily available.....i am lookin at the price and the duration of time i am needing it for so i f you say it will do just fine then i may just go ahead and grab one....just picked up the horizontal/vertical bandsae the other day for 120.....hopefully that does me just fine....thanks again

Why not just have someone bend up the piece you need with a real mandrel bender?

Originally posted by UnusualFabrication



Why not just have someone bend up the piece you need with a real mandrel bender?

well that is also an option....only problem is i am in tampa and RAW is in sanford (about 90 minutes on a good day away) and i have free rain of the bender if not in use at the time.....if all i am building is the arms and some bracing then i may do it...i would spend more in gas back and forth but if i can get all my measurments and am confident enough i may just drive up there and make a day out of it.....thanks for all the help though....feburary is gonna be a busy month...FINALLY!