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Thread: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing bender

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    Default I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing bender



    The words bender owners never want to hear were muttered in the shop recently, "I bent the bender". Normally this involves a bent pin or two. Worse case is bending/twisting one of the main arms or breaking a die. In this case we bent the pins, arms, ram mount and the intermediate mount between the bender and the cart. Note to self: If I want to bend that thick of material, I should buy a bender rated for it...

    Tubing bender in question is a JD2 model 3 powered by a custom hydraulic setup. Nothing fancy, same thing that is in most shops and personal garages. We originally put it together over 8 years ago and have abused it almost daily since. Can't remember how many times it's limits were pushed by exceeding it's stated capacity. Speaks to the quality of JD2's design. But nothing lasts forever. So besides for a few family obligations I have spent the majority of my time in the shop fixing the tubing bender this holiday weekend. Hasn't been the most pleasant of times discovering just how abused it was and how much work there is to fix things but I think it is coming out well and in the end with be a much stronger product as long as we treat it with respect...

    It is never fun having to go from a fully functioning piece of money making equipment:



    To this:



    Upon disassembly the arms look to be in decent shape for their age and use. Though the holes do show a lot of wear and some are even galled pretty well.







    But they did bend some. Almost an 1/8" from end to end. Here is a new arm on top of an old one. The pins all line up in both arms but the bolt holes won't. Check out why:





    The intermediate mount also got tweaked pretty good. Both the top and bottom plates were bent.







    And the ram mount, a piece of 2"x 3" x 3/16" wall tubing twisted. Over an 1/8" of twist in a 3.5" span!




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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    The main cart, ram, hoses, and hydraulic power supply were all still in good condition. Though I was never satisfied with the hose routing, that will be cleaned up a little. A new basic manual bender was ordered from JD2. We could have cut the arms and pins in house but for the price and time savings gained, purchasing the kit was our best option. Here are the new arms as the arrived:



    Fabed up a new intermediate mount. This one is slightly narrower and both the top and bottom plates are thicker. Also added a gusset across the entire back length of the top plate. The tubing between the plates was enlarged from 3"x3" to 4"x4" and a gusset was added toward the side where the bender attaches. And more material was added along the top plate to add more support for the bottom arm of the bender. We will drill and tap the plate and bottom arm to securely fasten them together. This should be a major improvement over the original design as it will help keep the bottom arm from wanting to twist or bend under load. We kept a clamp in this same spot in our original one, this is a much cleaner way to accomplish the same thing.















    The mount and bottom arm attached:






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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Started working on the ram mount. Put a 1" hole through 1" thick metal:



    Milled a 1" hole through opposing sides of a piece of 2"x3"x1/4" wall tubing, then welded the spacer into it. Then capped the end of the tubing.





    Then welded the 1" thick ram mount onto the tubing and added a gusset behind it.







    And then started assembling the bender to get the needed measurements to finish the rest of the ram mount:





    Cut the bottom hinge out of the old ram mount and cleaned it up and then mounted it onto the cart:








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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Added in the vertical support leg for the ram mount:



    The added the diagonal gusset between the two:



    Then welded it solid, let it cool. Attached the mount to the cart and checked it's range of motion. Swings freely:




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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Wow..

    That's some abuse on a very well Built unit to start with!

    Good to see that you are over envinering it for the next 10 years of abuse.

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    `appreciate seeing the process. I know stopping to take pix does take a bit of time (and later posting them...).

    I questioned the photos with the angle indicators but now see why (didn't see the lower pivot point). Did you also check zero through the arc of that part (or does it not matter with it at 90 degrees)?

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Sucks that things went kaput, but it also sounds like you got your $ worth out of the original equipment. Glad to see that you are over-building the new setup!

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Jim previously posted:
    "I questioned the photos with the angle indicators but now see why (didn't see the lower pivot point). Did you also check zero through the arc of that part (or does it not matter with it at 90 degrees)?"

    The mount must stay parallel to the arms throughout the entire arc. Only snapped a photo while it was in line with the arms.

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Bent a retaining strap for the ram. Had just been using tie wire before and this seemed like a much more elegant solution.





    Then trimmed it to length:



    Since the ram is thicker than the tubing, I added a couple spacers to make up the difference, and welded them into position. Then drilled the strap and the tubing and then tapped the tubing. Used stainless hardware to finish it out:















    With the last of the holes drilling into the tubing, all the metal chips and shavings were emptied out and the end of the rectangular tubing is capped and sanded smooth:




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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Started on better routing for the hoses.

    The Ram. Before:



    After:



    The control valve. Before:



    After:



    The attached the ram to the mount:



    And added the other bender arms:



    Made a new elevated mount for the control valve. Also moved it in closer to the arms. Both were things I wish I had done on the original. It will allow the user to get as close as possible to the material being bent, from either side:





    And attached the valve and routed the hoses using zip ties to secure them loosely into place:







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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Last addition is the degree wheel:







    And testing it out, no binding, Hooray!



    Can easily bend past 90 degrees without a pin change. Started with pointer off of the degree wheel (well before 0):



    As always, more photos can be found here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/10877912...25/posts/p/pub

    or here: https://www.facebook.com/BruckerBrothersLtd/

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Good work - enjoy the tool!

  13. The Following Member Says Thanks to Jim For This Post:

    Brucker (July 5th, 2016)

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Nice job! I just noticed that your bender is mobile too. That is genius! Most of the other ones I have seen are bolted to the floor. I like that yours can move around!

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    Brucker (July 5th, 2016)

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    nice work!

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    Brucker (July 6th, 2016)

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Great job rebuilding it! Should last a long time.

  19. The Following Member Says Thanks to Cr33p3r For This Post:

    Brucker (July 6th, 2016)

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    Default Re: I bent the bender: Rebuilding the shop's hydraulic tubing ben



    Patrolman previously posted:
    "Nice job! I just noticed that your bender is mobile too. That is genius! Most of the other ones I have seen are bolted to the floor. I like that yours can move around!"

    Thanks! But I didn't invent the wheel. Just enjoy using them.

    The majority of my equipment is on wheels or has provisions for easily being moved by either a forklift or by pallet jack. Makes working in a small cramped space much more manageable. That and 'all in one' pieces of equipment aren't really space or time savers in the long run...

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