does anyone have a mandrel pipe bender? i need to bend the main hope and halo for 2 different roll cages… it needs to bend 4130 without kinking
What size is it? We have a tube bender we use for cages, it isn’t a mandrel bender but it bends 1.5" .120 wall and it comes out looking beautiful. Haven’t done 4130 with it yet, but I imagine it wouldn’t cause it to kink much easier if it’s the same size.
No one here will have a true mandrel that’s for sure, lol
As cheap ones run for about $20,000… 
Mine will be here in “2-6” weeks according to JD Squared… Stupid back ordered items…
I will be able to bend 2.5" .250 (Yes a quarter inch) DOM with a 5’ CLR… If you’re not in a hurry.
The hell are you making with 1/4" wall? haha.
I’m not making anything with a 1/4 wall, lol
Maybe if I wanted to cage a monster truck… Hey now…
The bender I bought can handle up to 2.5’ x .250’’ DOM.
Unfortunately. Due to the high ass fucking demand of it. It’s taking and eternity to get here… Le Ghey…
hey simplemind7… your tubebender is that just like a hydraulic cylinder with a jig that presses the pipe between two other jigs? like is it the basic pipe bender? cause i have one of those and was considering just testing it but i know it kinks blackpipe as it was made for alluminum
Ours in manual, not hydraulic.
does it press the tube or does it kinda pull it around
Pull would be a more accurate description, hard to explain.
yeah i think thats what i am looking for. I just dont want a bender that just has a ram of some sort. if i would bring a piece of chromoly would you do a test bend?
Sure, PM me and we’ll set up a time. Shop’s not very far from Waterdown.
click this link> you’ll get an idea of the different styles of benders…
Brendan’s is most likely a rotary Draw style
Mine is as well.
What bender do you have Brendan?
I’m not sure off the top of my head. I’m not the fab guy in the shop… I’m just starting to play with it a bit. I will check tomorrow.
Technically not mine but there is one sitting in my fathers shop here in Kitchener. Well technically, theirs two, along with a wire bender 
Edit, and to shed a little light on the subject in regards to kinking. That can partial be with thin wall material only and the thicker it gets you can at times get away without even using the mandrel and still get a perfect bend. But the kinking isn’t the only issue, when you bend the tubing you deform the round shape to a slight egg shape and when it comes to Roll Cages some inspectors will measure that deformity to see if its within tolerance. But the deformity is always greater on a manual, none mandrel bender because their is no mandrel on the inside following the bend as she goes…
The tube bender simplemind7 is talking about is mine, its a Baileigh Industries manual ratchet type bender http://www.bii1.com/benders/manual-pipe-bender-100.php
It works great, I bent up some custom lower control arms for a MK4 Supra, the customer gave me the measurements and degrees of each bend, he told me they fit like a factory peice.
Mine will bend 1.5" x 0.96" wall without kinking, pretty much any thinner and it kinks.
i have a rotory draw bender as well (pro tools). i also have the software (bend tech pro) to draw it up so it will fit exactly how you want it. i have tooling to bend 1.5" as well as 1.625". you might want to look into what is required for the racing you are going to be doing. i live in waterdown, but my shop is in burlington.
^ How do you find that bender? In regards to how it points to the ceiling.
And isn’t BT PRO just awesome? Makes life so much easier, lol
i prefer the vertical bender because a digital angle finder is much more accurate than a degree wheel imo. you calibrate it each time you make a new bend. it also takes up less room when you do bending because the pipe is going up in the air and not swinging around horizontally. also, the bender is on wheels and doesn’t need to be lagged to the floor or a bench top. yes, bt pro does take all the guess work out of bending.
Makes sense. I guess your ceilings are decently high. I’m forced into horizontal benders for now.
Also,
I meant click this link. In my other post.
just a question… is the rotary bending the one that does the cleanest bends? I own a snowboard rail company and have been looking at building my own pipe bender for a while as the ram style one i have only really works for alluminum