Thread: Choosing a mandrel tubing bender?

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I was the Prod Mgr at a factory that made a lot of oem stuff for harley . they had a computer controlled bender thad had inner mandrals, balls connected with a Ss cable it pulled thru the tubing as it bent it . about 150 k for it .I was always told to pack the pipe with dry sand weld caps on the end and heat and bend it . I tried it once and it didn't work. I built a set of outside exhaust for the 427 Cobra that set the track record at MIS. The car owner knew the owner of the Thrush mufflers factory in detroit and he let us use his shop from 6 PM to 6 in the morning Every kind of tool to fabricate you could dream of. the easiest way without propper benders is to buy prebent turns and cut and weld

Originally Posted by DennyW

That's what I usually do myself, is get the pre-bents, and modify from there. Or, if you want one complete pipe, it's better just to find a good place, and price, and let them do it for you.

that's what I do, I got to advance auto and raid the shelves of pre bent exhaust pipe peices for what I need, slip it togther and weld up after cutting and fitting.

Not really to thrilled about Harbor Frieght stuff.I have a few things I bought there ,but it's just cheap China stuff,or looks like it at least. I am planning to invest about 6 to 10 thousand on a good machine.Used is ok also I will probably get more for my money if I go the used route.I definitely don't have 150 k to get a top notch one. From reading your replies maybe I am asking a little to much out of a bender.Maybe I will check into the pre bent stuff and get a smaller bender for roll bar type stuff.