Tube bender

[Tflynn]

I have been on the lookout for a "real" tube bender for awhile now. By "real", I mean one that does mandrel bends and is not a "pipe" bender. There are a few in the $600 range with one die that are good benders but a little more than I want to pay. Then I found this one from Affordable Bender-

Affordable Tube Benders, tube notchers, metal fabrication welding

With one die of your choice it costs only $300, two dies is $400, and so on. They have videos on YouTube and this bender appears to produce high quality results.

The only two downsides I see are it won't make a single bend past 90° and the center line radius is a little large at 7" for 1.75" tube. But I don't really think these are deal breakers for me.

Opinions or thoughts? Anyone use this bender?

 

[Admin]

 

[snuffnwhisky]

I have a JD2 model 3 that I bought about 15 years ago that has worked really well. Things to look at with the one you posted is it only does 90 deg bends, it's pretty limited on die selection (large radius) and has aluminum dies. Definitely search some forums before pulling the trigger on it. Looks like there are many more companies doing the same design as the model 3 now and a lot of upgrade options.