Fabbing a light bar
 

I want to fab my own light bar and need to find a cheap $230 or less pipe bender that i can make up to 90 degree angle bends in up to 2" pipe.

if they come out nice enough i may try and tackle my own tube fenders too

whats the best one out there for what i need to do?

here's probably your best bet

.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=99736[/url]

harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=32888[/url]

I can't speak for the tubing roller.......first link in above thread......but for the second one, I wouldn't even try bending 2 inch pipe any where near 90 degrees with it.

This type of bender is not what your looking for. It leaves "dimples" in the tube where the bender touches it.

My take is:

Don't try it....you'll be pissed.....:what?:......:gaah:...your choice

It would prolly be cheaper to take the pipe to a muffler shop and have them bend it for you.

He wanted a pipe bender under $230. You'd have to live with the dimples is that's all you want to spend.

I thought that with cheaper tube benders you can fill the tube with sand to prevent dimples and wrinkles from bending.... I am not 100% as I have never bent tubing but I am sure I heard that from Xtreme 4X4 from there episode on bending tubeing

that all works with quality pipe benders....

I tried it with the above bender..doesn't work....the load that is placed on the harbor freight bender is at 3 points(like all others.....)....but what happens is you have a good large surface area that is touching the bending die.....and 2 very small points that are being pressed by the rolling dies....it causes dimples no matter what....I have bent 1.25 .095 chromo with mine resulting in smaller dimples, but they are still there.....with DOM it's more noticeable and with ERW it's obvious....

Depends on the tubing (hardness) you go with I guess.....

With that being said......I built my sand rail from scratch using the harbor freight tube bender......using DOM for the frame, chromolly for trailing and a-arms......welded up using my MIG and TIG for the chromo.....no problems thus far.......after the powder coating the dimples won't even be noticeable...although most of the bends were under 45 degrees.

i don't know why i didn't think of that.

the only other thing i was thinking about doing was to get pre bent elbows (if i could find them) and just piece the whole thing together. i could puddle weld the sections together so it doesn't look like hell.

thats what i did to make my light bar. worked out great!
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1250815252

harbor freight bender
 

well, i was an electrician for 13 years (i work for the railroad now) and have used all sorts of benders on the job. all electrical conduit benders will leave marks on the pipe. i use the harbor freight bender for my bumpers. my neighbor is a plumber and he gets me 1 1/2" sprinkler pipe. the dimples by the rollers are small and the wrinkles in the radius are very small as well. the bender isn't all bad (especially for the price), but you do get what you pay for. if you are looking for perfection, buy the light bar from someone with the money to invest in high end benders. if you want something you can point out to friends and say 'i mde that!', the use the harbor freight bender and use good quality pipe. just my opinion....

Dude, NICE!! not only is it a light bar, it protects your lights as well, most people mount them on top and smash them to hell... very nice idea. Got a write up?