Air over hydraulic tubing bender build

Ok first Off I started with a set of plans from www.gottrikes.com I'm Building the B version.

1st pic) This is me mooching my neighbors mill LOL self portrait and all these with my Phone.
Attachment 1487

2) the is how the mill started the day off dusty and clean , Muahahah just wait LOL
Attachment 1488

3) Decided to start with the Draw bar construction and the milling and drilling on the 2 18" x 3" x1/4" arms.
Attachment 1489

4) After cutting them to a tad over 18" setting up to skim them down to 18 on the button.
Attachment 1490

5) After Dye chem and some measuring and scribing. I start my Pilot holes, I'm using 2 other drill bits of the same size butt end in the holes to keep the parts aligned while drilling that way I only have to clamp on one side.
Attachment 1491

6) I enlarged the smaller holes from the previous photo to all 1/2", and still using the butt end of one of the 1/2" drills I am boring 7/8" holes now. Some remain 7/8 and one gets enlarged to 1-3/8"
Attachment 1492

7) Final Product two exactly 18" Long, 3" x 1/4" with holes that match exactly because I drilled them stacked and used aligning pins in the holes during every drilling and milling process.
Attachment 1493

That's about it for now I got a bunch of 2" square stock to cut, when I get to more technical or assembly/welding I will continue.... Stay tuned

nice! I'll definetly be keeping track of this build.


what dies are you using? or building?

will be using the pro tool 105 dies. 1" or 7/8 " die set to make a tube frame for a 4 wheel e-bike except mine is gonna do 60 mph and get there in under 3 sec. stay tuned for that one later this summer

I could make my own dies if the mill was cnc. then have them hardened. easier to just buy them as you need the different sizes.

Don, what sort of ultimate tonnage pressure will this air over hydraulic setup develop?

Glen

By e-bike you mean electric? That will be awesome! you can get massive hp and acceleration out of those electric motors.

Glen: I don't know the exact math but it's an 8 ton 18-3/4" travel ram working the end of an 18 draw bar. here are the specs for the dies it uses and the bender will handle all of them and the pipe dies too
http://www.pro-tools.com/105tdies.htm

Scratchstart: I will be using a parallel - series configuration or lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. the stack of Lithium cells on the left of the two car batteries will produce 47v @ 20ah for 1/3 the weight of the two car batteries pictured next to them for 1/3 the weight. ( picture one ), through a 500 amp rated solenoid and controller to a series excited DC motor 62hp and 118 ft lbs of torque ( Picture two )


oh I forgot to add, the vehicle will have a total weight with me in it of 620 lbs approx and should be capable of 0-60 in 1.9 secs with some fatty rear tires and a wheelie bar on the back top speed should be around 60-70 mph but I am gearing it way down for the torque and acceleration, ( geared up well over 100.... too fast ). I wanna see the look on some of these guys riding the Big sport bikes when they get smoked throught the lights by a guy in a wheelchair / electric bike LOL If I get caught buy the cops I am gonna try and play the disabled card if that doesn't work I'll have to get it registered as a golf cart type vehicle. I am adding a hidden limiter switch which I will be able to program into the controller so It will only do 18 mph ( Legal electric wheelchair speed )

width will be 49" and wheelbase will be 54" I will have a roll hoop but not a full cage. also one side will have welded side impact protection and the side I transfer in from my wheelchair will have swing up side impact bars held in place by mil-spec titanium pins to facilitate entry for me to swing my legs in. It will be a while before I can afford to purchase the batteries and motor but once the bender is done I will probably make a couple more to sell to raise funds for the fun stuff .. I need my Powertig 250 soon :)

Attachment 1532Attachment 1531

I've been debating building vs buying a tubing bender. Will a drill press work or do you have to use a mill? Will you save any money building your own? I have the plans that pro tools will email you for free, I'm just not sure I will save any money considering the price of the dies. I can't get the idea of building my own out of my head.

What is the type and size of your neighbors mill?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aaxiss

oh I forgot to add, the vehicle will have a total weight with me in it of 620 lbs approx and should be capable of 0-60 in 1.9 secs with some fatty rear tires and a wheelie bar on the back top speed should be around 60-70 mph but I am gearing it way down for the torque and acceleration, ( geared up well over 100.... too fast ). I wanna see the look on some of these guys riding the Big sport bikes when they get smoked throught the lights by a guy in a wheelchair / electric bike LOL If I get caught buy the cops I am gonna try and play the disabled card if that doesn't work I'll have to get it registered as a golf cart type vehicle. I am adding a hidden limiter switch which I will be able to program into the controller so It will only do 18 mph ( Legal electric wheelchair speed )

Attachment 1532Attachment 1531

---

HOLY FF!!!! 0-60 in <2 seconds!!! YOU ARE MAD. There must be video shot when you complete this, I want to see it.

What do you expect the total build cost to be? When do you anticipate it being completed?

Sean Murphy: I will be purchasing ( Read my " Pops " ) a drill press in a few days I will be building 2 of these simultaneously ( a friend wants one and I need the 400 over cost he's willing to pay ) I will be doing the other one with a drill press but I think I am going to have to go in much smaller steps on the bit sizes than I did in the mill but from what I have done already I have no doubts just make sure the drill press your using is capable of a spindle speed of about 250 rpm or even lower for the 1 3/8" cut you don't want the bit chattering and you don't want the chips coming off the bit any color but the shiny steel color their made of or you cutting too fast. A light amber color is acceptable if your running coolant over the bit while cutting but I just used wd-40 and went at it fairly slow although I did stack the pieces. Not necessary if you take your time and lay out each piece exactly and center punch you converging measurements and start with a small drill that won't dance out of the punch.

Deranged : I will have lots of video when it's done and expect the total cost to be around $3500 but would be lower using 4 Optima yellow tops but I would gain over 100 lbs and save only $350 . I am willing to wait and do it the way I want. If I can sell some benders it may get done really soon. should have some cad drawings soon . My RX7 Turbo Torsen Diff cam in today though so I can start on that. it's removed from the housing and I will weld up the openings and add 2 1/2" bungs 180deg of each other and fill it with 90 wt to help is be more posi than limited slip. only one is necessary but it's easier to balance the diff that way with less machining after I weld it closed. will ditch the ring gear on it and bolt a 89 tooth gear on there with a heavy duty gear protector under it cause it will dip 2" below the frame and you think I wont be getting any air with 10" travel front and rear LOL I'm going to start a build on that soon so I don't want to get too far off track on this thread so that's it for now on the Hyper-bike.

ok, I can see one thing your missing... a cool sound, you know how the storm trooper bikes sounded on the starwars movies..... you NEED THAT SOUND!

looking forward to seeing more of this build.... and the tube bender too.

looks good so far wish i had 1 myself

My parents are going on vacation tomorrow so my new welder is going to sit at the neighbors house till Sunday:mad:, Besides I'm Kinda broke at this time I don't even have enough to go get an argon bottle. Got plenty of 6011 rod for my stick welder so I may start on the frame of the bender on Monday when my parents get back. I have the bushings and pins from McMaster carr and Just about all I need but the dies atm. So I can continue on this project and my Tig cooler build will continue when I can buy the bypass valve and a 150cf argon bottle to weld up the tank and the enclosure.

OK not much progress but for those of you that don't have access to big fancy mills or giant floor standing 2 hp drill presses. I am going to show what I can accomplish and how accurate you can be if you take your time and measure and mark properly. first think to check is the base of the drill, is it on a level surface?. now you check the chuck to base accuracy. I use a 1/2 piece of drill stock and a digital angle gauge but a level would work fine here too. now bring up your adjustable work platform and check that it's 90 deg to the bit on both the x and y axis. I all that checks your good to go.

Now drilling with a small drill like this presents problems because of spindle speed and the lack of speeds under 650 rpm . at least on mine. so when you start the pilot holes I am using a harbor freight step bit starting at 1/8 and going to around 1/4" where I will switch to a bit that will create the bore all the way through and increase from there in about 1/4 increments. we shall see how this goes. here are some pictures. the HF step bit had no problems popping 1/4" holes in the 1/4 wall 2" TUBING.

Here are some pictures, more tomorrow. in the last picture you can see my layout lines and my center punches, start the small holes in these and progress up in size slowly

Attachment 1604Attachment 1603Attachment 1605

I have had good luck with those bits, I get them on sale, and keep the oiled. My old drill press was too fast and would wallow the holes, using the step bits kept the holes from wallowing out. My new drill press gets down to 210rpm, I'm trying to find a good project to break it in!

ok this project is doable with a drill press. you just have to steo uo in increments to the big bits. I have the pictures on my phone will try posting to this thread later from my phone. The step drills are nice for the starter holes but you need HSS 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4. 7/8, 1" 1-1/8, 1-1/4,1-3/8 . I stepped up in that order doing the 7/8 in holes today and had no problem. I will tell ya, my buddies new delta Drill press got a workout today and the 3/4 hp motor inst enough IMO. Need a 1 hp motor drill press Min I think. My Bits are sharp and I stalled the motor quite a few times with the 7/8 bit. I am also goint to buy a cheap drip cooler for the bit . something like this with a low vol cheapo pump from HF, a catch pan under the press table and a filter so the pump isn't sucking metal shavings.

I plan to make four of everything next time so I can sell them , got 2 sold to friends already. .... ok now to try the pics with the phone. brb... maybe lol
https://picasaweb.google.com/aaxiss/...80058745355538Attachment 1638Attachment 1639
https://picasaweb.google.com/aaxiss/...79232594198722
https://picasaweb.google.com/aaxiss/...80058745355538
ok if this worked pictures should be above this text :p what a pain, had to upload to picassa the dl on this pc then re-up then to forum rofl

How's the build going? I'm looking forward to see how this turns out. I've been going over the free plans by Pro-Tools, still debating on the ones for Got Trikes.

Not as fast as I had hoped unfortunately, got the upright parts that hold the follower die (bottom) Drilled and Most of the metal cut . just waiting for my Powertig to arrive so I can make use of the spot weld feature rather than using stick to spot weld it up. cut all the small square pieces of 1/2 I needed to make the ram support but I cheated on them ( Used the mill again hehe ). don't have my band saw yet and didn't want the noise of the chop saw trying to cut 1/2 x 3" plate. had to dig out the coolant feed unit and hook it up but after that I could just let it rip on the mill as fast as I could crank the index wheel.

Soon as my Powertig is here I will be posting and making progress daily... sorry for the delay on this one.

cool they released the prints for this i think i just have to make one or a few of these pro tools benders

Axxiss

Nice workmanship. I checked out that web link to the power bender. I have a hand one for flat or small cold rolled stock. And a hydraylic one that was on sale at Princess Auto but no really happy with it. I was really impressed by that video and it looks like a fun project. How much were the plans?

here are the links to the plans and the company that sells the dies. if you buy the plans and build one when you order the dies if you mention that you built on of franks benders they will give you 10% off on the price of the dies.

Bender info ---> http://www.gottrikes.com/Tube_Bender.htm

Dies for this bender --> http://www.pro-tools.com/105.htm

dies come with pins and all other items needed once your bender is completed following plans.

Small video I did showing some progress and holes laid out and drilled with a drill press through 1/4 wall 2" square tubing. More cool AC/DC Music at the beginning and end so it may get pulled but I like it :D

http://www.youtube.com/user/WheelchairDemonZ

What speed are you drilling? Are you using regular drill bits? I would like to build one myself that is why I am asking questions. I just purchased several M2 taper drill bits the largest being 1", I felt that using the taper bits would be more accurate. The pro-tools plans calls for a couple 1-1/2" holes which would be difficult to do with a reduced shank drill bit. I am still holding off the got trikes plans until I see how your build comes out.

I'm cutting in about 200 rpm , only you keep the heat down and the bits from chattering. I think if I went any faster I burn up the bed and make a mess of things. I got my power gig today so you should see some welding within the next couple of days and a lot more progress. I'm going to some welding the frame up and should start moving along fairly quick then. I'm on the bus right now so you have to excuse any typos dictating this as we are going along. just a tent for more video in the future and I will keep you updated everyday or so once I get moving along.

thanks for the interest.

Did you ever finish your tube bender? I just ordered the prints today, and was curious how yours turned out.

I have the protools bender if want pics and measurementAttachment 6862 would be very easy to build . This is the company that makes it http://midamericanonline.com/tubing_benders.html protools just sells it . i got mine from the company that makes in Iowa

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rodsmachineshop

I have the protools bender if want pics and measurementAttachment 6862 would be very easy to build . This is the company that makes it http://midamericanonline.com/tubing_benders.html protools just sells it . i got mine from the company that makes in Iowa

---

I have the free prints that pro tools sends out, I wanted to look at gottrikes plans, so I ordered them.

I like the gottrikes better mine only dose 90 bends max . i had the 180 bender at one time but sold it wish i kept it .lol the bender is cheap to build ..its the bending dies that kill you. sorta like this one it uses 120 degree dies Attachment 6863 the problem with my bender the upper part is in the way when trying to go past 90 degrees

HI
Here are a few mods I did when I built my Gettrikes Bender.
First I use a roller under the tubing it worked much better then the slide block and no grease needed. Next is a clamp that I put on the tubing so I can bend beyond the degrees of the die. I did not like the Pro-tools clamping mechanism so I ordered my dies with out them and made my own type (see Pictures).
The Gottrikes bender is just a better design and its portability is a big plus.

Have fun
Tom

What degree die are you using? I like the roller instead of the sliding block.

Attachment 6888mine works sorta like that the block rides on 2 rollers so it slides through with the pipe had the z bend 180 it was a neat machine but sold it Attachment 6890 it is very simple design. the hydrolic ram sat underneath

I used a 90 degree die 1-5/8" tubing. I have about 3 dies that I bought for the bender.
my street rod frame using some tubing bent with the bender.

have fun
Tom

I have built several of the ones from gottrikes now and thy work great, finding something small i do differently each time. I have sold the last 2 i have made for myself thinking i wouldn't need it again, this one is going to be a keeper lol. I started on the base Tuesday but got wrangled into building some kitchen cabinets for my mom and dad, the cherry laminate came in yesterday and I'll laminate the cabinets build the drawers from 7 layer cabinet grade ply and the fronts from solid cherry. Also doing leaded glass panels for the doors. Easier and cheaper.

But i digress, on my strong hand welding table clone thread i posted pics of the base construction, should have the entire frame done by next weekend and fully completed in 2 weeks if i work while glue and strain etc dry.

It's funny being the only seriously mechanically inclined person in my whole family, I've made my entire living from family members for the last 4 months of work. And my abilities are somewhat limited by my situation. They're able bodied but and lazy as he'll , I'm in a wheel chair and they all turn to me when they want something. I tell them out says about more about them than it does me haha

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2