The Official Tube Bending Thread

[BAILEIGH INC]

Hey guys,

It's Shane from Baileigh Industrial here in Wisconsin. As you know, we deal with the Hot Rod, Restoration, Off Road and all sorts of tube chassis crowds on a daily basis and would love to get a little more involved on the board and help out in our area of expertise.

We have a whole team of metal fabrication experts here and we specialize in tube bending and odd applications.

So, I will start this tube bending thread. If you have any questions about roll cages, bending tube or pipe, application issues, what wall thickness will work or not, wall thickness vs. center line Radius or what material will bend. Pretty much anything related to tube bending......ask away.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Hi, Shane, and welcome to the Forum.  I'm Jon, a/k/a Seldom Seen Slim -- the owner of this site.  I appreciate your offer to talk about bending -- and might even offer to set you up your own topic, maybe even read-only.  We'll think about it.

I want to let you know that I'm pretty firm about NOT letting folks advertise their stuff/services here without asking some kind of compensation to the site.  I'm keeping ads to a minimum so the members can see material about how they do land speed racing -- build diaries, chat, and so on.  I expect that some of your offerings will be valuable to us all -- just giving a note of "warning" that I will keep an eye on you (so to speak) and I'll get cranky if you turn into a blatant ad.

That said -- more than a few of our members have discussed bending in detail and I expect, therefore, that your information will be of interest to us.  Have at it - and I hope that you're deluged with questions and relevant comments from hoi polloi.

[BAILEIGH INC]

Hi, Shane, and welcome to the Forum.  I'm Jon, a/k/a Seldom Seen Slim -- the owner of this site.  I appreciate your offer to talk about bending -- and might even offer to set you up your own topic, maybe even read-only.  We'll think about it.

I want to let you know that I'm pretty firm about NOT letting folks advertise their stuff/services here without asking some kind of compensation to the site.  I'm keeping ads to a minimum so the members can see material about how they do land speed racing -- build diaries, chat, and so on.  I expect that some of your offerings will be valuable to us all -- just giving a note of "warning" that I will keep an eye on you (so to speak) and I'll get cranky if you turn into a blatant ad.

That said -- more than a few of our members have discussed bending in detail and I expect, therefore, that your information will be of interest to us.  Have at it - and I hope that you're deluged with questions and relevant comments from hoi polloi.

No problem, thanks.

....no worries. I am active on quite a few forums and offer my tube bending expertise to quite a few people. I'm here to help, so any questions tube bending, ask away.

[BAILEIGH INC]

Ever wonder how much tube is consumed in a bend? Here a quick way to figure it out.

CLR (center line radius) x Degree of bend x .0175

[BAILEIGH INC]

Any questions on bending aluminum? It can be tricky.....

[754]

In ppst #4, first pic..would that bend successfully, if it were annealed?

[BAILEIGH INC]

In ppst #4, first pic..would that bend successfully, if it were annealed?

Yes, you are correct. The lower the temper, the better the bend. The age of aluminum is also a factor. Old aluminum that has been sitting around for six months tends to "work harden" just by sitting on the shelf.

[Crosley]

Any good software to help plan out a chassis  tube layout? 

[interested bystander]

The alloy is less a factor than the temper or hardness.

3003 H-14, for example, bends like a dream. So would 6061-0.

Hard to find on the market.

Burns Stainless -don't be mislead by the name - sells aluminum bends.

Know the business of tube bending well.

Check out their website and who they do business with.

[BAILEIGH INC]

Any good software to help plan out a chassis  tube layout? 

Yes...

Bend Tech Pro software is also very popular with the guys who are just getting started. It makes tube bending simple by allowing you to design your roll cage, rock crawler, racecar or chopper frame right on your computer screen. After designing your project, just click a button, and it will print out a build sheet for each tube. Showing you how long to cut your tube, where to start and stop your bends. It also will print out a notching wrapper as well. These make notching the ends of your tube simple and accurate. Just cut the wrapper out with a pair of scissors, wrap it around the end of your tube, trace it with a sharpie marker and notch your tube. When you are done, you will have a bunch of tube laying on the ground that will be bent and notched that will fit together perfectly.

It works allot like Auto Cad and Solid Works, but it is made specifically for tube bending. It won't let you design something that is impossible to build in the real world like Auto Cad and SW will.

[Glen]

This is really great information. When I was in the aerospace hydraulics test and structures lab I bent miles of tubing with a lot of different benders. The only thing was I didn't have to noch the ends. Flare or for the DC-10 & 11 it was all braced fittings. Having a noch template is neat. I have seen a couple of welders that use them. Great tech, thanks for sharing.Thanks Baieleigh

[4-barrel Mike]

Wow!  The demo http://www.2020softwaresolutions.com/bt_pro.htm makes it look SO easy! 

Mike

[Harold Bettes]

That link shows to have a Trojan within!

Beware of opening that link.

Regards,
HB2

[BAILEIGH INC]

That link shows to have a Trojan within!

Beware of opening that link.

Regards,
HB2

Try this link  http://www.bii1.com/benders/tube-bending-layout-software.php

I know quite a bit about the software, so if anyone has questions, I'm here to help.

[4-barrel Mike]

That link shows to have a Trojan within!

Beware of opening that link.

Regards,
HB2

Strange!  I have about several layers of protection starting with McAfee.  Plenty good, no warnings, from my side.

Mike