Re: [now] Offroad buggies [was] new guy chimes in

From: Michael Maskalans (dml@tepidcola.com)
Date: Thu Aug 04 2005 - 01:17:02 EDT


jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:

> Speaking of building buggies, why are tubing benders so blasted
> expensive?

Wish I knew. You saying that your H-F tubing kinker doesn't do the
trick? =)

the only bent members on our car are the rear lower a-arms. everything
else is cut, notched and welded. we couldn't get our bender to not kink
the .035 wall. minimum spec for our die is .049 wall so that's not
surprising.

> Where are the cheap Chinese knockoffs when we need them?

yeah, isnt' that strange? what other tool doesn't have a cheap knockoff?

> ;-) They don't seem terribly complicated except for the dies
> themselves. Maybe they just figure that the people who need tubing
> benders are commercial customers who are OK with paying through the
> nose for them since they will be able to make the machine pay for
> itself? Kinda leaves us hobbyists out in the cold though. :-(
>
Nah, build you own. That's what keith and I plan to try. I'll let you
know how it works out. Haven't decided if it's worth it to try to make
the dies too. If the baja shop or student machine shop happen to have a
bull-nosed mill in the proper size I'm going to have to try to jig up a
die fab. I can't get the mill bit much cheaper than the die set though
(like $60-$80 for a 1.25" bull nose mill last I checked, plus the 1.5"
cold rolled stock at ~$GOD, when the die set for a JD2 is around $250)

--
MikeM



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