JD2 Model 32 Bender + Harbor Freight Ram

[Rafael]

I'm building this with my I-MIG 200 and my PowerPlasma 50

Ok as many of you know I recently bought a JD2 tubing bender. I bought the manual bender because it was way cheaper but I had the intention on converting it down the road to air over hydraulic. Well the road was really damn short because I decided to do it right away lol. I know Swag Off Road sells a mount for the Harbor Freight ram but it has a major flaw in the design do to it's pivot point. The mount creates side load on the ram and will blow out the seal and from what I read can make retracting the mount pretty hard. Now due to the size of the HF ram creating a center pivot point takes quite a bit more effort but it should be done if you want to use this type of ram on your tubing bender.

Here is what I'm working on and the progress so far. My mount will use the factory mounts on the ram rather than clamping down on the tube like the Swag mount does.

















I Should have this finished up tomorrow night. I'll post more pics then.

For those that don't mind listening to me ramble on and on you can check out my youtube videos of this build. Hopefully that will answer any question you have.

[zoama]

Great video...can't wait to see the results.

I have an idea for a simple mount that would solve the problem. It's a new cylinder clamp with a pin on each side and two plates that would bolt to the last three holes on your bender with the cylinder mount between.
The plates could be stepped if need be.

[Rafael]

Yeah the center mount like that would work. Using the last hole in the arm will take some work because this ram is so large and the factory bolts are in the way. Maybe building an extension mount like I did on the other arm would solve that. It just needs to be really strong. I'm not sure how much I like the mounts that clamp to the tube. Maybe it's just me but I worry about unnecessary stress on the tubing given that there are critical moving parts inside. But it should work out great.

[ShaneJackson]

cool project. How well does the bender work? does it leave any kinks? I read somewhere where you had to fill the pipe with sand to avoid kinks on some HF pipe benders. Seemed like that would be a real pain.

[Rafael]

This is not a harbor freight pipe bender. This is a JD Squared bender that I'm using a HF ram to power. These are high quality benders capable of producing smooth bends on 1/4" wall tubing. They work very well. I haven't used mine yet. I will sometime next week after I finish this and order some tubing.

[ShaneJackson]

Sorry I kind of confused myself. I read what kind it was and then read about the ram and watched the video all the while drinking apple pie shine.... need I say more.

[agent4573]

I've got a bunch of 1.5" DOM 0.090" wall tube bent on this bender and it does a great job. There are small indents where it has to deform the tube to get it to bend (its not a mandrel bender), but its very small and the tube comes out great looking. If your mounts/ram setup work great, you may have to make a second one for me.

[Rambozo]

Great video...can't wait to see the results.

I have an idea for a simple mount that would solve the problem. It's a new cylinder clamp with a pin on each side and two plates that would bolt to the last three holes on your bender with the cylinder mount between.
The plates could be stepped if need be.

That looks like the hot tip. Compact, but center loaded.

[Rafael]

If your mounts/ram setup work great, you may have to make a second one for me.

Depending on how this goes I might just do that if you really want one. I was thinking about maybe making a few more. It's such a simple design though I'm not sure how much people would pay for it. I have the extra plate. I'm sure there will be a few changes on a 2nd build though.

Can't wait to see how it handles .250 wall. Not sure I'll be buying that size of tubing right away. It's expensive and I don't really have a use for it at the moment. However I will be buying some .120 wall to put a cage in my truck.

[Rafael]

Finally have it mounted and bolted to the floor. Had some other stuff to take care off over the weekend and didn't have any free time until tonight to wrap it up. I do plan on doing some work to the base so I can make mounts for different die sets. I'll also be adding some springs later to retract the ram on it's own. I plan on ordering in some tubing next week I'll let you guys know how it goes once I finally get some DOM in my shop.







P.S. I added 3 more videos to the playlist in my first post.

[sticks]

Have you tested it yet (Air/Hyd ram) to full stroke and back again?

My 20ton HF jack has a tendency to start pushing air when on it's side (yes, it's full of oil), need to keep the pump portion pointing down when using horizontal. ETA READ both the air pump and hand pump. I know this would mean you would have to build an adapter to your mount to allow for a 90* turn.

Another option would to be go with a foot pedal A/H pump and a standard Hyd. ram that is the proper length and rated for the pressure you are pushing (cylinder dia x stroke). The larger the cylinder bore, the more control you will have over speed and distance of the stroke per pump - so long as it does not exceed the capacity of the reservoir of the pump. Just connect the foot pedal outlet to the bottom of the cylinder, and put a micron rated vent cap on the ram end.

[agent4573]

Can you get full extension on the ram without the inner tube hitting the bolt on the end of the bender? It looks like it would be close to hitting the end of the bender at full extension. I guess as long as it goes far enough to get the drive pin into the next hole its fine.

[sticks]

I agree with your assessment of the weak point at the mount to the bender. That first bend and the mounting holes are where you are likely to see a problem.

You could strengthen it by fish-plating (another 1/4") it from the front mounting holes to maybe 6 inches past the boxed in area.

[Rafael]

There are now clearance issues at all. Plenty of room all the way around. When the ram is fully extended it will only extend a little past the first adjustment pin hole. Basically this will only do a 45 degree bend without having to repin and start over. But that's fine and not uncommon. I could be wrong but I don't think the JD2 hydraulic setup will do a full 90 degree bend without repinning ether.

As far as how the ram is mounted. Everything I have ever read about using this ram for this type of bender said this is the way it should be. As far as I've seen everyone using this ram successfully has it mounted in this position. If it's not working properly there is something wrong with the ram. I'm not expert on how the internals work on the ram but it seems to make sense to me. Here is a pic of the Swag Offroad setup. Even with their mount style that would allow you to rotate the ram with the manual jack on the bottom they don't. They say make sure it's setup the way you see it in the picture. Seems to work just fine for me. But then again I haven't tried bending any tubing yet. I will next week and post an update for sure.

[sticks]

It might be a design difference between my 20 ton and their 8 ton base assemblies.

Looking forward to your virgin test drive.

[Rafael]

I agree with your assessment of the weak point at the mount to the bender. That first bend and the mounting holes are where you are likely to see a problem.

You could strengthen it by fish-plating (another 1/4") it from the front mounting holes to maybe 6 inches past the boxed in area.

Yeah I may end out boxing that in. I want to try a bend first. Once I do I'll be carefully measuring the mount in those stress areas to see if there is any stretching or distorting of the metal while under load. I could easily just go ahead and box it in and not worry about it but to save metal and to also educate myself on how strong this really needs to be I'm going to wait. I'm not sure if I will build this for others or not but if I do I need to insure that I'm not using too much material if it doesn't need it. That will increase my cost and the cost of shipping. People will only pay so much for it so those factors are important to me right now while I figure out what I'm going to do. This is my R&D time lol. It's just public witch might be stupid of me but oh well lol.

[agent4573]

I'll be a beta tester... just send one over and I'll let you know how long it takes me to figure out how to break it.

[sticks]

Yeah I may end out boxing that in. I want to try a bend first. Once I do I'll be carefully measuring the mount in those stress areas to see if there is any stretching or distorting of the metal while under load. I could easily just go ahead and box it in and not worry about it but to save metal and to also educate myself on how strong this really needs to be I'm going to wait. I'm not sure if I will build this for others or not but if I do I need to insure that I'm not using too much material if it doesn't need it. That will increase my cost and the cost of shipping. People will only pay so much for it so those factors are important to me right now while I figure out what I'm going to do. This is my R&D time lol. It's just public witch might be stupid of me but oh well lol.

I don't think you will have to box it in, just reinforce the top and bottom plate.

[Rafael]

I don't think you will have to box it in, just reinforce the top and bottom plate.

Or maybe use some dimple dies on the top and bottom plates