will this bender make bends legal for role cages?

http://vansantent.com/model_3_bender.htm

 

Absolutely. Thats what most chassis shops use, unless they are so overly swamped, or have the extra cash laying around for a machine type mandrel bender.
Kyle

 

thanks also where is a good place to buy the steel for a cage and what size am i looking for?

 

you should go with the model 4. i use to have the model three and upgraded to the 4. it makes a better quality bend.

 

Upgrade to the 4 like L-Con suggested.

You're in NY... should be plenty of steel places . Look up Metal in your yellow pages. Call around though. Prices can be all over the place. Last year a National Chain metal shop by me quoted me 4.80 per foot for 1.5"x.095. A shop 20 miles away was 1.85 per foot. That was the good old days when tubing was cheap and gas was a 1.50.

Lately I'm paying ~ 2.40 per foot for 1.5x.095

Oh, its ROL...L

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cstay &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks also where is a good place to buy the steel for a cage and what size am i looking for?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Depends on what you're building the cage for. For SCCA IT type classes I believe most Hondas are classed under 2380 so you can go with 1.5"x.095 DOM. Im not as well versed in Solo II or NASA's rules.

NHRA drag cages spec 1.625x.118 tube. Most builders upgrade to .125 or .134 wall for wall thickness tolerances as the NHRA sonic tests.

Pro-rally is all over the place but most minimums are 1.75x.095 DOM

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed Raycer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

NHRA drag cages spec 1.625x.118 tube. Most builders upgrade to .125 or .134 wall for wall thickness tolerances as the NHRA sonic tests.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

.118 is for mild steel... as for chromo only .083 is required... i also have never heard of anybody "upgrading" tubing thicknesses... especially not when ur starting off with heavy .118 wall!

 

I use sch. 40 pipe for my roll cages, stainless of course!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bigTom &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

.118 is for mild steel... as for chromo only .083 is required... i also have never heard of anybody "upgrading" tubing thicknesses... especially not when ur starting off with heavy .118 wall!</TD></TR></TABLE>

.120 can have variances in thickness of .005 or so. With sonic testing, it doesn't matter what your spec sheet says. Throw a bend or tweak in a doorbar and suddenly you're under spec on the outside of the radius.

 

i strictly use chromoly tubing... it even has a mil-spec # on it! (at least thats what i would figure "mil-t....etc" means... if they really got down to it and started measuring the tubing on the outside of bends then every chassis ever built would be garbage!

as far as tubing goes (and im sure ur aware of this but ill post it anyway for people who dont know...) they only make certain thicknesses... chromoly is readily available in .035, .049, .058, .065, .083, .095 and .120... 1.625 i do not see that often in .95 actually so ur choices here are either .083 (the basic tubing of any chassis/cage) or .120... first of all using the .120 would right off the bat eliminate the point of using chromoly... since it is thinner... it is lighter... and everyone knows u want everything as light as possible in a race car

lets say in a basic cage u use 50 ft of tubing...

the weight per foot of
1.625x.083 is 1.367lbs
1.625x.120 is 1.929lbs

the total weight of...
.083 would be 68.35lbs
.120 would be 96.45lbs

thats a differance of 28.1lbs! i dont know about u but i think ill stick to "spec" tubing... if there really would be discrepencies in tubing thickness around bends... then im sure the nhra spec would of called for say 1.625x.080 so as u can use the .083

oh... n for the record... since some people tend to believe chromoly is lighter than mild steel... it isnt! they are the exact same weight... they are both steel... chromoly has a differant "chemical makeup" i guess u could call it but it weighs the same... chromoly is almost like a slightly hardened form of steel... hence y u can use thinner tubing... cuz of the strength

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I use sch. 40 pipe for my roll cages, stainless of course! </TD></TR></TABLE>

dont u polish it after for the bling bling as well?

 

I polish it first, then weld it, leaves the nice bling welds for show!

 

The reasons I didn't mention anything anything about 4130 is that this guy is looking to build his first cage. Does he really need to even think about 4130 and the process' required??

2nd... he still hasn't said what he's building a cage for.... there are some sanctioning bodies which are eliminating the 4130 option in new cages.

BigTom... Do you guys post weld heat treat your 4130?

 

But wich size piping is nhra spec? because i cant find it anywhere and i wanna make a nhra spec rollbar.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blackpearlcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">But wich size TUBING is nhra spec? because i cant find it anywhere and i wanna make a nhra spec rollbar.</TD></TR></TABLE>
For a nhra rollbar, 1.75x.118 for Mild Steel, 1.75x.083 for 4130

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed Raycer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
For a nhra rollbar, 1.75x.118 for Mild Steel, 1.75x.083 for 4130 </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks