I'm pretty new to fabricating and I've only been welding for about 6 months now but enjoy it. I want to start fabricating parts for my 95 Teg that I'm building like roll cages, suspension parts etc.

But what I really want to know is would I be able to use a pipe bender to bend turbo piping and be able to use that piping?

 

Depending on how extreme the radius is, yes you can.

 

ive seen pie cuts on sharp bends..

 

I'm looking at bending 2.5"-3" piping and the wall thickness of 1/16 aluminum piping. Would I be able to do it? As long as i got the correct die set?

Would something like this work?
http://www.tooltopia.com/northcoast-...googlebase_18u

 

Well I feel like I can help you out a little bit on this one. I'm just like you, very new to fabrication, but I did however just recently complete my first manifold. I chronicled the build up of it on here if you feel like checking it out. You will need a mandrel bender in order to get radius' close to what i'm guessing you will need. For the types of turbo manifolds you see on here and the commercial ones for sale you will be much better off buying "weld EL's" I ordered mine from Ace Stainless.

I had the same thoughts that you did for bending regular pipe or tubing but when I actually tried to bend it they were no where near tight enough for what I needed for manifold fabrication. Someone before mentioned "pie cuts" which is a option in some circumstances but that will actually hinder/ hurt your flow characteristics.

But if you're looking at the bender for building things like roll bars/ cages, bumpers, ect ect. then it would work just fine I would assume.

 

I appreciate it man. The pipe bender you have, does work good for parts like Manifolds, exhaust, roll cages etc? Do you think it would be good for turbo piping?

 

Manifolds no, exhaust no (usually your piping will be to thin and will kink aside from bend) they make speial benders for exhaust. Roll cages yes. Turbo piping i'm assuming you're talking about intercooler and charge piping? Not if you want tight or quick radius/ turns

 

tubing benders bend steel tube, for cages and the like. If you want to build a turbo manifold, buy some weld els. if you want to make intercooler piping, buy mandrel bends. exhaust piping is done with a mandrel bender, which you arent going to buy. if you want to waste your time and be JDM fresh, do pie cuts.

 

So you end up just buying the piping yourself, do the cutting and weld everything yourself? So I really don't need a pipe bender unless i want to do my own roll cages etc?

LOL. Be easy on the noob, but what are pie cuts?

 

Pie cuts is cutting the pipe different angles and weld them together till you form a bend. I would recommend buying ready mandrel bended pipes.

 

Simple answer...
No, it can't be done without crushing the walls.

Benders like this are mean't for thick wall tubing. So that there is very little wall deformation when the tube is bent. This is also why these benders have dies with high CLR's...

Aluminum and stainless will buckle.
You need to either get intimate with a lathe and make your own mandrels. Or spend a ridiculous amount of money on a TRUE mandrel bender.
The mandrels are the to prevent the thin wall from crushing, even under the tightest radii.

 

caution, this trick is old and ghetto and I dont do it, mandrel bends are easy to get these days for most but i can understand the need if someone just cant get them for one reason or another...

You can fill tubing with all sorts of things, like sand, water, hydro fluid, you name it to do mandrel(ish) bends. lots of guys use to do this, I was shown how originally by welding a cap to one end of a stick of material, a cap with a hydro fitting on the other and then you fill it with water or hydraulic fluid to the brim and seal it. now the tubing cannot crush.

First off i was taught this around 20 years ago. second every time i saw it done it seemed dangerous as hell for so many reasons. I was told that if you do it with too thin or weak of material you will get hurt.

I would like to re emphasize that mandrel bends of most material are cheap. www.acestainless.com

 

Yep I just bought the bends that I needed, they have 90' bends, "tight" 90' bends, 45' bends and also just straight. Basically I just peiced the runners together. It worked out extremely well. I would recommend the link that Snow listed. Thats exactly who I used. Then bender you referenced would be excellent for cages but thats about it. for manifolds and charge piping just buy the weld EL's

 

Here is the link to my first adventure, if you actually go through it and read all my post you'll see how I progressed and the things I figured out along the way.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/welding-fabrication-53/custom-manifold-s-2857014/

 

This statement is false.
The water and hydro fluid will deform because it's not a solid mass. The fluid has NO WAY of keeping it's shape in the tube. Because hydro fluid and water are just that. FLUID. They form the shape of whatever they are in. Unlike tightly packed sand.
I machine, weld, and test hydraulic cylinders. I've tried filling a tube with hydro fluid. The result was the EXACT same as when I use nothing in the tube.
Except I didn't weld a cap on. I machined the tube for a fitting.

To make mandrel/ish bends the "mandrel" either has to be a real mandrel snake or some sort of solid object that is flexible. Hence why sand works.... Kinda...

On top of that. filling a tube with water. Then welding a cap on the end is plain retarded. Unless you like making your own boiler explosion.

 

screw the harbor freight kink benders filled with sand bla bla bla. if you want to do stuff right, take it to a shop with a nice bender or spend 600 dollars on a jd2 and a die.

 

I can't tell you how good it feels to become a sponsor, just yesterday, and find a post like this. We really appreciate the kind words!!

Keep an eye out for an introductory post either tomorrow or Monday...and a special discount code for H-T members.

 

+1 for Ace Stainless. I like the new site design compared to the old one BTW.

 

lol, dude I pimp you guys so hard it isnt even funny. my merge collector threads have over a million combined views now. ace stainless has always done right by me and its the least I can do.

btw-hey Richard!... Jared from Truckee

 

like I said, i dont do it. yet, i have seen it work. Heck my old HS metal shop teacher did it with sand and BBs and taught it like it was proper.

I think all of it is retarded when you can just buy real mandrel bends.

 

Jared! How have you been?

We definitely appreciate it and it's nice to be back as an H-T sponsor (we were sponsors off and on from 05-07)!

 

Again... Sand and BB's are a solid material with just enough flex and give to prevent the material from splitting open. The water and hydro fluid on the other hand. No dice. No solid form to keep the walls from collapsing.

 

yeah i dont know man, i get what you are saying and actually agree but it is what it is.

maybe its magic, like those 3d pictures you have to stare at real hard

 

I was looking at those jd2 benders. Are they pretty good? I would like to be able to do custom roll cages and strut bars also. So I'm looking for something that will do the trick for me.

 

For fabricating parts, would it be better to buy a TIG welder than using a MIG? MIG is what I've been using and haven't used a TIG before. With a TIG would i be able to still patch the holes in my engine bay as well as welding roll cages?