The wiki listed a tubing bender as a tool in the shop, where can I find it?
Iām so glad you asked this. I keep meaning to ask myself.
I know there were 2 in the metal shop room before the great clean up, but I donāt know if theyāre still in there, to the left of the sandblaster cabinet.
My question wasā¦
How are we expected to use them? they appear to need bolted down or strapped down or something to prevent the base from moving, and I was not sure what āthe visionā was on thatā¦
As soon as you walk in the metal shop, stick along the right wall. The tube bender is about 15ā from the door, along the wall in the metal shop. That is where it is last I saw it. It appeared to be the HF model, so expect it to be BRIGHT orange.
ā¦Xā¦
The one I remember is the āJ D Squaredā one from the wikiā¦
So itās black.
The other one had a wheel on it, and I think belonged to a memberā¦
You are right the one with the wheel belonged to a member who recently moved to San Antonio. I have verified it is still there or not. He most likely took it with him.
We only have 1" square dies for the JD^2. It does have to be bolted down, though I thought Andrew had placed anchors for it.
I still couldnāt find it either one, asked a few members hanging around but no luck. If anyone has seen it lately or knows where it walked off to please let me know. Once we find it anyone interested in some round tube dies?
Probably, but [what size][1] do you want?
I can see why this type of tool adds up quickā¦
This guy makes it look easy to just whip out a set of dies on the lathe/millā¦
Dont think my skills are thereā¦
[1]: http://www.jd2.com/p-44-m3-round-die-sets.aspx
The best way to know if your skills are up to par or not - depends on weather you wear eye-pro or not. I have notice that the masterest-machinist masters out there do not wear eye-pro, much like the guy aboveā¦ So, if you like me, still wear eye-pro then we are practically beginners. 
ā¦Xā¦
Sure enough, no tubing bender in metal shop. Anyone have any other guesses?
How difficult would it be to weld one up? I can machine some dies.
Itās just plate bolted together.
Bryanās right, overall, the ones like JD2 are largely bolted together plate. If you want to work up off the ground, though, or some of the heavier weight ones, are welded up, either the stands, frames, or both.
The tough part is finding some plans, IMO.
Found some here, sort of.
And here, sort of, again.
Nothing nice, though, with āblueprintā style diagrams and measurementsā¦
Might be my google-fu is offā¦
Iād be up for helping/assisting building one up if we can find some plans. My skills are definitely not up to making the dies like in the video, but Iād love to learn and contribute. For my project I was looking to bend and notch some 1" Al tube. Iāll be in the space Thursday night for the monthly meeting if anyone wants to meet/discuss before or after. ā Andy
Iāve run across a set of plans. I donāt have them with me just now, and canāt conjur them up again, but Iāll post more about it when I find them again (tonight, hopefully).
If I recall correctly, it would be a JD2 clone type, something like this, but that would be a fine start to build from, I think.
Sure be nice to get the plasma working for this, though. Itād make cutting the plate so much easier than anything else of which I can think.
Completely agree on the plasma cutter comment, from what I understand on the fire marshal thread we need to install proper ventilation and then apply for a use permit. I donāt know where we stand in that process though. Maybe we should focus our energy on getting it up and running first, before we try to tackle building a new bender?
It wouldnāt be smooth enough for the pivot holes.
No, it wouldnāt be smooth enough for any of it, but I thought it would be nice for removing some āhands onā for roughing out the parts. Then they could be cleaned up with grinder/sander.
I figure the holes would need drilled/bored/reamed using machining methods regardless of how the major shapes are cut.
Barring the plasma cutter, the plate could be cut out using the āchain drillingā method and some cold chisels.
We do have a perfectly working Brideport