Doesn't look like much, but this "Homebuilt" job is equivalent to some $4000 machines out there. Will bend up to 1 1/2-2" tubing. Here is the site... search for "Roller" and you'll find all the files zipped together.

Ernie Leimkuhler 's Metalworking Links

He built it for $500

Those are really tubing "curvers" they make really nice smooth curves in tubing - like for a spiral staircase or sailboat railings.

Take a look here for a bender that you would use to make a roll cage.

Bender plans

I am building the HD version. Costs about $250 in steel plus dies and the jack.
When I'm done with the engine swap and the CNC mill I "might" make some of these for a fair price. You would still need to buy the plans from Frank. You can't make one of these with hand tools and a drill. I have at least 10 hours into mine and still have some work left. Those holes are a pain in the a** to make without a mill.

I made a manual bender with homemade dies to bend the arch shaped roll bar on this 928. I still have some of the parts for the bender.

QUOTE (rick 918-S @ Apr 6 2006, 09:59 PM)

I made a manual bender with homemade dies to bend the arch shaped roll bar on this 928. I still have some of the parts for the bender.

more pictures of this please

QUOTE (messix @ Apr 6 2006, 09:02 PM)

QUOTE (rick 918-S @ Apr 6 2006, 09:59 PM) I made a manual bender with homemade dies to bend the arch shaped roll bar on this 928. I still have some of the parts for the bender. more pictures of this please

This was the first car. I did some consulting on it. I don't have any more. I just had pizza with my uhpolstery buddy. He helped on it too. He said he thinks he has some more photos. He's going to see if he can hunt them down.

We added sheet metal to the back side of the bar to make it a wing shape, then cut in a third brake light, made a vacum formed lens, and my friend covered it with leather and sewed it on with a baseball stitch. Cool!

thanx, i'd really like to see them. that car looks pretty good from that angle, hard to tell it's a 928.

QUOTE (messix @ Apr 6 2006, 09:11 PM)

thanx, i'd really like to see them. that car looks pretty good from that angle, hard to tell it's a 928.

Here's the second generation car. Sorry they had to loose the rollbar for the top. It's a complete glas body, lots of stuff cut off the 928 to do this.

front...

that is smooth. looks like something porsche might build five years from now.

QUOTE (Porcharu @ Apr 6 2006, 08:52 PM)

Those are really tubing "curvers" they make really nice smooth curves in tubing - like for a spiral staircase or sailboat railings. Take a look here for a bender that you would use to make a roll cage. Bender plans I am building the HD version. Costs about $250 in steel plus dies and the jack. When I'm done with the engine swap and the CNC mill I "might" make some of these for a fair price. You would still need to buy the plans from Frank. You can't make one of these with hand tools and a drill. I have at least 10 hours into mine and still have some work left. Those holes are a pain in the a** to make without a mill.

I appreciate the distinction.. you are right, the thread I found was indeed for a guy who was making railing.

QUOTE (Porcharu @ Apr 6 2006, 08:52 PM)

Those are really tubing "curvers" they make really nice smooth curves in tubing - like for a spiral staircase or sailboat railings. Take a look here for a bender that you would use to make a roll cage. Bender plans I am building the HD version. Costs about $250 in steel plus dies and the jack. When I'm done with the engine swap and the CNC mill I "might" make some of these for a fair price. You would still need to buy the plans from Frank. You can't make one of these with hand tools and a drill. I have at least 10 hours into mine and still have some work left. Those holes are a pain in the a** to make without a mill.

Steve,

Mueller is in your kneck of the woods and he has his bridgeport set up with CNC. My mill is still sitting in Mom's garage but I'll be moving it south this summer. If you ever want to do a "production run" maybe we can network...

B

QUOTE (rick 918-S @ Apr 6 2006, 11:59 PM)

I made a manual bender with homemade dies to bend the arch shaped roll bar on this 928. I still have some of the parts for the bender.

Is this the same car?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=14...che+928&pl=true

QUOTE (Brian Mifsud @ Apr 7 2006, 07:02 AM)

QUOTE (Porcharu @ Apr 6 2006, 08:52 PM) Those are really tubing "curvers" they make really nice smooth curves in tubing - like for a spiral staircase or sailboat railings.   Take a look here for a bender that you would use to make a roll cage. Bender plans I am building the HD version.  Costs about $250 in steel plus dies and the jack.   When I'm done with the engine swap and the CNC mill I "might" make some of these for a fair price.  You would still need to buy the plans from Frank.  You can't make one of these with hand tools and a drill.  I have at least 10 hours into mine and still have some work left.  Those holes are a pain in the a** to make without a mill. Steve, Mueller is in your kneck of the woods and he has his bridgeport set up with CNC. My mill is still sitting in Mom's garage but I'll be moving it south this summer. If you ever want to do a "production run" maybe we can network... B

Hey Brian....

Steve is closer to Campbell I think...a good 90 miles away

I found another good G/M code program, it's free (yippeeee)...it's really an "editor" but has cool Simulation feature that'll show the tool path (x,y and z).....It has some sample codes and it allows you to step thru each line to get a better feel for coding.

AutoEditNC 3.0

QUOTE (spare time toys @ Apr 7 2006, 04:26 PM)

QUOTE (rick 918-S @ Apr 6 2006, 11:59 PM) I made a manual bender with homemade dies to bend the arch shaped roll bar on this 928. I still have some of the parts for the bender. Is this the same car? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=14...che+928&pl=true

Yep, that's the first car. You can see the wing shape and the third light on top of the roll bar. the bar is 1 3/4 DOM.

Rick,

Any pics of the Tube Bender? I'm interested in your "home-made dies".

Thanks

Nope, I didn't take photos. I'll see If I can find a few of the parts and make a diagram of how it worked.

Why go though the hassle of building your own for $250? For $300 you can buy a JD2. Mine has built 3 1/2 cages so far. I dont do it for a living so it not worth converting to hydraulic (but it would be nice).

I came across that video about a week ago, nice car. I Porsche should have built that before. I was supprised it went for less than 50k. I would have figured it was going to be more.

$250 includes the cost of buying dies. I'm going to machine my own so my cost will be significantly lower.

It's a different type of bender. I don't have room for a horizontal mount style bender. I can drag this one out of the garage level it up and go to work. Mine is also air over hydraulic and manual (cool jack.) It's also way way overkill - it will bend 2" .120 wall DOM or 4130. And it was fun to weld up some big thick steel - I've never had the MIG cranked up all the way before.
If I had the room I would have just bought one and been done with it and spent the time working on my car.

I only built the bender I used because of the arch of the bar. Normal dies would have been too sharp of a bend. I had a 5' long handle on it from the center of the arch. You just pulled on the handle, slid the bar back, and pulled again.

Gotcha! Did that include the ram? (its hard to tell from your orig quote - I read it as $250 in steel PLUS the cost of the dies and the jack)

BTW, vert or horiz doesnt' matter once you go hydraulic - even the JD2 could be flipped on its side.

BTW2, Where did you guys get the long stroke ram (and how much $)?

found this linked from another site:

Dirt cheap tubing bender

car was used to hold end of bender down.......


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