# Building Mcgyver's tube bender part 1



## deere_x475guy (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi gang, I started Mcgyver's tube bender this weekend. Here are some pics to date of the build.

I didn't take step by step pictures. I am just posting a few to show some the steps.

There are several bolts that I made up and I used my 6 sided 5C block to help this along.







This set up allowed me to hold the part so I could drill, ream, counter bore and tap. And the DRO guided me to my hole locations.










I needed to reduce the size of the head on my 10-32 screws so I used a collet set up in the lathe.





Here is a shot of some of the parts laid out.






and here is where I ended up for the weekend. There are still a lot of parts and I hope to finish this up by the end of next weekend so I can at least bend the 1/4" tubing. 








Many thanks to Mcgyver!!!


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## Powder keg (Jan 6, 2008)

Lookin good!!! Can't wait to see the results. A friend and I built one this summer to bend 1 1/5" DOM tubing for a motorcycle frame. 

Wes


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## Mcgyver (Jan 6, 2008)

Bob, looks great, you're going to show me up on my own project - you'll be making 4 jaws in no time! j/j, its really cool to see someone else making one. since you're crazy enough to actually go ahead i figured I'd better think a little harder about any differences between those plans and the as built. One thing i remember was that the clamp is not right, it needs to be built such that you can either clamp the tubing or fix it to the base independent of each other...the original design didn't have that ability - the screw that fastened to the base also clamped the tube. pm your email - i found a slightly more up to date set of plans that has this modified clamp post.


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 6, 2008)

haha...thanks Mcgyver, you under estimated my lack of sanity.)))... Wife thinks I'm crazy so maybe there is something to it...

Your a tough act to follow my friend....I have admired your work for quit some time now.

PM Sent...

I also wanted to add that I hope I have at least 25 years of building left (54 now) and the time invested in this will more than pay off.)) I don't intend to build all the dies. Just the ones I need for now. It won't take much time to make the additional dies as they are needed.


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## wareagle (Jan 8, 2008)

Very nice! That is a great looking tool.


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 15, 2008)

Ok gang I got enough parts built so that I can now bend 1/4 tubing to a center line radius of 3/8". This will be enough to get me started as I go along I can add to the dies. This is a rather poor resemblance to Mcyver's very elegantly done bender so please don't whip me to bad....He really did a nice job with all the little details on his.

Here is the bender with the tubing in it.






and here is the bent tube. ;D





This weekend I am going to have to remake the clamp. I tried to get away with using this little block of steel and didn't have enough room to put two clamp screws in it. Of course it leaves a nasty mark in the tubing...one of my many duh moments.


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## BobWarfield (Jan 15, 2008)

Darn, now you and Mcgyver will have prettier tubing than the rest of us.

How do we keep up?

Nice project!

I want to try one of those tangential cutters myself some time.

Cheers,

BW


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## Mcgyver (Jan 15, 2008)

hey that looks great, nice clean bend! way to go Bob


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 15, 2008)

Mcgyver  said:
			
		

> hey that looks great, nice clean bend! way to go Bob





Thanks Mike you did a great job designing it. I need to build a rack for all the dies as I build them so I don't loose them in the shop some place like I did my 3/8 5c collet today...ugh..I looked for that dang thing on an off for over and hour...then gave up and went to sit back down in front of the laptop and sat on it...haha...go figure.

Thanks again for a great project.


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## deere_x475guy (Jan 15, 2008)

BobWarfield  said:
			
		

> Darn, now you and Mcgyver will have prettier tubing than the rest of us.
> 
> How do we keep up?
> 
> ...


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## BobWarfield (Jan 15, 2008)

Powered drawbars are awesome: highly recommended project!

Of course, it never ends. You get a powered drawbar, and you decide you need to plumb the shop for air instead of dragging the hose over so you don't have to keep fooling with the hose. Then you notice how loud your compressor is when its on all the time.

Like any good hobby, you are never done: I love it!

Best,

BW


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