Anyone on here have a Model 32? I'm kicking around the idea of buying one and building my own stuff. Looks like it takes about $1000 investment for the bender, stand and some dies to get equipped to do a roll bar. Maybe add a couple more dies for some smaller tubes and a person could do most everything on a race car.

I had a PRO tools 104 that I upgrade with
HYD.. bent a lot of tubing with it.. all
moly

Now, all we need to do is educate the racing tech committees about "strength of materials and structural shapes".
[kidding: waste of time]

I have the model 32 with hydraulics. I have it on stand with wheels so it can move around the shop and also rotate as bending rather than swing a long piece of tube around the shop. No complaints with it...

If you can snap a picture and post it I'd appreciate it. I was thinking of doing the same thing. Did you start with the JD stand and then add some wheels to it? That is what I was thinking of doing.

I got one when I got tired of waiting on a friend to bend some pipe for me. Best thing I did. 1-3/4 1-5/8. 1-1/4 are all the dies you need. Works nice, once you get the layouts or templates right it goes quickly. Sets up and take downs are quick, I mount mine on an angle iron and bowling alley bench, (3x10) that's bolted to the floor. If I ever start bending DOM tube I'll get the hydraulics.

You could look at a rogue fabrication bender as well, depending on how close to Sandy, Oregon you are could save on shipping...or probably get an in person demo. I've borrowed one and it worked awesome, but can't really compare to a jd2 because I've never used one.

I have a Pro Tools HD also. Put studs in the garage floor. Manually bent my whole car. Lots of bars got redone. Never had any issues as far as fatigue or not enough strength. I think that hydraulics are over rated, unless you plan on doing lots of cars. There is lots of good ideas on youtube for knowing how much material is required in any given bend. I have several bends made marked in increments. Makes measuring much easier. Made up a little clamp to mount an inclinometer on it to keep the tubing level. A high quality tubing notcher will be your best friend.

T
About the bending, I agree, manual works fine doing 4130 .085. But I bent a piece of DOM 1-5/8 .120 wall and thought I would have a hernia, that sucker was tough. I was using the bar they sent, maybe twice that length would have worked better, I just didn't have room on my bench to use a bigger bar. Using a longer bar probably could bend the 4130 with one hand.
Where ever you mount it make something to press you foot against for leverage, just standing on the floor doesn't work.

I have a Model 3 that we got in the early 90s. At the time JD didn't sell them with hydraulics. The only piece they sold was the threaded piece that the cylinder screws into. We built our own hydraulics and portable stand. We also got dies for tubing from .75 to 1.75. I still use this machine today. Still works perfectly and makes very nice bends. I have used a Model 4 as well. I find it to be big and clunky, more difficult to use than my 3 and not able to do as much due to it's size and design. I've never used a 32, but the JD site describes it as a very heavy duty version of the 3. The pictures match the description.

All we do is drag race stuff. My 3 will easily do 1.75x.134 wall DOM and 1.75x.083 4130. And we use it for smaller brackets, mounts, and parts. The 3 is easy to use and be precise with, compact, and makes pretty bends. I would not trade my machine for a 32 because I think the extra heft and size of the bigger machine would hurt more than it would help. Unless you expect to get into large, very heavy wall stuff, I would stick with a 3. Sometimes bigger is not better and can actually be a PIA if you don't need it.

I had a JD bender. Unless you plan to do a lot of stuff its not a good investment. Its one thing to say a certain size die will do you but they make about a dozen different radiuses in each size !! As a manually operated unit it needs a large footprint. You're a handy guy Andy, there are a lot of good plans on the net to build a hydraulic bender using commercially available dies. They have a smaller footprint. With the JD the hydraulics are an option and not a cheap one. I didn't get enough use out of it so I sold it.

On the subject of manual vs. hydraulic...my machine is mounted on a wheeled cart with all of the hydraulics and control valve mounted for convenience. It takes up 9 sq.ft. of space, can be rolled anywhere in the shop and stored out of the way. I can make a bend with one hand, run the ram as fast or as slow as I want or need while watching exactly what I'm doing. I can duplicate bends - like a mirror image main hoop or exact but opposite right and left A pillar bars - exactly and easily using just a tape measure and I can tweak or sneak up on an angle in very small increments to get a perfect fit. Hydraulics is the only way to go.

I also looked at these, and decided I couldn't justify the cost or space. I bought one of the compact ones from Speedway Motors (PN91084112). It is more limited in function, but I used it to put some bends in my roll bar. Eastwood (12485) and a few other vendors have a similar model.

On the JD Benders, SWAG Offroad has a pretty neat looking mount that is not too expensive and allows the use of a Harbor Freight ram that is also pretty cheap....

That Speedway bender is basically what I was referring to when I suggested Andy build one but for that price (with a die) its just not worth the hassle!! That's dirt cheap when you consider the price of dies! And the footprint is much smaller since it stands upright. The only downside is the max bend is 90*.

when i built the cage for my humpback, i built a bender based on several different design setups. i have WAY more time than bucks, so that was the only option for me. i made only 1 3/4" and 1 5/8" dies and followers, as i'm not figuring to do any more cages. i can go a little over 100* max, but i have bent a couple of others by re-positioning the tubes. that worked for what i needed to do, as i used .134 wall tube mild steel. the bends came out perfect with my home made dies, with no wrinkles or crushed tubes. would i do this again ? if i was younger, no. but at my age, this works for me, and dies are not hard to make. [if i need other sizes]

I just found a used Model 32 locally that I will pick up if the price is right...

Andy, I would look at the Rogue bender. I have been looking at fabrication vidoes and I had bought a bender from a retired fabricator. I have watched this guy a bunch and he seems to know what he is doing. He just did a review of the Rogue bender and he really likes it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_-WJD7OX8

Thanks, looks like a really nice clean setup that you made.

Forrest, is that their hydraulics or another brand?