Dan, you have mail. Thanks Dave.

-dnult

 

David, Would you forward them to me also? It could not hurt to have them around.
Thanks,
Dan.

 

I for the most part don't pay too much attention to the marks either until I get to a critical area where I need my bends to be less than a 1/4" from target. And if you don't know what the marks mean and try to use them, I'm finding it's easy to be 1/2" off.

David, I would be interested in those instructions if you don't mind. That's really what I was hoping to find. I tried going back to the manufacturer and they dont' even mention the tool. They either dropped it, or licensed it to someone else or something. Thanks in advance.

-dnult

 

i bent my tranny lines with a bender with markings like you describe. but i paid no regard to them, after doing a few test bends i found them to be basically useless (to me). you mention conduit, well, i'm an electrician and have bent miles of pipe it seems, from 1/2" up to 6", heavy wall and thin wall. i just bent my tubing like i was bending conduit. not sure what you are looking for as for using the marks, such as gain or deduct of a bend, etc, but if you know the angle of bend you want, and where you want to start it, it's real simple. i reccomend testing a few angles on a scrap piece first, mark where you start the bend (front of the bender "shoe"), then bend the angle you want, i.e 45, or 30 are most common. then mark the center of the bends, measure from the start mark, to the center of the bend, and you now know exactly where to start a bend on the bender, to have thre center of the bend where you want it on the pipe. bending offsets is easy too if you have the cosecant of the bend (or multiplier). with 90's do the same, mark the front of the bend at the shoe, bend it, then lay the back of the 90 flat, measure to your start mark, and the number you get will be your 90 degree deduct, or where you start the 90 on the bender to achieve the back of the 90 where you want it. this is actually way easier than bending say threaded steel ridgid conduit, since you need to lay out the bends first, then cut and thread the pipe, then do your bends, and keep the scrap pile to a minimum. i actually enjoy doing this aspect of my job, and it can get very challenging and complex. there is a book called "electricians guide to conduit bending", by richard cox, it's an excellent reference, with more info than most people will ever need, but its a cheap little handbook that would be worth getting if you have a good local bookstore. hopefully my description made sense to you, if not, just ask specifics and i'll try to explain. hope it helps

 

I have a set of instructions for the tube bender I can send you. The L and R are for lining up the bend mark with open end of tube going Left or Right.

You have mail.
David

 

dnult, I have one of the benders like you have. I just got mine about a week ago. I also have one like in the photo but I could never bend anything without crimping it. Anyway, I wondered what the letters ment but after a while I figured out that I don't ever refer to them. I snagged some old coat hanger wire and make a template of the line I want and them carefully mark and bend the tubing using the coat hanger as a template. At first it is a bit confusing but after about 1 or 2 nights of fooling around with it ( and ruining about $12.00 worth of tubing ) I finally figured it out!
I bought mine at Auto Zone for about $11.00. I stoped in one of the Snap-On tool trucks the other day and asked if they had a tubing bender, thinking that they might have a better one than I bought. The one they sell is the EXACT same one Auto Zone sells right down to the letters you discribe only they wanted $33.00 I am really happy with the one I have.

Dan.

 

Thanks Orench. I'll keep looking. At one time in my life I bent Conduit which has similar markings as my tubing bender. Those brain cells have purged themselves.

-dnult

 

Sorry dnult , in my case, I just used this model, no numbers on it.

Anyway, take a look at this guy's set of photos, even when he's not a Chevy fan, his info is helpfull.
Brake lines build-up

 

I know some folks in this forum have bent there own tubing. - haven't they? - anybody?

-dnult