# I should have known better !!!



## jdcrawler (Jul 25, 2009)

All my tools and shop equipment are from well known name brand manufactures. 

Back in the 70's & 80's, the cheap stuff was "made in Taiwan" or "made in Japan" and now it's "made in China".
Over the years I have learned the hard way to buy good tools and you would think that lesson had stuck with me by now.
Well .. I guess it didn't because, sure enough I went and bought a pipe bender that has "made in China" on it.

Now I do have to give them credit that the bending dies are nice thick heavy cast dies and the hydraulic ram looks like it's built well.
The framework looks sort of flimsy but the force on it is trying to stretch the metal not bend it.
So I figure it will work OK ( again, I should have known better and beefed it up right then ).

I set it up and bent some smaller tube with out any problems.
Yesterday, I'm bending the 2 inch diameter tube to form the loader arms for my tractor and not paying any attention to the bender itself because I'm busy watching the progress of the tube bending.

All of a sudden there is a loud BANG ! The bottom plate on the bender is all bent out of shape and one of the support straps has broken at the weld.
Here is the framework.











Now I have to fix it. A piece of heavy I-beam would make a nice base but I don't have any here.
I did find a piece of 3-1/2x2-1/2x3/8 angle iron and a piece of 3x2x1/4 angle iron. 
I overlapped the two pieces welded them together to form a square "U" shape. 
then I welded a strip of 1/4 inch steel to the top to form a flat surface for the hydraulic ram to set on.
This makes the top 5/8 thick.
Here is the new base.











and a view of the back side of the bast with the mount for attaching it to the side of the metal brake.











Now I have a base that will withstand the pressure with out bending.
Then I set the ram in place and set up the framework so I can weld the support straps to the base.











Here is the finished framework. I've welded angle iron along side the support straps from the base up on to the upper plate.
This makes the sides more stable and it goes right over the welds on the support straps so I don't have to worry about them braking anymore.











Here is the "new" bender all mounted and ready for work.


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## ben2go (May 28, 2008)

Always nice to see your work.Did that happen, while trying to finish the FEL, for the pro homebuilt tractor you're building?


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