Bender Stand... Finally off the back burner! Horizontal and vertical bending.

[nutz4sand]

Ok I have been toying with this for far to long so its time to get it done!

The first pic below is a blue bender stand that I first wished to copy! The gentleman who made it even sent me pretty detailed pics and measurements.
I even bought the same cylinder as he did and mocked it up then decided I was not going to use air over hydraulic (To slow and to much wear and tear on a noisy compressor!) One thing led to another and I ended up where I am.

I could not leave well enough alone. SO I got an idea in my mind and did a butt-load of sketches then some simplistic "paint" drawings to get the idea laid out.

Look at BOTH the attached images! Thanx!

[nutz4sand]

This is the wooden mock up I made to get the basic measurments correct. Make sure it all fits.
The first and second pic show the "bender" part up and then down.

Third pic is the base layed out.

4th and 5th its the "tower" of the bender stand pivot.

[nutz4sand]

The first three pics in this thread shows the benders Pivot mounted with the AIR shocks that will tip it up and down for me. I have air valves that control them. The little read compressor in the pics above will be the air muscle for the tip part AND the wheels (all six of them) will ALSO be pushed down by airshocks to make it moveable.

The black thing in the green wooden mock up in the above post is my 120 volt hydraulic pump.

Pics #9 and #10 show the bender mounted to the mount and in the down position. The hydraulic trunion mounted cylinder is also in place for this test/mockup.

[nutz4sand]

The first pic is it down still from another angle.
The second is it up. SUCCESS!
The third is it down again. (Cycling it to see that it will all be OK.) This test was done with only two air shocks to lift the bender. I built it to take thre and will be using three to lift it and slow its decent. The one shock on the opposite side is to slow and smooth the movement and can act as as a brake when its pressurized. The fourth pic is it "mid-tip" The fifth is up again. Test is a sucess! There is not a pic of it BUT I am dancing around the garage at this point.

[nutz4sand]

The first pic here shows it up with just two shocks lifting it.

They do it OK BUT my biggest die is a monster and it weighs a lot so there WILL be three once its ready. (As mentioned above there is room for three now. I built it for three.)

The second pic shows the bottom ot the hydraulic cylinders trunion mount pivot (bronze bushing) If you look you will see a spacer under the black bender arm. More on this spacer in a minute below.

There is also a spacer on top of the top bender arm. They gots a purpose.

The third pic is just a decent closeup of it up. You can again see the spacer under the bender itself. and the one on top of the bender but under the top hydraulic cylinder mount.These spacers you see are 1/2 inch thick. I have also made up spacers that are 3/8 thick to go in thier place.

Why?

My bender is a PT-105 with 1/2 inch thick arms. The PT-105 HD arms are 5/8 thick arms and the BRUTE 105 has arms that are 1 inch thick.

If I EVER decide to or have to swap out the bender and decide to upgrade to a better version of the bender it will fit right in with no mods needed except the 3/8 spacer if its the 5/8 thick 105 HD or NO spacers if I go with the Brutes 1 inch thick arms!

The last but CERTAINLY NOT least pic is me showing ONE of the two spacers that USED to hold the arms apart as it comes from Pro Tools. The bolts that you can see clamped to the bender stand used to go thru those little tubes you see in my fingers (The bolts I have now are longer to go all the way through my additions)

But all the clamping force of the bolts was on that little tiny contact patch pressing from the bender arms into that skinny tube.

Mr. Doug Hiem was nice enough to help me get that literally mirror like finish of a spacer block you can see right behind my hands and in a few of the other pics above (pic 17 for example). It makes for a MUCH more stable way to hold the arms true! It also looks ten times cooler!

THANX DOUG! Again!

I also have some other goodies that Mr Hiem was nice enough to help me with and these will be shown when I get to them to try them.

These are rollers for a roller backing block instead of the stock block you drag the tube against. More on them later.

Now I need to get back to it as I am working on the wheels. It will have four little dolly castor wheels (one fer each corner of course) and when the air shocks push them down it will lift it off its adjustable feet and will be rollable in any direction. Then the two LARGE rubber wheels you see in the first pics of this thread in the green wood mock up will also be airshock powered to make it like a big wheelbarrow to roll around rough ground fast. There will be a handle out the end and with a flip up action and a AIR switch to control the air to the lift wheels.

The little onboard aircompressor (with red tank) will supply it with air for a couple cycles of either while its not plugged in. While plugged in it can do whatever. I am also making a spot for a small rechargeable 12 volt air compressor I got to be able to move it if 120 volts is not convieninet.

It will of course have a leveling foot at each corner so I can level the bender. If I get/got it right it will be able to go from bending vertically to horizontally without changing the feets threaded adjustment.

I also plan to make it so that all four feet can be adjusted from one point while you stand near the die to check it for level.

So Whatcha think so far?

[sodman]

Hey Great design N4S Go big or stay home I've been thinking about some kind of a stand for my bender. I have very little experence at benders and bending one question whats the reason to be able to bend vertical and horizontal I don't know so I thought i'd ask .
Thanks Sodman

[nutz4sand]

Sometimes its just space and sometimes its the layout. Bending horizontally you use the degree wheel on the bender. Going vertically you can just use a magnetic degree wheel. Many time a verticle bender will take up less room. But you need tall ceilings or a place to use it or be able to use it outside on a nice day.

I just want to be able to bend either! Jsut in case the need arrises. I am sure others can give more reasons for one or the other.

[ba450crf]

Nice! You should come to Idaho and make me one!

[nutz4sand]

I "might" be moving to Idaho soon enough. Looking for work there near St Anthonys and also the Salt Lake city area. Also in Oklahoma near the Little Sahara there in Waynoka. If I get a good job call. I'm there!

[ba450crf]

I wish you well on your job hunt. Idaho is a great place In my opinion. St Anthony has great sand dunes, and there is plenty of desert if your in to that as well.