Ever F'd up your bender dies?

[bradzuki]

I don't know what happened. Lube every bend. Must have been trash that got in there or something but my follower bar is F'd up pretty bad, as in, it's got a chunk taken out of the middle of it. I'm in the middle of a job and Pro-Tools wants $50 less than buying the whole damn die for just the follower. Can I TIG it up and grind it smooth? Anyone else ever had this problem?

 

[Elliott]

Ive just smoothed them out several times, I probably wouldn't even worry about welding it up unless it was really bad,

 

[bradzuki]

I've taken out small scratches and rounded the edges before.
This one is bad and right in the middle of the follower.

 

[Dynamite Design]

Drill a hole in the other side and rock out

 

[Bigrocks4x4]

My JD Squared followers have aluminum ends, and you can change them out. Just a thought, incase you ever decide to get a different bender 8)

 

[rock mafia]

Mine do it all the time, but never that bad. Just another reason to buy something other than pro tools.

 

[Elliott]

The old Jd square dies were steel also they have just changed through out the years, I have them both ways and I prefer the steel, imagine what it would have done to aluminum if it did that to steel.

 

[rock mafia]

The old Jd square dies were steel also they have just changed through out the years, I have them both ways and I prefer the steel, imagine what it would have done to aluminum if it did that to steel.

M and M has a jd2 with the alloy inserts, I have a protools with all steel dies. They have booth bent 25+ chassis and about the same number of cages.

His dies are fine, never had any gouges. I've had to fix mine numerous times.

His 3/4" pins have never bent, even with .250 1.75. Mine has bent 7/8 pins bending .188 and broke the die.

 

[Skidkid]

I spray lithium grease on the tube area getting bent and the follower as well. I also will not use surface rust steel tube in it either. No problems ever like that above.

 

[Bigrocks4x4]

I've built 10+ chassis with this die set, and not a problem yet with the dies. The aluminum ends have a few small gouges but it doesn't affect the tube. I have bent the follower pin several times. But i've bent alot of .188 with it, and some 1/4 wall also, so i can't complain.

 

[Jhouser]

I had one that did the same thing. Must of been a piece of trash in there. Mine happened on the second cage I did with it I just sanded all the sharp edges down and rocked on from there with no other problem's sense. I use .134 wall with no problems.

 

[85toyo]

I keep my dies coated with WD40 when they aren't in use but I'm still getting some light rust. Would there be any issues sanding it off?

 

[bradzuki]

Ok so I needed to finish the job. I do production bending and only needed 7 more pieces with 4 bends each. I used the flap wheel to smooth it out as best I could and went back to work. Got 4 pieces done with perfect results and then this happened.

We clean the tube with brake cleaner and lube every bend with white lithium grease. At this point I don't know what to do.

 

[ranger11]

Id weld it up then smooth with a flap wheel. Whats there to loose?

 

[Dynamite Design]

???? Wipe off the the tubing before you run it through the bender. I've been through a bunch of shops and used about every bender. I never have used oil or anything on my bends, and I've never had this happen.

Drill a hole in the other side of it and use it backwards. Try to give the die a chance to get you through the job. Drill a hole in it

 

[bradzuki]

We clean the tube with brake cleaner and lube every bend with white lithium grease. At this point I don't know what to do.

Don't think turning it backward is gonna help at this point. That big chunk out of it on the side opposite the hole is 1/8" deep.
I'm going to TIG it up in the morning and run it through the mill. Probably make a new one while I'm at it in case this one fails again. We've done literally thousands of bends on this die and never had an issue until yesterday.

 

[Dynamite Design]

If it does that many bends it seems like it's worth replacing

 

[bradzuki]

That's true and to be honest I've wondered how long it would last. I just wish the follower were a little cheaper. The round die is much larger so you'd think it would cost more. I'm guessing not many have to replace the big one though. This die has well over 3,000 bends on it.

 

[MCMM]

I use 105 dies in my bender. I was bending some 1 3/4 last night and they did the same thing. It's kinda strange that something like that happening around the same time. Wonder if maybe it is a material issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Toddy]

Wonder if you could heat treat it after you weld it up? Get it hot and oil quench it?

Toddy