i have been looking through old posts on the board referencing tube fenders. i am overseas, but when i get back home, i am going to do a few to things to the rubi (yeah, it is about time)...and tube fenders, will be the only purchase other than tires that i will be making(everything else i plan to try and fab myself) my question is can anyone give me a list of every company that our cumulative knowledge base is aware of that makes a tube fender. i dont want to cut my hood, so highlines are out... just all the companies that make regular old straight forward tube fenders for a tj. i just want to look at all of them and get the style i like with the price i can afford. i am sure i will post several other questions in the comming months, probably more about fabrication than anything else. i have about a 2000 dollar budget, so i am going to buy tires, fenders, a welder, a tube bender, a drill press, and this little tube notcher gizmo that harbor freight sells that is just a jig that goes on the drill press. and before all of you flood me with warnings, i do have a little welding knowledge, and i am going to do my best not to do a hack job with my plans for bumpers, and rocker steps. measure, measure, and remeasure....its already like a satanic chant in my head when i sleep...any help is appreciated.
carolinajeeper
Go back and reread all the posts. All your questions that you are asking here have been answered there. :wink:carolinajeeper said:
You don't need a full on tube bender to build something.
Check halfway down the page for pics of a die set up in a harbor freight press. He bent every bit of tube for his rig. Oh and start from the beginning to see one hell of a build. He merged a toyota and an XJ
http://www.rockfrogs.org/phpBB2/viewtop ... &start=105
Check halfway down the page for pics of a die set up in a harbor freight press. He bent every bit of tube for his rig. Oh and start from the beginning to see one hell of a build. He merged a toyota and an XJ
http://www.rockfrogs.org/phpBB2/viewtop ... &start=105
If you do buy your own tools and do your own fab work then later on you can build what ever
else you want. I am building rear flares and a cage right now then a new swing-away and
bumpers. It is fun but expensive.
![Image]()
![Image]()
else you want. I am building rear flares and a cage right now then a new swing-away and
bumpers. It is fun but expensive.
see, adaptation...thats what i mean...but, the picture of the press is fuzzy, i cant really tell how the press is moving the tubing along the die. do you have any insight on what he was doing here, don...
overszd.. i have taken some of your advice, and reevaluated my purchases...unfortunately, i cant change my budget right now, but i think i am going to just buy a welder for the time being, as opposed to all of the tools. probably a lincoln, a little bit better than the harbor freight one i was originally looking at. my current needs dont require a tube bender, yet. later when there is more money i will buy the bender, and add the tubing to my projects then. i dont want to go into too much detail, cuz i kinda want the finished product to be a surprise :jawdrop: its nothing to daring, just havent seen anything like the idea in my head out on the market yet.
overszd.. i have taken some of your advice, and reevaluated my purchases...unfortunately, i cant change my budget right now, but i think i am going to just buy a welder for the time being, as opposed to all of the tools. probably a lincoln, a little bit better than the harbor freight one i was originally looking at. my current needs dont require a tube bender, yet. later when there is more money i will buy the bender, and add the tubing to my projects then. i dont want to go into too much detail, cuz i kinda want the finished product to be a surprise :jawdrop: its nothing to daring, just havent seen anything like the idea in my head out on the market yet.
Its based on this concept
![Image]()
You can build your own and they'll even send you plans for free
http://www.pro-tools.com/200k-1.htm
More
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/tube- ... ender.html
http://www.lowbucktools.com/hydbender.html
You can build your own and they'll even send you plans for free
http://www.pro-tools.com/200k-1.htm
More
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/tube- ... ender.html
http://www.lowbucktools.com/hydbender.html
Carolina-
I really hope I didn't "take the wind out of your sails" with my original post-that was DEFINITELY not my point. I'm on a very tight budget myself, and can't afford the tools I'd like to have to get the job done that would make things much easier. I don't have plasma-or even a gas cutting torch! I use a sawzall, chop saw, 4 1/2" angle grinder with cut-off discs for cutting ALL of my work. Depending on what material you're using, this can be expensive in itself just buying all the blades and cut-off discs as they really don't last that long for thicker material-like 3/16" or 1/4". You'll burn up several cut-off discs and flapper discs (sanding discs) in the course of one project. Consumables are part of every project and are HIGHLY overlooked or forgotten about. Overszd made a comment about expecting to spend another 50% more on a project than you originally intended to do-I think that's a great thing to think about as EVERY project I've ever done ended up costing more than I originally intended it to cost-simply because I somehow forgot about buying extra discs or blades, spray paint, more material than I needed, etc. Granted-I STILL built it cheaper than I could have bought it, but even though I did do it cheap, it still wound up costing more than intended.
My points about the harbor freight welder-I don't have one myself, but know a few people who have purchased a couple different models they carry. One of the guys didn't know how to weld, bought the HF model and tried to learn-even took a class at the local college. After purchasing the HF welder, he got so frustrated with welding that he gave up entirely-the machine is sitting under his work bench covered in dust and other crap as he hasn't touched it since. I know two other guys who basically went through the same thing, but wound up getting pissed off and buying a very expensive Miller welder that was way more machine than he is capable of using for occassional weekend work. Money spent twice is ALWAYS going to cost more than one quality machine from the start. Money spent twice out of anger due to a poor decision in the first place-well, that's just asking for trouble-especially with the wife!!! :laugh: Last guy ended up selling his for basically a case of beer and ended up buying a nice Lincoln later.
I did a LOT of research before purchasing my welder, as like you-I am also on a budget. I took a few welding classes years ago in college and used Lincoln welders there. We have a ton of Lincolns in all of the shops at work in the various plants, so I was familiar with them. Nearly everybody I talked to said I HAD to have a 220v welder as 110v would do nothing and would be a waste of money. I couldn't afford a good 220v machine, or the cost of having an electrician wire in a dedicated 220v breaker to run it. After a TON of research, I settled on a Lincoln SP135 Plus Industrial model that I got from Harris for right around $600-it was on special with the cart at the time. Came with .025, .030, .035 tips, gun, liner, spool of wire-basically everything I needed EXCEPT the gas and a good welding helmet. Even had the regulators. The unit itself LOOKS identical to those found at Home Depot or Lowes, Oxarc, your welding shops, etc., but the internals are better and it weighs about 12 pounds more if I remember right than those other models-due to the internals. It has a greater wire speed range and amp setting adjustment, with smooth dial knobs on each so you can really "fine tune" everything. I put in a dedicated 30 or 35 amp breaker (forget now-whatever the manual called for) about 1' below my breaker box in the garage. I have done a LOT of welding with this machine (110v unit) and have NEVER overheated it, or blown the breaker. A lot of guys will argue it isn't enough machine, but for me, it works great and has done everything I've wanted to do-even 1/2" plate -with multiple pass of course. Everything I've built has held up to the useage I put it through-and for some cattle equipment I've built, that's saying a lot.
My point against the Harbor Freight unit was you'd really be kicking yourself getting a lesser machine that will really limit your abilities due to it's inadequacy, and could slow your progress and skills advancement. As you're on a tight budget, skip the bender for now-you won't use it every day and it won't be worth the cost to build one or two projects then sit on the floor the rest of the year. Spend a couple hundred dollars extra and get a GOOD welder that will run when you want it too as well as when you NEED it to. Having a good welder alone will be one of your most used tools in your shop-despite being on a tight budget. With that tool, and something like a DeWalt 4 1/2" angle grinder for around $90, you can cut and weld about anything you'd want for your Jeep. It wasn't till here recently that I got my DeWalt sawzall-again around $100, which has been a huge asset as well. I was given a chop saw, but it's not that great of a model and wanders a bit so the cuts aren't true.
Oh-regarding that harbor freight tube notcher-I DO have one of those and will say don't waste your money on that either. You can expect maybe up to 100 cuts out of it at best, and that's being generous. I wore it out LONG before the actual drill bit wore out. It's currently rigged up with extra spacers, washers, other bolts I put in, T handle I put together and still doesn't work very well. Overall it was a POS and a waste of money-don't buy that one, you can do much better.
As to the bender if you're really interested-I posted the link to Pro-Tools in my earlier post, and Don_TLR showed a link to their "how to" model above. I ordered the plans to build that bender, and still have them sitting on the desk. Unless you have SERIOUS fab and machine skills, that particular bender is not possible for most of the average folks to build-I believe that's why the plans are free. There are several parts that are to be machined from solid blocks of aluminum as well as other material that take specialized equipment to build. Naturally Pro-Tools sells those pieces individually, but they consequently are also the most expensive parts of the bender. The plans are free-feel free to order them and you'll see what I mean-I have 4 fully outfitted shops at my work, we fabricate most everything we need on site and for one piece in particular, we couldn't do it as we didn't have the machine that was needed for that specific part-I forget now what it was. HOWEVER I did build my own bender as mentioned above, that does use a Pro-Tools die. I ordered plans off the internet for around $5.00 or something like that, and built my own out of scrap I had laying around the house-mostly all 2" square tube. The die cost me $245, but the good thing is (and my original intentions) if my bender DIDN"T work, I could buy the Pro-Tools bender package and get a 1.25" die with it, and my current 1.75" die will work with it, then I'd have two sizes to play with. If you'd like to discuss this further, PM me and I'd be happy to go over what I did and how it works.
Anyway, please continue FULL SAIL AHEAD, -stay on your budget, just make smart purchases and you'll be better off in the long run and could even come out Under budget if you play your cards right. My entire point was to try and help make educated decisions towards reaching your goal and I feel very strongly that you'd be seriously hampered in your fabbing abilities with a HF welder, and it would be money well spent to spend a couple hundred extra to get something good that will last, that you can learn and grow on.
Sorry for my horribly long-winded response.
Best of Luck,
Mike
I really hope I didn't "take the wind out of your sails" with my original post-that was DEFINITELY not my point. I'm on a very tight budget myself, and can't afford the tools I'd like to have to get the job done that would make things much easier. I don't have plasma-or even a gas cutting torch! I use a sawzall, chop saw, 4 1/2" angle grinder with cut-off discs for cutting ALL of my work. Depending on what material you're using, this can be expensive in itself just buying all the blades and cut-off discs as they really don't last that long for thicker material-like 3/16" or 1/4". You'll burn up several cut-off discs and flapper discs (sanding discs) in the course of one project. Consumables are part of every project and are HIGHLY overlooked or forgotten about. Overszd made a comment about expecting to spend another 50% more on a project than you originally intended to do-I think that's a great thing to think about as EVERY project I've ever done ended up costing more than I originally intended it to cost-simply because I somehow forgot about buying extra discs or blades, spray paint, more material than I needed, etc. Granted-I STILL built it cheaper than I could have bought it, but even though I did do it cheap, it still wound up costing more than intended.
My points about the harbor freight welder-I don't have one myself, but know a few people who have purchased a couple different models they carry. One of the guys didn't know how to weld, bought the HF model and tried to learn-even took a class at the local college. After purchasing the HF welder, he got so frustrated with welding that he gave up entirely-the machine is sitting under his work bench covered in dust and other crap as he hasn't touched it since. I know two other guys who basically went through the same thing, but wound up getting pissed off and buying a very expensive Miller welder that was way more machine than he is capable of using for occassional weekend work. Money spent twice is ALWAYS going to cost more than one quality machine from the start. Money spent twice out of anger due to a poor decision in the first place-well, that's just asking for trouble-especially with the wife!!! :laugh: Last guy ended up selling his for basically a case of beer and ended up buying a nice Lincoln later.
I did a LOT of research before purchasing my welder, as like you-I am also on a budget. I took a few welding classes years ago in college and used Lincoln welders there. We have a ton of Lincolns in all of the shops at work in the various plants, so I was familiar with them. Nearly everybody I talked to said I HAD to have a 220v welder as 110v would do nothing and would be a waste of money. I couldn't afford a good 220v machine, or the cost of having an electrician wire in a dedicated 220v breaker to run it. After a TON of research, I settled on a Lincoln SP135 Plus Industrial model that I got from Harris for right around $600-it was on special with the cart at the time. Came with .025, .030, .035 tips, gun, liner, spool of wire-basically everything I needed EXCEPT the gas and a good welding helmet. Even had the regulators. The unit itself LOOKS identical to those found at Home Depot or Lowes, Oxarc, your welding shops, etc., but the internals are better and it weighs about 12 pounds more if I remember right than those other models-due to the internals. It has a greater wire speed range and amp setting adjustment, with smooth dial knobs on each so you can really "fine tune" everything. I put in a dedicated 30 or 35 amp breaker (forget now-whatever the manual called for) about 1' below my breaker box in the garage. I have done a LOT of welding with this machine (110v unit) and have NEVER overheated it, or blown the breaker. A lot of guys will argue it isn't enough machine, but for me, it works great and has done everything I've wanted to do-even 1/2" plate -with multiple pass of course. Everything I've built has held up to the useage I put it through-and for some cattle equipment I've built, that's saying a lot.
My point against the Harbor Freight unit was you'd really be kicking yourself getting a lesser machine that will really limit your abilities due to it's inadequacy, and could slow your progress and skills advancement. As you're on a tight budget, skip the bender for now-you won't use it every day and it won't be worth the cost to build one or two projects then sit on the floor the rest of the year. Spend a couple hundred dollars extra and get a GOOD welder that will run when you want it too as well as when you NEED it to. Having a good welder alone will be one of your most used tools in your shop-despite being on a tight budget. With that tool, and something like a DeWalt 4 1/2" angle grinder for around $90, you can cut and weld about anything you'd want for your Jeep. It wasn't till here recently that I got my DeWalt sawzall-again around $100, which has been a huge asset as well. I was given a chop saw, but it's not that great of a model and wanders a bit so the cuts aren't true.
Oh-regarding that harbor freight tube notcher-I DO have one of those and will say don't waste your money on that either. You can expect maybe up to 100 cuts out of it at best, and that's being generous. I wore it out LONG before the actual drill bit wore out. It's currently rigged up with extra spacers, washers, other bolts I put in, T handle I put together and still doesn't work very well. Overall it was a POS and a waste of money-don't buy that one, you can do much better.
As to the bender if you're really interested-I posted the link to Pro-Tools in my earlier post, and Don_TLR showed a link to their "how to" model above. I ordered the plans to build that bender, and still have them sitting on the desk. Unless you have SERIOUS fab and machine skills, that particular bender is not possible for most of the average folks to build-I believe that's why the plans are free. There are several parts that are to be machined from solid blocks of aluminum as well as other material that take specialized equipment to build. Naturally Pro-Tools sells those pieces individually, but they consequently are also the most expensive parts of the bender. The plans are free-feel free to order them and you'll see what I mean-I have 4 fully outfitted shops at my work, we fabricate most everything we need on site and for one piece in particular, we couldn't do it as we didn't have the machine that was needed for that specific part-I forget now what it was. HOWEVER I did build my own bender as mentioned above, that does use a Pro-Tools die. I ordered plans off the internet for around $5.00 or something like that, and built my own out of scrap I had laying around the house-mostly all 2" square tube. The die cost me $245, but the good thing is (and my original intentions) if my bender DIDN"T work, I could buy the Pro-Tools bender package and get a 1.25" die with it, and my current 1.75" die will work with it, then I'd have two sizes to play with. If you'd like to discuss this further, PM me and I'd be happy to go over what I did and how it works.
Anyway, please continue FULL SAIL AHEAD, -stay on your budget, just make smart purchases and you'll be better off in the long run and could even come out Under budget if you play your cards right. My entire point was to try and help make educated decisions towards reaching your goal and I feel very strongly that you'd be seriously hampered in your fabbing abilities with a HF welder, and it would be money well spent to spend a couple hundred extra to get something good that will last, that you can learn and grow on.
Sorry for my horribly long-winded response.
Best of Luck,
Mike
[quote='05TJLWBRUBY]I couldn't afford a good 220v machine, or the cost of having an electrician wire in a dedicated 220v breaker to run it. After a TON of research, I settled on a Lincoln SP135 Plus Industrial model that I got from Harris for right around $600-it was on special with the cart at the time.
I put in a dedicated 30 or 35 amp breaker (forget now-whatever the manual called for) about 1' below my breaker box in the garage. [/quote]
I'm confused. You have the breaker box in your garage but couldn't wire in 220? 220v is just two 110v lines and ground. At least in a welder situation, for an appliance that requires 110 as well as 220 there is a neutral as well.
Anyway getting back on topic, defiantly spend the money on a decent welder. I have used cheap welders, the jam and just are a pain to use. My friend bought a Lincoln 180 welder. Best money spent, that welder works as expected every time you pull the trigger.
We actually picked this up from Lowes, but if you do that make sure the welder is one of the newer models. These look to be built better and more durable. The 180 replaced the 175. The controls for the 175 have a cheaper feel, where as the 180 feels solid and just the build of the unit is better.
http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalo ... sp?p=42421
I've bought harbor freight tools in the past, like a drill press that was 20 bucks after discount, and anything from them with an electric motor is just crap. Their air tools work good, but the electric motors just don't have any power to them.
As far as grinders go I'm real happy with my DeWalt grinder. I used my friends 5 amp that we beat the crap out of and went out and bought my own 7.5amp. They work forever and are easy to change the discs on. I can switch from grinding to cutting in 20 seconds or so.
I put in a dedicated 30 or 35 amp breaker (forget now-whatever the manual called for) about 1' below my breaker box in the garage. [/quote]
I'm confused. You have the breaker box in your garage but couldn't wire in 220? 220v is just two 110v lines and ground. At least in a welder situation, for an appliance that requires 110 as well as 220 there is a neutral as well.
Anyway getting back on topic, defiantly spend the money on a decent welder. I have used cheap welders, the jam and just are a pain to use. My friend bought a Lincoln 180 welder. Best money spent, that welder works as expected every time you pull the trigger.
We actually picked this up from Lowes, but if you do that make sure the welder is one of the newer models. These look to be built better and more durable. The 180 replaced the 175. The controls for the 175 have a cheaper feel, where as the 180 feels solid and just the build of the unit is better.
http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalo ... sp?p=42421
I've bought harbor freight tools in the past, like a drill press that was 20 bucks after discount, and anything from them with an electric motor is just crap. Their air tools work good, but the electric motors just don't have any power to them.
As far as grinders go I'm real happy with my DeWalt grinder. I used my friends 5 amp that we beat the crap out of and went out and bought my own 7.5amp. They work forever and are easy to change the discs on. I can switch from grinding to cutting in 20 seconds or so.
I'm confused. You have the breaker box in your garage but couldn't wire in 220? 220v is just two 110v lines and ground. At least in a welder situation, for an appliance that requires 110 as well as 220 there is a neutral as well.RockRunner85 said:
[/quote]
Sorry for the confusion-I HAD a dedicated line put in-free job from a certified electrician. I have NO CLUE how to wire house stuff and wasn't about to learn here. Ended up getting it installed for free, when the 220v line was going to cost nearly $250-for what, I don't know as the labor he did for the 110v line was only about 10 minutes of work, and I'm confident I could have done it after watching him do it and handing him the parts. Probably could have done the 220v myself too, but again, don't know how and didn't want to risk burning up the house. HE put in a 30 or 35 amp breaker in one of the open spots in the panel, with a lead running about 1' below the box-dedicated to the welder. Standard 110v line with the breaker, just don't have any other items on that line to worry about blowing when I'm welding. It's worked great-never blown and never had the welder overheat and shut down either.
Again, sorry for the confusion there-poor wording choice.
Best of Luck,
Mike
thanks 05tj, and i can appreciate the long winded response, actually explained things to the degree that i needed. i am going to send you a pm right after i post this for your bender you built. i like the idea of building it myself and saving some money, but i am still not clear on how that style bender actually works. ill address that in the pm. but anyway, yeah your response was very helpful. :beerchug:
thanks to all for all the info and assistance. think i am going to get a lincoln, and hold off for a little while, after a few experiments, and then do the build-a-bender. also looked into the bend-tech pro software, and think it may be a good investment...has a cool feature that lets you print a mask stencil to make your notches...we'll see though...oh and also think i am going to go with the overkill flareless fenders, cheaper than the PSC's, and have a inner fender, direct replacement, no cutting.
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