Mandrel bends?

[SIMMO84]

Do the jd series of benders do tru mandrel bends? Seen a few bends that a speed works bender done (6 inch radius, 1 3/4 pipe) and was fairly unimpressed with the bends. Looking at getting one or the other, but the jd looks like a lot of work while the speed worx looks easy but also wont do 180 degrees bends. Any info will help at the moment.

[Harb]

the only thing that will do a true mandrel bend , is a mandrel bender.
Mandrel benders put a mandrel on the inside of the tube while bending on the outside.,........ but they are worth many thousands of dollars.
I have a JD2 model 4 and it is about as good as it gets without spending the big bucks.....

[hiluxmad]

ive got the model 3 and it works very well.
yes it is hard work but well worth it.
if you had to do a lot of it i would buy the hydro pack at a minimum.

[UPPY]

I have a JD2 model 32, in the manual version and it is reasonably easy to use. If you were useing it all day you would want the hydraulic cylinder rather than useing the ratchet mechanisim. As harb said they are the best bender, without spending big dollars on a bender (TRU FORM bender $32000, JD2 $900 + dies). You will probably find that once you buy one, someone you know will also have one, therefor you may be able to swap and borrow dies, saveing you alot of money.

[stilivn]

Mate been looking at getting same thing myself. Do yourself a favour, look on ebay us and you will save an easy 400 bucks, looking at under a grand with a die, just need to find yourself a decent freight forward company or use 123engines.com.au but then you will need to get it from melbourne to yours some how. Try a local engine importer.