Is it possible to get a mandrel bender with a reasonable price to make 4" exhaust systems, and bumpers?

Linkto one i found!


Bumpers:


A shop near me, made a huge bender, to specificaly make bumpers like in the pic, but broke parts of the bender on the first try, they did not make it with a mandrel, actually i knew it wouldnt work, cuz of the 4" tube deforming ...

any ideas?

 

The short answer is no. I'm not sure what you would consider a "reasonable" price but any production mandrel bender I have seen that has that kind of capacity seems to be about $60k +. 4" is the next size up of bender capacity, typically speaking and is on the small side of the capacity for such a unit so you are paying for a ton of capacity you might never use if you don't bend much that is over 4". Expect high production CNC mandrels of that capacity to be well over $100k.

Small fab shops that don't farm this type of work out usually end up making their own bender that meets their specific needs but this is usually in a low production application.

 

is it possible to make one? for exhaust systems only?
To bend 4" tubes, does there have to be a mandrel?

 

No it doesn't HAVE to be mandrel bent. The idea behind mandrel beinding is that you get a true 4" diameter pipe from front to back without the "crush points" of pressure (ram style benders) or serrated (like most stock exhaust) benders that restrict flow to a smaller size at the bends.

 

A little trick i learned in the navy: Pack the piping with sand before bending it. Works pretty good...

 

If it is thin wall tubing, there will be no substitute for a mandrel when the material diameter is that large. This isn't pipe which has a much thicker wall which will readily accept a pinch style bend without the fear if kinking.

4" exhaust tubing is usually in the range of .080" and sometimes notably less....if esthetics are important and large kinks are not acceptable, tubing of these and similar dimensions cannot be pinch bent.

 

muffler shops around here cant bend over 3" cuz they havent the 4" D) and cuz of knicking problems!

all id like to be able to make a good 4" exhaust from turbo to tip!

i bought a whole used aftermarket 4" exhaust a time ago, that looked great!!!!! what a job! all the way 4" diameter.

gotta try the sand trick, sounds like working!
and can one buy 4" tubing with a thin wall?

 

put a plug in one end of the pipe and fill the sand slowly. Pick up the piping and drop it on the plug while filling it to make sure it gets packed good. when you fill to the top, hammer another plug into the top. Wood plugs work good.

 

If your making and exhaust why dont you just buy some 90's and 45's and weld it up yourself its not that hard at all.

 

I have made 2 exhausts the way you say, but i figured, it would be nicer to have it bent!

i picked up all kind of used pipes from JD combines 90° 45° etc for $10 bucks, enough for both systems ... might have been one exhasut for one truck, i forgot.