Hey Fabricators...What tubing bender would you buy??

I was looking at a JD2 benders and tubing notchers is there any other brands I should consider??
http://www.jd2.com/images/M4B/PIC00013.JPG

If you are in the Phoenix area I would start going to to all the machine shop auctions. At least one machine shop here goes out of business a week I think and I hear California is about as bad. Just two weeks ago I saw a really nice hydro. cnc bender go for $4500 and it was probably only 1 or 2 years old. The JD2 is nice and I even think you can get a hydro assist for it with a foot pedal (i think aftermarket though). I know Shannon Campbell used one of those for his first couple of rock crawlers if you have heard of him so they will do the job, just a lot body weight involved and a floor mount is an absolute.
I have used a JMR and an RMD both and didn't like either since it was really hard to gauge your turns and make repeat bends and the head of the pipe tends to slip putting your bend in the wrong place (just my experiance, Jessie James seems likes his RMD I think)
Depending on what your bending you might look for an old Pines or even better one of the old Hossfeld CNC's that are floating around, I have seen several around the Phoenix area. I think Davis Salvage has Hossfeld that just needs a new pump, I think they wanted $500 for it (very rough but with sandblasting and a new pump and paint it would be like new again, it's a bender, not a cadillac).
I almost forgot, Precision has both a Mewag and I think an newer Wallace available for probably 1/4 the new price.
PM me if you want to know more....

Check these out.
www.mtechsupply.com

Try
www.rockbuggysupply.com
He has pretty good prices on them.

I've got the JD2 manual bender here at the shop and it works very well even for a novice like me. Easy to use and I can even get duplicate bends out of it.
Chris

I've got the model 4 bender you pictured..... works awesome.... will bend
1.75 solid bar, I know it'll do 1.75 x .375 DOM tube also.......
dies are around 180--270 each, and JD2 is excellent to deal with for customer
service........ alot of the manual benders are good, but man do they require
alot of effort to put a 90 in a 1.75 tube..........
--Sherpa

Bill, Are you crazy? That takes at least a little talent. Just have it done!

Its not for me! Im working a deal with a buddy. He does VERY nice fabrication but does not have a bender. So I am playing with options of
buying it and having him fab some parts up for the Rhino.. Plus I dant have
6 months like you. The season is here baby!!
http://www.sdcrew.com/gallery/albums...l_IMG_0241.JPG

Check out www.MPENG.COM OR TINKNOCKER.COM
MPE is my company and I might be able to cut some deals for a fellow boater. But you will need to check out the benders, most of our stuff is power and cnc but let me know...