Tube bending machines are used in industries like aerospace, automotive, hydraulic and manufacturing for bending tubes. Today, it is easy to find these bending equipment in different configurations and price ranges. Due to reasons ranging from ignorance to cost saving to other unidentified ones, business owners often end up making mistakes when buying these machines. Remember – using the right bending equipment is key to produce high quality bends. Any small mistake may lead to poor quality bends, which jeopardize the applications that use them. This post introduces you to some common mistakes people make while buying pipe bending machines.
Top 5 Mistake to Avoid When Purchasing Pipe and Tube Benders
Most people tend to make wrong choices due to misconceptions or ignorance. The following are a few common tube bending equipment buying mistakes made.
- Lack of Understanding on Bending Machine Efficiencies: As said before there are various types of tube bending machines. The following are a few common types based on their power source.
- Hydraulic Benders: The bending machines are powered by hydraulics and shop air. Hydraulic benders are used for bending various types of pipes other than conduit pipes. These tube benders are powerful than electric tube benders.
- Manual Benders: These bending machines are operated manually using hands and are used by DIY users as well as hobbyists to accomplish precision bends with soft metal pipes.
- Electric Benders: As the name suggests, these benders are powered by electricity and they are used for creating demanding and complex bends involving rigid pipes.
- Prioritizing Monetary Investments over Application Requirements: Although budget is one of the important considerations when buying tube bending machines, it is not all. Many bending problems stem from the wrong choice of machine or inferior quality machines. So, to avoid bending problems, it is always important to consider the following factors:
- Specifications of tube
- Precision required
- Rigidity or softness of tubes
- Usage interval of the machine
- Buying a Bending Machine Overlooking Risks: Today, you can find pipe bending machines in different specifications across brands. They all perform the same task, but may have different features. You need to understand these features and their ease before choosing the machine. Also, you need to analyze the various risks and challenges that you may face due to their features.
- Buying a Bending Machine to Use at its Maximum Capacity: Often users end up using the bending machine to its maximum capacity. This causes several tube bending problems. It is important to consider the tolerance that differs across various grades of steel. It is always recommended to buy a tube bending machine that offers a leeway of 10% or 20%.
- Choosing a Machine that Adds to Manual Labor: As said before, many users prioritize money over other requirements, they end up choosing a machine that is labor-intensive and adds to mundaneness. Manual pipe bending machines are available at affordable costs, so buyers end up investing in them to save money. Although these machines bring good results, the time taken to adjust the pipe bends, rotational positioning, and lengths may add up. Thus, it is always recommended to buy a tube bending machine based on the volume of bending being done.
| PRODUCT | SKU/TYPE |
| Hydraulic Pipe and Tubing Bender | WFPB1000 |
| PRODUCT | SKU/TYPE |
| Manual Tube & Pipe Bender | WFB2 |
While avoiding these mistakes, it is important that you source pipe and tube benders from trusted manufacturers like Woodward Fab. The company provides manual tube & pipe benders and hydraulic pipe and tube benders along with tubing dies. To avoid buying mistakes you can get in touch with the experts at the company.