06-01-2014, 02:51 PM
Never used one but it's probably as good as any other piece of import cast iron tooling I suppose. It's hard to find any glowing reviews of any of it. I've seen some posts about the 24" version having issues with alignment and tracking being off the mark, and needing modifications to make it work better. Typical stuff.
I bought a HF compact bender some time ago and it looked great pulling it out of the box. But it didn't take long to figure out that the pins that hold the dies don't sit square to the frame. It's too heavy to run back and forth to the store to exchange it in hopes of eventually getting a straight one. I consider all the import stuff to come as a "kit", and I expect it's all going to need some work to get it to function the way that it should have in the first place.
So the frame has a date with a tree stump, oxy/acetylene torch, a sledge hammer and a can of spray paint in it's future. I'll just have to git-er-done and move on. If I can't afford the best tools I'd rather have cheap tools than none at all. I'm not too proud.
I bought a HF compact bender some time ago and it looked great pulling it out of the box. But it didn't take long to figure out that the pins that hold the dies don't sit square to the frame. It's too heavy to run back and forth to the store to exchange it in hopes of eventually getting a straight one. I consider all the import stuff to come as a "kit", and I expect it's all going to need some work to get it to function the way that it should have in the first place.
So the frame has a date with a tree stump, oxy/acetylene torch, a sledge hammer and a can of spray paint in it's future. I'll just have to git-er-done and move on. If I can't afford the best tools I'd rather have cheap tools than none at all. I'm not too proud.
Willie