JD2 model 3 gets full hydro.

[YROC FAB.]

Ive bent a lot of tube with the factory hand crank and the harbor freight air ram mod with this thing and figured it was time to do some up grades with it. We are putting together some production golf kart roll cages and wanted to bend more faster with it.

I Ordered the valve size based on a wild guess and ordered the ram as it was close in size to the harbor freight unit and had a built in trunnion, so who knows how it will all react with the pump i have.

Little did i know the ram tube was machine for the trunnion so it wouldn't move from its centered location. First thing i did was take the ram apart and turn down a spot so i was able to move the trunnion more closer to the end. The rest was just some bracketry on the plasma table and some spacers on the lathe.

The pump i have is a old pump set up for a hydraulic crimping machine. Its meant to just pump momentary when the turned on to crimp. Im going to plumb in a return line into the reservoir and have it cycle through my valve constantly. This is essentially the pump i have> pump
valve
ram

 

[YROC FAB.]

Heres my old harbor freight set up. I really wanted a central trunnion set up with this new ram so that it wasn't side loading the ram. I would notice the side loading on the harbor freight ram with the offset pivot when the ram was fully extended.

 

[I Lean]

This is awesome, and relevant to my interests.

I have a similar pump on mine (HF version) that has been running the original air/hydro ram for a few years. I just removed a check ball, tapped the hand-pump cylinder for a hydraulic fitting, and connected it to the pump. No extra valve, it bends when I push the "lift" button and retracts when I push the release valve. Doing it that way let me wire in a limit switch, so it stops bending at a preset angle. (which is exactly what I was after for production bending)

It recently started leaking pretty good, so I bought a new ram to replace the old. I got a "normal" double-acting ram though--so I have been planning on plumbing the "retract" fitting just into the top of the reservoir so the air coming out of the ram replaces the air needing to go into the reservoir.

 

[I Lean]

And, ha...I forgot I made a boring video showing a lot of the things I just typed out.

 

[YROC FAB.]

This is awesome, and relevant to my interests.

I have a similar pump on mine (HF version) that has been running the original air/hydro ram for a few years. I just removed a check ball, tapped the hand-pump cylinder for a hydraulic fitting, and connected it to the pump. No extra valve, it bends when I push the "lift" button and retracts when I push the release valve. Doing it that way let me wire in a limit switch, so it stops bending at a preset angle. (which is exactly what I was after for production bending)

It recently started leaking pretty good, so I bought a new ram to replace the old. I got a "normal" double-acting ram though--so I have been planning on plumbing the "retract" fitting just into the top of the reservoir so the air coming out of the ram replaces the air needing to go into the reservoir.

Yes I remember us talking about yours before. I figured if I wanted a stop switch like yours I easily could wire one in to just shut the pump off like yours does but still be able to feather it with the valve lever.

 

[YROC FAB.]

Mmmm butter👌

I was able to feather the hydraulics just as i wanted.

I made a shield for the hydraulic fitting, and made a little shelf to hold some of my bending crap.

 

[I Lean]

Nice! Do you have a fluid cooler in the mix somewhere? (and if not, any worries about overheating with extended use?)

How far can you bend in one shot? For my usual use, I had to make sure I can get at least 90 without re-pinning. Not as easy as it sounds.

 

[YROC FAB.]

Nice! Do you have a fluid cooler in the mix somewhere? (and if not, any worries about overheating with extended use?)

How far can you bend in one shot? For my usual use, I had to make sure I can get at least 90 without re-pinning. Not as easy as it sounds.

We ran it longer than I would ever run it at one time and the tank only got up to 95*. Plumbing a cooler in the return line would be super simple. It's easy to check the temperature by just feeling the lines so I'm not too worried I'll melt it down.

I only went with a 18 ram which is close to what my harbor freight ram was as I didnt want the bender to take up a even bigger footprint in my shop. With the extended bracketry I was only able to net 50*. The harbor freight ram was closer to 70.

 

[YROC FAB.]

👌

 

[YROC FAB.]

I made the hydraulics "dual stage". You can feather the lever if you are really careful but it is also easy to overshoot with how quickly it bends so i made a fold over adjustable stop so the lever can get dialed into the sweet slow spot. I also added a repeatable linear gauge that i blabbed about in my indexer thread.

 

[Herzog]

Im gonna copy that linear gauge! Nice work man!

I’ve been just using a normal tape measure to get matching bends, so I’m all on board with the linear gauge. IMO, it’s better than the degree ring once you catalogue some of the degrees as measurements.