I got the mounting plate for the new tubing bender made up - 3/8" plate with another 3/8" plate facing down at a right angle. I cut three slots in the top plate and made three corresponding teeth in the bottom plate and then plug welded the two pieces together so there wouldn't be any weld along the bottom edge. Now when I clamp it in my big vise it will fit all the way down in the jaws and I won't have to hold it up a bit while working the handle on the vise.
Even though I got the bender ready to use, I went over to the high school and used the Hossfeld. As you can see from the photo, the radius is much smaller on the tube than what I would have gotten with the new bender. The Hossfeld die is a 2" centerline radius where the new die is about 3-1/4". Now, not only do I have a bender, but I've got a couple of radii choices on a couple of the tube sizes between what I've got at home and what I have access to at the school. After I get my tool allowance built back up, I'm going to look into buying one of the small universal style benders. I'm sure it would come in handy.
After I got the tube bent, I ran some errands, swapped out the blades on the mower and mowed both the front and back, finished a few other chores, then I decided I was too tired to work on the bike. But hey, at least I got a little something done on that project.
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