UPDATE: Today I removed the tube bender from its box, only to find that the collar for the tube bender had irregular holes that had been “patched” by welding two spacers to the outside of it. But, that modification meant that the bolt was no long enough, meaning one of the two sides of the collar would be riding over the threads. Given the importance of the collar, this “fix” is unacceptable, so this bender will get returned.
Below you can see that both holes are irregular, so a spacer has been welded to the outside. What are these people thinking?
The bolt next to the collar is the stock bolt. I happened to have a similar bolt that was longer and better for this application. However, given the poor quality collar, I will be returning this device.
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As mentioned, a couple weeks ago we had the estate sale, which consumed WAY too much of my time. First there was the setup. Then, there was the rain, so then we had to re-setup using part of the shop (which meant moving stuff out of the shop like the race jeep), hanging tarps to hide tools, etc. In the end, the rain stopped Saturday at 4am and began Sunday at 3pm, which gave us a decent window to sell stuff.
We sold or gave away quite a bit, but there were still multiple trips to donation centers, a trip to recycling, and several trips to the dump. Then, once completed, we still had to reorganize the remainder.
The good news is that a lot of crap left the shop, which gives me much more room than I’ve had. Also. good news, the weather has finally warmed up, with blue sky and no rain.
So, I finally returned to work on the racer, though the work was mostly grinding/cutting off the remaining pieces of the rear front spring holders and the former mounts of the side bars. With that done, I can now fit the new side bars.
Before:
After:
I’d prefer to take the whole thing apart to better clean up and paint the frame, but that can wait until winter. For now, I am focusing on functionality over style (though the green will be painted black before the body is installed).
With the grinding done, I’m not far from being able to begin work on the roll cage. The new cage will be wider (for the wider Parkette body) and roomier (so I fit better). To build the cage I needed to get some new tools.
My plasma cutter arrived a few days ago, along with my tube bender (from Affordable Bender). I was going to build another bender, but I cannot locate printed copies of my bender plans nor can I find the password to the PDF I received from gotTrikes.com (locked PDF .. and no response from the gotTrikes website for a new password). So, after some research, I decided to take a chance on the AffordableBender, which as gotten pretty good reviews.
The thing I am awaiting now is my new MIG welder, which was supposed to arrive around June the 9th. It is now expected to arrive June 29th.
My unsolicited advice re: frame color. Maybe . . . not black? Black won’t show dirt/corrosion, or cracks easily. Not like a Medium Navy Gray, for example. Go with polyurethane – easy to repair and touch-up. Maybe powder-coating, WITH A GOOD TEN YEAR WARRANTY. Powder coating depends on good prep and surface treatment. Poor work starts rusting after a few years.
Gee Dave, substandard work on your defective out-of-the-box part. No surprise there. Standards are slipping and nobody today gives a damn whether or not the right thing is being done, they’re just interested in collecting your money. It’s a different world now, and the proof is in the bad tube bender in your hands.
DITTO what SE Pennsylvania Steve said. The USA is quickly becoming another third world class country via ‘apathy’ and ‘lowest common denominator’ goals… IMO. It is all about money, money, money.
Bill: I agree with you … however, the color choice of the frame wasn’t mine. The frame came neon green (with a black narrow fiberglass body). If I can get it race ready for the last few races, I’ll probably just spot-paint the primer areas green and spray paint the Parkette body black for expediency (the body does need some work anyway), but I’d prefer the frame black and the body yellow (which would be better as a winter project, as it would need to be torn apart to property paint it). I’d rather work out the functionality first, then revisit the styling 2nd.
Steve(s): Crazy enough, when I closely examined the photo of this bender on Amazon (thought I bought it directly through the builder — a Wyoming company), it turns out the pic shows these spacers/washer on the collar there, too. So, I wrote the company. The responder claimed that in 15 years they have never had problems with this design (you’d think in 15 years they could make a better design). I also know this claim to be untrue, as some folks have mentioned they have suffered wear with their collar bolt after enough use (maybe the washers are intended to slow/stop that degradation?).