More Information About Our Hoop Benders And The Tubing Used For Hoops
The infomation contained on this page can help you make a more informed choice
Plus we are available 7 days a week to assist you 903-497-1158 or herbs@lostcreek.net
If you are reading this then you are considering purchasing one of our Hoop Benders and bending/building your own greenhouse. The following is to better help you understand our bending tools and the tubing you will be bending. First let me say that we are the Original, Hoop Benders I invented these simple, effective and very affordable bending tools nearly twenty years ago. We began selling out Hoop Benders to the public in 1999. The demand for our invention has now caught the attention of would be competitors creating knock off versions of our current or older designs. However none can compete with our prices and customer service.
#1. Our benders are fixed radius (they are not adjustable for different size hoops "circles"). Most of our greenhouse benders are designed to bend 1 3/8" O.D. by 10' 6" lengths of chain link fence top rail tubing, 21 ft lengths can be used if cut in half. In gages ranging from 18 to 16 gage depending on the bender/hoop size bending used. The size hoop each bender produces is within the model number, we keep it simple. The letter or letters at the beginning of each model number indicate the series (group) the number or numbers following the letters indicate what the hoop width will be produced. Example: "DY-10"; This is a DY series (group) that produces a 10 ft. wide hoop. You will notice that other bender series (groups) for example our "C- SERIES" also has a bender that produces a 10 ft. hoop (our C-10). Both the DY-10 and the C-10 produce the same 10 ft hoop.
The first difference you will notice is obvious, the DY-10 cost a lot less than the C-10. Less obvious is size (length) difference. The C-10 is twice as long as the DY-10. The overall length of the bender body determines how much tubing you can bend with each bending stroke. The longer the bender the more tubing you bend each time. You may wonder why we have the different length benders when they both do the same thing just a well. The answer is quite simple, we needed to get an affordable bending tool into the hands of customers that only wanted to build one small greenhouse then hang the tool in their shop and never use it again, hence the very effective, shorter more affordable DY-series. The longer C-series was designed for customers that would most likely use the tool often. While the length of time per bending stroke for each series is the same, the longer C-series requires only half as many bending strokes to complete one hoop section vs the DY-series which takes more strokes. Result, when using the C-series benders, one encounters less fatigue when routinely bending hoops. Our Pro Series has nearly twice as much again as the C-series. Our Pro series is recommended for daily hoop production.
#2. After tubing is bent it always springs back. Our benders have been designed with this in mind, each bender size is designed to produce the specified hoop with when using the specific tubing size and gage (wall thickness) and within the average metal alloy hardness commonly found in that tubing. The alloy hardness is the major factor in how much your hoops will spring back and the alloy of the base metal is not provided or known when you purchase tubing. Example: spring steel is so hard that it springs back to its original profile (shape) after being bent while softer common steel does not spring back to its original profile (shape). With nearly 100% of all tubing sold in the U.S. now being imported from other countries, many of those countries do not practice quality control or standards when it comes to the metal's alloy hardness. Most simply throw what scrap iron into the furnace and what comes out is what you get. This has become more pronounced within the last five years. Even if the tubing was made in the U.S.A. the metal they use was (not if) made in another country. For this reason alone we recommend that you do not purchase any tubing until you receive our bending tool and after careful review of the instructions purchase only enough tubing to build one or two test hoops. If these test hoops are acceptable then purchase the remaining tubing from the same source.
#3. I'm often ask if our benders will bend 21 ft lengths of tubing. The answer is yes, BUT PLEASE DON"T TRY IT. Try to visualize holding a 21 ft pc of tubing perfectly level to the bending head of the bender during the bending process. If you attempt doing it you will end up with 21 ft long cork screw which is to large for opening wine bottles and worthless for greenhouse hoops. Again some are mistaken by thinking that bending full 21 ft lengths is faster because they would not be wasting time by cutting them in half before bending. When in fact overall production time is much faster by cutting them into 10' 6" lengths first and you don't have to figure out what to do with the giant cork screw. All 10' 6" lengths can be fabed perfectly on a simple 4'x8' plywood work surface.
My decisions on construction methods stem from over 20 years of experience as a bridge construction supervisor and nearly 20 years in greenhouse construction and operation. Fortunately for me, from the beginning I had a mentor, brilliant bridge engineer and construction company owner that understood the value of old world technology regardless of which so called modern era you lived in. More importantly he taught me how to merge the two when the resulting outcome produced a viable alternative. The bridges we built were over some of the widest, wildest rivers in this country and Canada, often presenting challenges even modern tools and methods could not overcome and solved by old world technology and methods.
We are always accessible by phone 7 days a week to assist you. I know of no other business in this same field that even comes close to that kind of personal service 903-497-1158 or email herbs@lostcreek.net .
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