Changed my mind about the old style tube benders after a job at the refinery

Was always a fan of those hydraulic benders for big pipe, figured the old manual lever benders were obsolete. Then we were working a tight spot on Unit 4 at the Whiting refinery last month with no room for the hydraulic setup. The foreman grabbed a Ridgid manual bender and showed me how he could creep it around a 6 inch radius section tight to a wall. Saw him do a 90 degree bend in like 3 minutes with zero kinks. Now I keep one in my truck for tight spots, never thought I'd say that. Anyone else have a tool they swore was outdated until a real situation proved you wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason20926d ago

Totally agree man, same thing happened to me with a old school tubing cutter. I was all about the power cutters for copper until I had to squeeze into a crawl space with about 2 feet of clearance. Dug out this old manual cutter from my dad's toolbox, and that thing went through 1 inch copper like butter. Quiet too, no screaming motor in a tiny crawlspace. Now it lives in my van right next to the power cutter, ready for the tight stuff.

abby83626d ago

@mason209 nailed it, the old manual tools never truly go out of style.