3 roll bender owners

looking at getting a 3 roll bender and figured i would see if any of you have some first hand time on them... i am leaning towards an EAGLE cp30 to give you an idea of the size and capacity. ercolina would be another and Baileigh would be a last option.

one thing i am interested in is rolling 1.25 dia. 14 ga. tube in a 8" centerline dia. eagle tells me it is no problem. will run a coil of rings depending on tube length. ercolina wants to sell me the 3 roll drive unit to do this (way more money). Baileigh looked at the specs on paper and told me " i dont know if it will work or not"

thanks

I have owned an Eagle (actually, they are made by BPR, in Italy) CP40 for something like 6 years now.
I love it, its bulletproof, and does everything I ask it to.

They have really good service (we broke a $3 pin once, it was in the mail that day) stock parts and custom rolls, and in general are just good guys.

I actually visited the factory in Brescia, Italy, when I was over there a few years ago, I think I was the first person ever to call and ask to do that- an engineer took me around for a couple hours, then personally drove me back to the train station- good people.

They are good machines, I would not hesitate to buy another one.

As for rolling thin wall tubing- the two roll machines will do it, but two rolls is definitely a design compromise over 3 rolls.
The way they compensate, usually, is by using serrated rolls for flats, squares, and rectangular pieces.
On the round tubing, however, you get nice smooth rolls, and they can slip sometimes- its really a case by case basis. I occassionally get a part where you need to manually help it thru, especially at the beginning, if you dont wanna reef on it so tight that it will leave marks.
With a two roll machine, it will roll most anything within its window, but sometimes your need to use a cheater bar to get it tight enough to roll.

I would consider sending a 4 foot piece of the actual tube you want to use, UPS, to Eagle, and have em roll it in a CP30. And then send it back, and you look at it.
With that thin of a tube, you will get a bit of ovalizing, and only you can decide if its acceptable.
Of course, if its not, the next step up is $30,000 plus Pines style mandrel bender, with custom tooling for each size tube...

Me, I am betting that with a bit of fussing, the Eagle machine will do what you want just fine.
Rolling curves is an art, not a science, and every material, size, shape, and even mill run can roll a bit different. The LED readout helps, but is not an absolute indicator.
I love my Curvatricci, but it does not run unattended, and the more you use it, the better you get at it.
Which is not to say it wont give repeatable, consistent results, it will.

thanks for the info. i am more than sold on the quality. and your comments sound much like the others i have found. good solid machines.

have you ever rolled coils of tube with yours? my current process is draw bending 2 over bent sections and then cutting to 180. tig weld two joints... and yes, some deformation is fine for the job. in theory this thing will save me 1 cut, 1 weld, 1 grind and a ton of scrap tube. i figure so long as it can make the coil i am ahead of the game.

even if this task is a bust, i still need the roll bender for other jobs. in fact when they told me it would roll my tube that tight it was a surprise. i did not plan on it performing this job.

you say the digital readout is not th end all... but is it something i want? i would think for repeatability i do. but if not, i can save a good amount of money by not opting for it.

i am thinking i just may pull the trigger on monday...
thanks again

Havent rolled coils of tube- well, not exactly- but I do sometimes roll more than 360, then cut off the overlap to make a complete circle- and it certainly does work- it should keep going and make a coil til you run out of material.

I like having the digital readout- you can do a batch, and have them turn out mostly the same, its definitely a time saver- I was just trying to say that its no magic bullet.
It allows you to go back and repeat an exact setting, and the vast majority of the time, you get the same part.
But tweaking to exactly the same radius still has to be done from time to time.

Some people kind of assume the LED readout can be set, in advance, and give them the radius they want- which it doesnt do. You still have to measure, check against arcs drawn on the floor, or templates, and so on.

The $50,000 CNC model does give you predictable arcs- you run a couple pieces thru, it measures the resistance, and then you can tell it 16" in diameter, and it does it. Its amazing. But its also $50,000.

The manual ones like you are looking at require a lot more trial and error, and the LED's make that trial and error quicker and more repeatable.