Air/hydraulic jacks

[muddstopper]

I am thinking about buying a air jack to use in the place of the pump handle jack on my pipe bender. I want to change my bender from and upright to the laydown type but dont know if the air jack will work laying on its side. Has anybody tried to use their airjack laying down instead of standing up. Will the oil leak out if its laid on its side. any other problems doing this I need to know about?

 

[BukitCase]

I have a couple of the HF 20 tonners (one that replaced the manual one on my press, one "floater") and I replaced the manual one on my cherry picker with the air version - they work the same as the manual one as far as positioning.

Meaning - the pump part must be BELOW the rest of the jack, and the filler plug needs to be (sorta) up. This lets the pump not "starve out" and (hopefully) not let the fluid seep out of the (not always) sealed filler plug.

Reality - they will work fine on their side, but you may need to play with it to find the sweet spot. If you're off too far, it will suck air.

Reality #2 - I would NOT build your device and THEN get the jack - better to have the jack in hand, play with it to find its favorite "attitude", and then figure out how to incorporate it into the pipe bender.

Haven't seen the 20 tonners on sale for a while, got mine for just over half what their regular (if there is such a thing at HF :=) price... Steve

 

[muddstopper]

I already have the bottle jack bender. The problem with that type of bender is if you need to bend long tube. One end or both will hit the ground before the bend is complete. I am wanting to lay it on its side so the pipe has room to travel. HF had the 20t for $69 yesterday, started to go ahead and pick it up, be nice to have even if it didnt work out on the bender.

 

[BukitCase]

If this is like yours

16 Ton Hydraulic Pipe Bender

Then you would need to rotate the jack 90 deg. counter-clockwise as seen from the top, then lay the bender back. This would put the pump lower than the cylinder, and it would work.

The downside is you'd probably HAVE to have the air over jack, cause doing that would put the manual pump handle in the INSIDE of your bend. The air version should work tho, cause you wouldn't need the handle... Steve

 

[muddstopper]

Not the same brand, but pretty much the same bender. Only bending thin wall chainlink fence post material. Just getting tired of pumping the handle making multiple bends.