Which bender ????

My old Hilmor has seen better days (tho it really hasn't lasted that long) and was pricing up a few different makes.
Was looking at a Monument & Rothenberger
Any thoughts ?

I bought the heavy duty bender from tool station about 7 years ago and it's still going strong.

Rothenberger for me i like most of there tools but i tend to treat them well, have a bag for my bender that has plastic on the inside to protect the former's and 2 pockets for my drifts i expect the bender to last a good 10 year!

Ive got a rothenberger I wouldnt recommend it, the formers arent square with the handle so it pulls on the pish and ripples the pipe

i find i only get ripples when using shed's copper on a sunday! using my standerd suppliers i get crisp clean bends

honestly most of the benders out there are pants compared to the benders made 15 plus years ago. normally made in china now, poor quality control and they all ripple from time to time.

the rothenberger bender is ok compared to some of there other poor tools.

id take some copper along with you to the shop and try the bender out before you buy.

Have a look at these
Hilmor GLM Hand Pipe Bender Refurb Superb Condition BARGAIN | eBay.
They are not refurbs the company are the original manu of hilmor.

Hmm! I often wondered about the same stuff made years ago being better than modern stuff. A guy was on the telly some time ago saying that when they made the same product 15years ago it was expected to last about 15years. Today the same product I think he said, is expected to last only about 3-5 years. It was not Plumbing or gas stuff just a steam inhaler mask. I have a Rothenberg but its not half stiff to use and its tight on the bends, making it easy to ripple the pipe. The old Hilmore's were much easier and freer to bend with.

I can recomend the re-conditioned benditnow machines in tamz link, they have improved the hilmor benders to the point of perfection.

working on a newbuild today got one of my mates in and he had one of them refurbs was a good quality peice of kit still faithfull to my rothen though!

Originally Posted by tamz

Have a look at these
Hilmor GLM Hand Pipe Bender Refurb Superb Condition BARGAIN | eBay.
They are not refurbs the company are the original manu of hilmor.

I bought the stand version and it's really good quality. Pulls nice bends in 15 and 22 and comes with formers up to 32mm, though pulling a bend in that size would be something else.

this which bender question crops up here all the time,so can we make this a sticky
which bender do i buy
old hilmor/bend it now -good.......rothenberger.... not good ladyboys-not good/just plain wrong