I’ve got the hilmor and CPS black max ratcheting benders. The hilmor has a much better chance of producing a smooth bend. It helps if you use a bit of oil on the bending shoes.
I have the CPS blackmax also i bought it because it was a little bit cheaper then the hilmor and as close too it as you can get in my opinion. It also came with the reverse bending attachment which alot of them do now but not all of them so be careful on that. I have never used the hilmor but one of the other guys at work has a yellow jacket one and i liked it so i bought the CPS. I prefer the CPS and the hilmor because they have aluminum bending shoes and the yellow jacket ones are plastic. The CPS bending shoes are also colour coded which is kinda cool. Comes in a nice hard case and will do 1/4 to 7/8 i believe. I also feel the fit and finish is really good on the CPS just feels well made but i have not got to use it much yet. The hilmor has almost like spring loaded detents on it so the bending mandrels snap on almost like a socket on a ratchet but the yellow jacket and CPS used a wing nut to tighten them on by hand The yellow jacket and CPS are more secure but if your switching sizes alot maybe you would like the hilmor better. For me its not a deal breaker as i generally only used one size at a time and it only takes a couple extra seconds to switch them.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I looked up the Ridgid model mentioned - it looks like lever benders - not the ratcheting type. Good for hard tubing like steel lines but seems overkill for soft copper? Also it seems like you need to buy one for each size so the cost mounts up - I typically need 3/8" and 3/4" but it seems like it stops at 1/2"? Maybe the largest metric size is good enough for qwik99?
I will check out the other models suggested. I'm not in a rush to purchase and may end up going to AHR 2020 in which case I will stop by all the relevant booths and check out these benders.
Soft Copper you can get away with just about any style of bender. I have the CPS Black Max and it works really good. Hard Copper you need a longer radius to create a smooth bend. It's doable with those style of benders posted above by qwik99. Swagelok benders are identical you have to make a small bend about 15* then hand bend it to 45* Then you can finish a 90* Bend with the lever. With those style it is hit and miss on hard copper depending on the quality on whether you will snap the copper or not.
Ridgid makes a set of ratchet benders for 5/8", 3/4" 7/8" hard copper though that work great. https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/geared-...t-tube-benders
have a yellow jacket, hilmor, ebay cheapie and the latest is the cps blackmax. Im happy with all of them. Mostly the hilmor and cps but only used the cps once.
Dont cheap out, spend the extra for the reverse attatchment. Youll regret it if you dont.
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