Lisle 44150 3/16" Tubing Bender Pliers
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The pliers I received in early February 2019 look exactly like the Amazon product image.
They only make bends in one direction now, with a pair of left and right bends.
Selected User Reviews For Lisle 44150 3/16" Tubing Bender Pliers
They had a lot of potential, and I really wanted to like them. When the handles are closed, they are far apart, making it difficult to manipulate them or get them into tighter spaces, where the brake lines will always be. I'm not sure why the handles are so awkwardly shaped or so wide; the grips are hard and slick, and they're even slicker with a little brake fluid on them. The head shape and tube bendability are fine, but the handle shape, size, grips, and overall feel are so bad that I will never use them again. They've already made it to the bottom of my junk drawer in the box after only a few days, and I'm back to using the $4 Ebay ones I've had for ten years, which are more comfortable and fit into tighter spaces. br>br>I wish they had just taken the standard handle shape from some typical needlenose pliers and put this head on them, then they would have been fine, but they really messed these up, I only guess they tried to make them so wide so that you get more torque to twist them when trying to bend them, but where bending 3/16" line you can almost bend it by looking at it, all we need is a comfortable tool with a normal plier handle and nice radiused head.
My experience has been with handle benders, which have a curved head and a mating part attached to a handle. They do a good job, but they're a little big and aren't always the best for tight bends. When I first saw this tool, I was blown away by how small it was in terms of bending radius. Allow me to state that it was satisfactory, but that there were some issues. Pros: Tight bending radius, can be used with a tube installed (brake line), and the tool is small enough that you can use it while making bends by moving down the installed line. Cons: The tool does mark the line; I cleaned it up with a small round file, but it still does. Some emery cloth should help. With this tool, there is no leverage. Sure, you can bend the tube with your other hand, but trying to bend it with just the tool is difficult, and the handles could be made heavier. The handles flex when you bend on the fly while wearing the tube. With the first use, the handle covers began to fall off. It's possible that heat shrink tubing would be more effective. There is no information about who makes this tool. Sure, China is mentioned, but why not include the company's name as well? In my opinion, Lisle has always been a top toolmaker. I'm not sure why you wouldn't use that opportunity. Is it something I'd go out of my way to get? I'd do it for the smaller tube sizes, but I'm not sure my hands could handle something like 3/8".
The tubing bender is excellent and comes in handy when making adjustments to my car's tubing runs. Three of the four lines were replaced, and these proved to be extremely useful in fine-tuning the lines (especially in confined spaces) to get everything to line up the way I wanted. It only took a little practice and patience to get the hang of making the bends, and they turned out beautifully. They were simple to use after that, and they quickly became one of my go-to tools for replacing brake lines, as they are well-made and make excellent solid pliers for making slow or sharp bends.
These pliers for shaping lines are fantastic. They enable you to bend lines more sharply without crimping or distorting them. They're well-made and designed. I borrowed a pair to paint a car line. It only took one use of this tool to convince me to add it to my toolbox. It's also available in a quarter-inch thickness. That'll be the next thing I'll add. If you work with brake or fuel lines frequently, these devices are well worth the investment; even cu/ni lines are much easier to shape. You'll never believe how much easier it is to use your hands until you try these.
Junk. Casting is rough and unfinished, resulting in dents and marks on your line, which can be smoothed out with a small round file. The rubber handles are loose and tend to slip and slide. You'll have to adhere them together with glue. This item is made in China.
The handles are spread far too far apart to be useful out of the package when fully closed. Despite the fact that I have extra-large hands, I had problems with them. I used an oxyacetylene torch to heat them up and bend the handles in a bit, and it made a huge difference.
I read some of the other reviews on this pair of bending pliers before purchasing them because I only needed them for one project. The problem with this pair of pliers is that they only finished the exterior part to make it look better than it actually is. Many others had claimed that these pliers left marks on tubing because the gripping surface was nothing more than a rough casting, and the angle between the tube gripping surface and the pliers' face was an acute angle - I could see why. That's not surprising. I cleaned up the rough area with a 3/16" round chain saw file and gave the formerly acute edge a very slight radius, and they worked fine for my project after that, though I think they would have worked better if I had used the more expensive nickel-plated steel. I would have been dissatisfied if it had been a copper alloy. To summarize, if you don't mind doing your own finishing work on this tool and are only using it because you don't want to spend the money on something more professional, it will suffice.
I made a replacement out of stainless steel, and it worked perfectly. I'd get about halfway down the line and then tape the beginning ends of the old line I was copying to the new line, as well as taping them together every now and then as I went. The stainless line is slightly springy, which I believe helped me install it on the truck. It could be sprung into tight spaces and then returned to its original position.
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