CARVALAX Pipe Tube Bender Set, for 1/4” to 7/8” O.D, 90° Ratcheting Tubing Bender Kit with Reverse Bending Adapters and 7 Multi-Color Aluminum Heads, for HVAC Air Condition Hydraulic Work

This pipe tube bender is a great value. It bends pipe easily and without pinching or kinking it. It is designed for soft copper pipe. I would not recommend trying conduit or harder metal pipes with this. I can accurately bend to any desired angle with the design. It is very accurate for this. This seems to be a well-made pipe bender and should last me for years to come. I like this design because it is easier to get the pipe in and out of the bender. Each size worked well, however I had some trouble with the larger 7/8 copper pipe.

Works as described, it’s worth it completely, don’t buy overpriced products, hilmor is great, but is waaaaaaay overpriced, this is a more economic choice and you won’t regret it

Great Christmas present for our working son! Functions as it should. Fits, bendable and durability is nice.

This tubing bender is very nice, it works perfectly with 7/8” copper tubing without kinking the tube or being too hard to bend the pipe, makes nice bends with 3/8” copper also. Will be trying it on other sizes also. Very happy with it and it didnt cost a fortune. Be careful when using it to bend 3/4” copper tube it seems to always kink the bend. Other than that its a great bender and glad i bought it.

CONCLUSION: This tool worked perfectly in my situation, which is bending newly purchased 3/8 OD and 5/8 OD soft copper HVAC tubing to 90 degrees. THE TOOL: This tool did a superior job, in my opinion. It is well designed and sturdily constructed. It is simple and straightforward to use. There are dozens of devices like this on the market and on Amazon, but I chose this particular one for the reviews, the all metal construction, the price, and "intuition". I have to admit I was nervous about bending the 5/8 line, but I needed to keep the line-run neat and fitting in the PVC channel covering. Anything larger than 1/2 is going to be tricky, depending on the tool and the quality of the copper tubing. THE PROCESS: I watched several videos, both in the Amazon review section, and on Youtube, so I already knew exactly how to use it. I had remnants from my shortened lines, so I tested bending those first (see pictures attached). I left the copper lines out in the direct sun on a clear 85F degree day, to warm them up (for easier bending). The 5/8 line has a little "dimpling" on the inside radius of the bend, but that's not a big deal. Overall, I am pleased and relieved with how good a job this tool did. MY SITUATION: I'm a self taught construction and mechanical hobbyist with 50 years experience of all sorts, but never before anything related to HVAC. I'm installing a 24,000 BTU mini-split AC unit entirely by myself. The cost of having experts install mini-splits is astronomical, so I did everything myself, including all the 240 Volt AC electrical. This is a one-time use situation for me, but I'm going to keep this tool around just in case.

It worked pretty well until maybe my fifth bend and one of the wing nuts snapped. Kind of surprised considering I was only bending 1/2 soft copper. This tool seemed like decent quality, but soo did the wing nut until it snapped revealing cheap pot metal inside. If they cheap out on a 5 cent wing nut, one has to wonder if the rest of the tool is made from the same poor quality metal. Do yourself a favor and pick up some M8 1.25 20mm replacement screws from the local hardware store so you don't have to make a surprise run for parts. Other than that, it made some nice bends and the ability to make reverse bends was a life saver. I did notice other brands have a gage to show the bend angle and a measurement line for making precise bends. That would be a nice feature that this tool does not have.

The bender set arrived quickly and was packaged well. Everything inside was organized and in great shape. The build quality feels solid, and the ratcheting handle makes bending tubing smooth and easy. The different size heads work perfectly, bends come out clean with no kinks, and the included case keeps everything neat and easy to carry. Overall, it’s a well-made kit that works exactly as it should.

There's one minor issue, but I'll still give it 5-stars because I think it's a great tool overall. The build quality seems solid, and initial test uses suggests that I will be able to do everything with it that I want to do. The only issue I can find is that the pivoting guide blocks on both sides of the bender are very hard to read. The tubing size is molded into the part as a recessed label, but there's no contrast coloring added. This matters because when you're bending and release the pressure to make an adjustment, the blocks will freely spin around, and you cannot easily tell if you have the right side facing the bender. That said, there's a really easy fix. I used white nail polish to fill-in the size markings and then just wiped off the excess with acetone. Voila! I have blocks which are easily read and can tell when the correct size is facing the bender. It's an easy fix and I've included photos to show. As far as the negative reviews I've read, I cannot help but think that people don't understand tubing benders. This is NOT a conduit bender, nor is it marketed as one. It's meant to bend soft-walled tubing, such as NONRIGID copper and aluminum. It you try to bend rigid copper pipe or metal conduit, then you clearly didn't read or understand this tool. There's no way this could even conceivably be considered for use in those cases, as rigid conduit benders are very large tools which are completely different from this handheld tool. If the user has a clue about what they're doing, then there won't be an issue.