Customer Reviews for RIDGID 3/8 in. Model 606 Heavy-Duty Stainless Steel Pipe and Tubing Bender with Extra Long 16 in. Handles (Imperial)

I bend stainless tubing for precision instrumentation applications, specialty gas manufacturing and cryogenic applications. I’ve used Swagelok benders forever but needed an alternative for a few reasons. Ridgid allows more room for back to back bends the way the lock shoe and taper of the bend shoe are cut, this is the best feature for me. Also, the Swagelok benders are secretly made of gold, or they think they are. The fit and finish is a tad tighter with Swagelok, but not worth the extreme extra money. I use ridgid benders in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2, and have done .083 in half on ridgid. However I have to switch back to Swagelok when I do 1/2 .095. Please make a 5/8 and 3/4 in this series!!!

I've used rigid benders for working and they generally work good but I have the standard metal ones for the rest and this model for my 1/2" copper tubing. It squeezes the copper to a point in the bend and my customers have sent it back. I need rigid benders because of the radius they give but I've had to decline 1/2" pipe jobs because of this flaw.

Perfect tool for SS tubing bending, less expensive than Swagelok same performance.

I had to do some fairly complicated bends and they turned out perfect. Easy to get the right degree bend that starts and ends in the correct place. Can start a bend very close to the fitting. The instructions are excellent. A quality tool.

I was working with complex precision bends with 3/8" copper pipe, and the generic cheap benders were far from adequate, causing compression, or deformation through the bends. I bought these on the basis of the reputation of the brand Ridgid , what can I say, WOW, these are world's apart from the cheap unbranded products, admittedly, perhaps a little inconvenient needing a separate bender for each pipe/tube size, however, these are a precision product, and more than fit for purpose across a wide material range.

Works very well to bend 3/8 tubing. Was a good purchase. Highly recommend this tool.

The Ridgid 606 is pretty much the top of the line for tubing benders. I have building cars for many years and have used a wide variety of benders over the years and usually had reasonable results however while building a recent project I was using Nicopp tubing and no matter what I tried the tubing collapsed. It as suggested I try the Ridgid 606 bender so I ordered one and it worked exceptionally well. They are inexpensive but produce exceptional results, so much so I ordered another one to handle 1/2" tubing.

This is a wonderful product as I've bent several pieces from 3/8" stainless steel tubing.

The mandrel and wheels are far too loose fitting to work with copper tubing, the edge of the mandrel actually pinches copper. If you want a good hand tubing bender, get a Swagelok model.

I've been using these benders on 3/8" stainless almost every day for about four months, (50-100 bends a day) and I love them. There was a bit of a learning curve when I first started using them- they're a bit unwieldy and heavy compared to cheaper designs. However, with practice, its easy to get excellent results. The handles provide a positive grip, the rollers reduce felt friction by probably 30%, and the markings give accurate, repeatable results. The only issue I've noticed is a slight propensity for corrosion, but the humidity is crazy here and everything rusts faster than it should. Overall, I love these benders and I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

Go to stainless steel tubing on YouTube and absolutely perfectly

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Works great for SS pipe

The 3/8 RIDIGD tube bender worked out very well. Easy to use for stainless steel tubing and make perfect bends. I will be purchasing a 1/2 bender next. Looking to do some work using 1/2 stainless steel tubing and going to need a good bender.

This tubing bender had no problem with the 3/8 hard stainless steel tubing I used to make the fuel, and transmission cooler lines on my 60 Thunderbird Resto-Mod project. However, it is rather large and will not get into tight spots, works best if you can remove the lines as needed to make the bends.

Bending shaping and all things tubing it is a good product. I give it a thumbs down on construction. Used it for about two weeks and the tube lock fell apart, luckily I was out in the open so it was easy to locate pieces. The grip on the handle is tearing off already. It is still functional.

It's the best tube bender I have used.

Works well on stainless tube.