If you are interested in investing in your own pipe or tube bender, you probably have a few practical questions. For instance, do you know what separates NC pipe and tube benders from CNC tube bending machines? Or whether you would be better off buying a manual or automatic pipe or tube bender?

These are reasonable questions that should be satisfactorily answered before making your investment into one of these valuable machines.

Do I Need a Manual, Semi-automatic or Automatic Tube Bender?

The differences between manual benders versus semi-automatic and automatic bending machines revolve around cost, operating controls, and quality.

1. Manual benders, though more affordable, are also more limited in the functionality and produce lower-quality bends.
2. Semi-automatic or NC bending machines provide users more functionality and are altogether more reliable for producing high-quality bends on parts that only require single bends. NC benders are also highly cost-effective.
3. CNC tube bending machines require the least amount of operator control and produce consistently high-quality bends for parts that require multiple bends. A CNC tube bender will require the highest investment cost but will speed up production time and bend precision greatly.