Tag: Rogue Fabrication

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October – November 2025 Giveaway **CLOSED**

Giveaway Blog Picture

Live Video Link: Join Us Live on YouTube Live on November 26th @1:30 PST

 

Grand Prize  (see below): M605 Welded and Powder-coated (Your Choice Of Die) | Air/Hydraulic Ram | Clear Zinc VersaNotcher | Free shipping to Continental US (Value approximately $2800)
Runner-Up Prize #1: $50 Gift Card
Runner-Up Prize #2: $25 Gift Card

Donation Recipient (for donated merchandise):

Donation #1: Suggest your educational program below!

Details here (Suggest an EDU Program): EDU PROGRAM (LINK)

All winners drawn while they’re watching our live video will get $25 to $100 added to their prize!!!

Grand Prize Full Details:

  • M605 Welded and Powder-Coated
  • Your Choice Of Die set
  • Air/Hydraulic Pump
  • Clear Zinc VersaNotcher
  • Free Shipping To Continental US

 

The entry period for the giveaway starts October 1st, 2025, and runs through November 25th, 2025. You can enter for FREE, or by just buying tools or swag from us, or writing a review! You have GREAT odds of winning the grand prize! This isn’t like those typical social media giveaways from massive corporations where there are ten thousand people entering! In May of 2023 (1-month drawing period), we only had 80 people enter! When you consider that some of those are single-entry methods, those are amazing odds!

Black Friday Bonus for ALL Entrants:  Everyone who enters the giveaway (by any purchasing method) will automatically receive a $25 coupon to use during our Black Friday Sale (Nov 28 – Dec 1, 2025) Even if you don’t win the bender, you still win savings! ***MINIMUM $250 PURCHASE TO USE COUPON***

HOW TO ENTER:  You have several ways to earn entries into the M605 Bender Giveaway. You can do one or do them all — your entries will add up. Some entry methods are unlimited, while others are limited to one per person.

1. Purchase Entries (Unlimited)

  • Deep Saws Hole Saws → Worth 1 entry per $1 spent Buy Here! 
  • Rogue Fab Prototractors & Accessories → Worth 2 entries per $1 spent Buy Here!
  • Rogue Fab Swag (hoodies, shirts, hats, stickers, etc.) → Worth 2 entries per $1 spent Buy Here!
  • Only the product cost counts toward entries (shipping and tax do not).
  • There is no limit to how many entries you can earn through purchases.

Example: Buying a $100 Prototractor gets you 200 entries. Adding a $50 hoodie gets you 50 more entries — total of 250 entries in one order!

 

2. Write a Review (Limit: One per person)

  • Leave a product review on our website or a company review on Google.
  • A written review = 25 entries.
  • A review that includes a photo = 50 entries.
  • Reviews on these products will get you DOUBLE ENTRIES! UltraNotcher, Mandrel Attachment, Roll Cage Dream Package , and the 2.0HP Electric/Hydraulic Power Unit.
  • Only one review counts per person for this giveaway (choose website or Google). Being logged in on WWW.ROGUEFAB.COM will get you additional entries!
  • Reviews must be original and relevant. Short reviews like “Great product” or “I want to win” will not count. Photos must be your own.

 

3. Share on Social Media (Limit: One per person)

  • Make a post on your primary social media account about the giveaway.
  • You must: 
  • Tag us @RogueFab
  • Mention that we’re giving away a tubing bender
  • Use at least one relevant hashtag (example: #RogueFabGiveaway, #AffordableTubingBender, #GoRogue)
  • You may use our photos or one of your own featuring RogueFab gear.
  • This is worth 25 entries.

 

4. Mail a Postcard (Limit: One per household)

  • Send a postcard to:
    Rogue Fabrication
    42335 SE Marmot Rd
    Sandy, OR 97055
  • Include the following information:
  1. “M605 Giveaway”
  2. Your full name
  3. Phone number
  4. Email address
  5. Return address
  • A valid email address is required (this also subscribes you to our newsletter, which you may opt out of at any time).
  • Each postcard = 25 entries.
  • Only one postcard per household will be accepted.

 

Remember: You can combine all these entry methods. For example, if you make a purchase, leave a review, share on social, and send a postcard, you’ll get entries from each method. The more you do, the better your odds.

FAQ: What if I didn’t even know I entered?

Great question! Every qualifying purchase during the giveaway period automatically counts as entries. That means:

  • If you bought Deep Saws, Prototractors, or RogueFab swag between Oct 1 and Nov 25, your order already earned entries for you — even if you didn’t realize it at the time.

  • You don’t need to do anything extra to be included.

  • This is a fun bonus for our regular customers who might not have even been trying to enter.

So whether you purchased just to enter, or you were simply picking up tools for your shop, your entries are in the drawing.

Reminder: You can also earn additional entries by leaving a review, sharing us on social media, or sending in a postcard. Full details are on our giveaway page.

DRAWING/PRIZE DETAILS:

We will announce the winner(s) live on YouTube at the time posted at the top. That person can choose the configuration of our prize package that is priced at the amount shown in this post.  If they want to upgrade any items, they can pay the retail price difference. If they want store credit on dies or a mandrel attachment, etc., the credit is $1,800, and shipping IS NOT included.

When we announce names on YouTube live, we will remind the winners to comment. If they are present at that time (we will know when you comment), the prizes will have $100/$50/$25 in credit added to them (Grand, 2nd, 3rd prize). Make sure you tune in!

We do giveaways like this often. They only last 2 months. We NEVER EVER have double-entry days or anything like that.

 

#GoRogue #Madeinusa #freemoney #giveaway #contest #freetools #m600 #versanotcher #printedinUSA #local #itstimetodie #musthavetools #getbent #becauseracecar #mandrelbending #benttitanium #2inchsolid #tubebender #tubingbender #tubebenders #tubingbenders #pipebender #pipebenders #welding #workhard #fabrication

Void where prohibited. No cash back given. No cash value. No purchase necessary to enter. Must be 18 years old to enter. FULL DRAWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS AT https://www.roguefab.com/giveawayterms/

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The Faster Way to Lay Out Tube Bends: Skip the Software

Roll Cage Made Easy Promo 1200x628

Before you bend a single stick of steel, you need to know three things about every bend in your layout: the angle, the rotation, and the straight length between bends. Get any one of those wrong and the tube does not fit. On a roll cage or handrail with a dozen bends, one bad input means starting over.

There are two ways fabricators work out those numbers: CAD software or a physical mockup. Both can get you to the right answer. Which one gets you there faster, with fewer mistakes, and without requiring a computer science degree to operate?

The real problem with CAD for tube layout

CAD is a powerful tool and it has a legitimate place in fabrication. Designing machined parts, structural weldments with tight tolerances, or anything documented for a customer handoff is where CAD earns its keep. Working out bend sequences on a tube chassis or cage is where it creates more problems than it solves.

The core issue is visualization. Tube with multiple bends in different planes is difficult to model correctly in CAD and harder still to verify. Rotation angles between bends are easy to get wrong on screen. A 5-degree error in a rotation angle does not look like much in a drawing. On a cage hoop that has to clear a door opening, it means the tube does not fit.

Beyond the accuracy problem, CAD requires software, a computer, and someone who knows how to use both. In a shop, that means stopping work, going to a desk, building the model, then translating numbers from the screen back to the bender. Every handoff between drawing and shop floor is another opportunity for error.

What a physical layout tool actually does

tube bending layout tool instruction photo showing PVC pipe mockup assembly
A layout mockup in progress. PVC pipe connects the bend components to simulate the full tube path before any steel is cut.

This layout tool works differently. Each component simulates a bent section of tube at a specific CLR, built at full scale with PVC pipe as the stand-in material. You assemble the mockup in real space, fitting PVC between components until the layout matches the actual installation. When it fits in three dimensions, you read the angles and straight lengths directly off the physical model.

That process eliminates the visualization problem entirely. There is no drawing to interpret. Instead, you see the actual shape the tube needs to take, in the space where it needs to fit. Rotation angles that are easy to misread on screen become obvious in person. Clearance problems that would not appear until the steel was bent show up during the mockup, when PVC is still the material being modified.

What you read off the mockup

Once the mockup fits, you have everything you need to go to the bender. Bend angles read directly off each component. Straight lengths between bends measure from the mockup with a tape. Rotation angles between bends are visible in the physical model in a way that CAD simply cannot replicate for a non-expert user. The whole process is faster, and the first bend sequence is far more likely to produce a tube that fits on the first try.

Where this tool earns its keep

Roll cages

Roll cages are the most demanding tube layout challenge most fabricators will face. Main hoops, door bars, roof bars, and harness bars intersect at compound angles with tight clearance requirements. The stakes are high because a cage that does not fit correctly either gets cut apart and redone or ends up with compromise joints that reduce structural integrity. Working the layout out in PVC before touching steel removes most of that risk.

tube bending layout tool PVC mockup for roll cage or chassis tube layout
A completed PVC mockup showing a multi-bend tube layout. Every bend angle, rotation, and straight length reads directly off this model before any steel is cut.

Handrails and architectural work

Handrail work that involves returns, rakes, and wall returns in multiple planes is another area where physical mockup outperforms CAD. In handrail work, the install environment becomes the design tool. You fit the mockup to the actual staircase or wall, confirm the geometry, then read your numbers. The alternative is measuring the space, building a CAD model, then hoping the dimensions were accurate enough that the tube fits on installation day.

Exhaust and intake routing

Routing tube around engine components, frame rails, and body panels in tight engine bays is exactly the kind of problem physical mockup solves well. You work around actual obstacles instead of estimating clearances in a drawing. The PVC bends where you need them to, and the final layout reflects the actual space rather than an approximation of it.

Training and education

The layout tool is one of the most effective training aids available for teaching tube bending concepts. Bend-plane rotation is a concept many students struggle to grasp from a drawing or a verbal explanation. Holding the mockup and rotating a section to see how it changes the tube path makes the concept immediately clear. Welding programs, high school fab classes, and vocational training centers have used this tool to accelerate understanding of multi-plane bend layout in ways no drawing or CAD exercise matches.

tube bending layout tool in use showing multi-bend PVC pipe mockup
Layout tool in use. This PVC mockup captures a multi-bend layout that would take significantly longer to produce and verify in CAD.

The tool set and pricing

The layout tool starts at $87 for the smallest size, built around a 3.5″ CLR. A full set covering the CLR options used in a typical roll cage build runs around $500. Every component is built in the USA. The patent application is pending (US App 18589068).

Sets are available by CLR size to match the die set you are already running. If you are building with RogueFab dies at 2.5″, 3.5″, 4.5″, or 6″ CLR, the matching layout tool components are available to fit your existing setup. You can find the full selection on the layout tool product page.

CAD still has a place

This is not an argument against CAD. For shops doing complex structural engineering, producing documentation packages, or designing parts for CNC machining, CAD is indispensable. The argument is narrower: for working out bend sequences on tube that needs to fit in a real space, a physical mockup is faster and more accurate for most fabricators in most shop environments. Use the right tool for the right job. For tube layout, that usually means a physical mockup, not a screen.

Written by Joe Gambino,owner of Rogue Fabrication LLC. Summa Cum Laude, BS Mechanical Engineering, Oregon Institute of Technology, 2009. ASME Senior Level GDTP, Credential ID GDTP S-0688. Six issued US patents in tube bending and fabrication tooling. 15+ years designing and manufacturing tube bending machines in Sandy, Oregon.