Large Scale Central

RLD Track Bender

I just yesterday received from RLD my new track bender. I do not belong to any club or know many who are so I didnt even think about borrowing one, so after a little research ( checking prices) and looking at different brands I got one from RLD. When all you have to go by is pictures it is hard to understand what it will be until it shows up.

First I must say it came quickly and well wrapped, picking it up is a struggle as it weighs a ton. Sturdy construction and well built, nice rounded corners. I grabbed several lengths of flex 332 brass track and plopped the bender on and made a few passes, tightening the adjustment wheel with every 2 passes and at first I thought it was not doing much but after about 4 passes I easily had a 6ft long 10ft curve. the bearings and the plastic that the rails ride on make it glide effortlessly. bent one half way took the bender and turned it and bent the other half the oppisite direction for a nice smooth s curve. then un bent the curves I made, just to see the difference.I worked one piece of track down to a way tigher curve than I will ever use and it did it all with ease.

One little problem I noticed was if the rails are connected the bearings hit the joiners. I am going to see if putting a small spacer under the sliders will help, but for now I just wanted to try to see how it worked.

I must say when I first looked at RLD it was out of stock, so I emailed and asked if they would be in stock, I got a prompt email back, gave my name and he put ne on a list to be notified when they came in. Quick and personal service from Robby, I will use his services again.

edit; thread moved

I second the RLD Track Bender praise. I got mine as a birthday gift from my more than understanding wife.

I used mine with Sunset Valley Railroad code 250 aluminum track. While I could have done belly bending on the rail, using the bender made the whole process really easy. Also using the bender to “sweeten” the rail joints and various curvatures and transitions was a treat. I have not had a single derail with hours and hours of running. I use the SVRR supplied joiners and did not experience any clearance issues as mentioned by Pete.

Two thumbs up!!

After looking again at the joiners in question they had an odd lip the came out at a 90 to the web of the rail, the aml joiners sit flush with the web so there was no problem. Like you said, Mark it will be great for easing the transition from straight to curved. I also checked the boxand it was weighed in at 8lbs so I am guessing 7.75lbs of that was the bender, but it works effortlessly. I will do most of my RR with flex track, John so no screws to mess with on the tie strips on AML flex track