We often get questions about the Harbor Freight modification plates we make and sell, so I hope this blog helps clear things up.

Harbor Freight offers a tubing roller for $189, which is designed to create radius bends in long pieces of square, round, or flat metal—commonly used in iron gates and fences. Typically, a high-quality manual tubing or radius roller can cost anywhere from $800 to $1,000.

So, the obvious question is: Why is Harbor Freight’s tubing roller so affordable, and is it any good? In short, for what you're paying, YES. Not only do you get the tubing roller, but it also comes with three sets of round tubing dies. It's a great deal, especially if you're using it for hobby projects like building a gate.

The main limitation of the Harbor Freight machine is that the wheels can’t spread far apart. This feature is essential to reduce fatigue and adjust the radius of the metal you're bending. Higher-end tubing rollers allow you to move the wheels outward to increase versatility.

To address this limitation, we’ve designed a set of radius plates specifically for this machine. By simply removing the two gold plates on the Harbor Freight roller and attaching our plates, you can move the wheels further back from the center, offering three different positions. This modification essentially upgrades your $189 Harbor Freight machine into a full-size $800 machine for just $318.

In summary, the Harbor Freight tubing roller will get the job done as is. If you're only using it occasionally, you can stick with the basic setup and save some money. But if you have a fabrication shop and plan to do a lot of radius bending, upgrading the machine with our modification plates will give you more functionality and still keep you well ahead in terms of cost compared to buying a name-brand machine.