I got a piece of 1 1/2" X .058 to try a test bend with my JD Squared manual bender. I have a 5.5" centerline radius die for the 1 1/2". Short story, it failed miserably! So, I called a friend who builds circle track cars and is about 1 1/2 Hr. away. He has a Mittler Brothers bender that uses a long radiused "shoe" that follows along with the tube as the die pulls the tubing around the die to bend. It was a bit bigger centerline radius than I would have preferred (7"), but the bend was beautiful! As I counted, there are only going to be 9 bends necessary to follow the S&W FED plans I have, so I went from feeling I would either need to find or buy a chassis that suits me, to being happy that I have the resources to do what I wanted to do all along, and that is to build ground-up. I continue to stockpile a few parts and pieces here and there, so as soon as I get my current project (hot rod Model A Coupe) on the road I'll be in FED mode.
Lynn