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I'm reasonably handy, so the construction came out ok. The worst part is setting the ground glass, but a borrowed caliper and a small ruler marked in 64th (plus some pieces of mat-board used as shims), allowed that to come out well. You have to be careful not to oversand, and some good corner clamps would help construction mightily (I used a couple t-squares and extra c-clamps)
I paired it initially with a 203 f7.7 Ektar and a 127mm Ysaron scavenged from a copy camera. I replaced the Ysaron recently with a 135mm Symmar, and acquired through a bit of luck and haggling a 75mm Nikkor.
My major complaints about the Bender are that it's kind of cumbersome to pack, since you either need a large pack to leave it assembled, or you have to disassemble it and then rethread the risers whenever you want to take a picture, and the bellows are long. If you're doing close-ups with the 203, or you want to mount a longer lens such as a 300 or the old Fuji 420 (?), then it has the bellows draw. This means that at short lengths, it's pretty tight and the movements are badly restricted, unless you use the bag-bellows. I've considered replacing the standard 22" bellows with a 12" for greater portability, but have preferred to spend the money on film instead.
It also can sag when used with the old (solid steel) calumet CN roll-film adapter. A second back (easy enough to construct, and in progress), to accomodate a graflock back such as the Graphic RH or Horseman backs is not that difficult to make.
However, it has more movements than many classic cameras such as the Kodak Ds, Burke and James, or Koronas, and just as many calibration marks and indents (i.e. none), but there's nothing stopping you from adding them either. I added a bag bellows, and then tend to plan my shooting around medium-long (203 + 135 + long bellows) , or medium-wide (135 + 75 + bag). I'm not big on indoor studio work (though trying to learn), so it's a very flexibl e field camera to me.. The biggest problem I've actually had with it is old film holders that I was initially too cheap to throw out (a wooden one with slightly rounded corners).
I'll see about finally scanning and posting some images. I've mainly either made 4x5 cyanotype proof prints, or scanned the negatives (no one heard that) and tweaked them as a precursor towards larger cyanotypes. My conventional prints when I had access to a darkroom were fine, and certainly as sharp as anything I ever did with a borrowed Calumet or Crown Graphic in the past.
