questions about bending tubing

[karfer67]

well i finally did it and went out and bought some new toys. got myself a lincoln 3200hd welder, new drill press, tube notcher, cut off saw, and most of all a hydralic (darn i cant spell) tube bender. oh yea and a really good friend who is showing me how to weld but after my first bead he took one look at it and said i dont need any trainning you got it first shot he was impressed. anyways we got everything setup and started playing with the bender. it has a pump jack in the bottom and two rollers one on each end of the arms. you stuff the tube in and push the pump up into the pipe bending it upwards. but no matter how slow we went the tubes kept getting flattened and we were no where near a tight bend like i see done on here by some of you guys. should i have gotten the conduit bender? i am stumped.

 

[RPR13]

we used to put sand in the pipe and tape both ends shut and that would keep it from kinking but we weren't doing real tight bends

 

[Bunbury]

It sounds like a pipe bender to me, they don't work so well with tubing. Does it look like this one?

 

[12bcruzin]

Also, try thicker wall tubing and a good conduit bender and only do wide radius bends.

 

[CCR]

i havent seen a muffler shop yet that doesnt kink the tubes ina tight bend. no help here, sorry.

 

[Anonymous]

what we found to help

snap a chalk line down the middle. helps keep center. no matter how much you try it still will have "chatter bumps" down the radius of the bend but fill it with sand and go slow. start in the middle and work out both ways. once left of middle once right of middle ect. after the first run out from the middle both ways. do like every third run starting in the middle. you'll kink it if you do it every time starting in the middle and try to set it up so the pin hits the pipe in the spot it didn't touch the last time. if you catch what i'm throwin.

buddy and i got a close match to a 20" rim for his kids bike so it can be done but pack a lunch and bring a friend. :mrgreen:

 

[karfer67]

yea bunbury that is the bender i got guess i should have gone with the other manual bender huh? oh well i will try what your talking about with working it in different spots and using the sand. sensor told me about that and i guess he was right. oh well now maybe i can start getting a kid's build off bike going after all.

 

[sensor]

hey karfer how sharp of a bend are you looking for? if its like the old straight bar frames heres and easy tip......
just make a pie cut in the tube(kinda looks like a v)about halfway up and then just bend it by hand and weld it shut.
heres a pic of messing around with ideas for the kids build............(sorry batteries are charging :x ill post it later)
got enough so i could cut a piece and shot it(not welded as if you couldnt tell :roll: )

 

[karfer67]

gotta try that well we just got done with my first project with the new tools. grabed by boy's roadmaster wagon and did a drop axle setup on it. now the pan sits at the highest maybe an inch off the ground. i will snap some pics of the progress tomorrow