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Author: Subject: bending tubes
marcjagman

posted on 30/7/06 at 03:04 PM Reply With Quote
I bought a heavy duty pipe bender from e-bay. £12 delivered and it's new, guy sells loads of them but I would advise a little heat as it is hard work, unless you have arms like popeye, which I do.
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John Bonnett

posted on 30/7/06 at 03:31 PM Reply With Quote
A pipe bender is great but you are restricted to fixed radius bends because the radius is dictated by the former.

John

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kb58

posted on 31/7/06 at 04:47 AM Reply With Quote
I'd think the pipe bender would work great for it's normal radius, plus any larger radius. Bend a little and push it along, bend again, push along...

I mean, how perfect does it have to be? Usually "perfect" isn't needed for our cars.

[Edited on 7/31/06 by kb58]





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NS Dev

posted on 2/8/06 at 11:59 AM Reply With Quote
I have bent 3/4" (19mm) tube with just the vice and a blowtorch with great success to make anti roll bars etc, just heat a bit and bend a bit at a time, be gradual and controlled and its no problem.





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brynhamlet

posted on 2/8/06 at 01:51 PM Reply With Quote
I've just seen a guy bending half inch steel conduit with a pipe bender.

Try your local electricians, they might be able to bend larger sizes of steel tube for you

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John Bonnett

posted on 2/8/06 at 05:21 PM Reply With Quote
The attached picture shows bends that I made using a bending beam. There are no right and wrong ways to do things, you just find a way that works for you. For me, the bending beam is simple cotrollable and involves no cost.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l57/bonnett_2006/PC130005Medium.jpg

John

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paulf

posted on 2/8/06 at 09:19 PM Reply With Quote
I bent the rear corners from 19mmx 1.5 by just holding a steel disk about 180mm dia and 20mm thick in the vice with one end of the tube trapped under it against the vice. I then gradually bent it around the disk by hand without having to heat it at all and had very little distortion.Maybe a brake disk could be used.I made two seperate bits and sleeved and welded them to the straight bit in the middle.
Paul.

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NS Dev

posted on 2/8/06 at 10:40 PM Reply With Quote
The anti-roll bar (grey bar in the pic below) in this pic was bent using a 4" record vice, a disposable cartridge plumbing blowtorch and my arms and eyes and that's it.

You can do the same it's not tricky!


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