hi this question has two parts one has nothing to do with the title;
can any one tell me a good suplier of ss pipes?

and the other;

how dou you bend exhayst piping without the pipe colapsing.
I have one of those hydolic jack and bendy clamp on a tripod type pipe benders, their great fir bendin roll bars, infact i've made loads of cages for pick-ups.
but im scared that exhaust piping will collapse,.

your can try filling it with sand i believe, but the consensus is that the bender you describe is not good for thin tube.

These guys are top bananananas!

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=42538

and another recommended place, recently did twenty-odd bends for me plus a load of tube at a very good price and they are very clued up, VERY interesting workshop!!!

SDW Light Fabrications

YEARS ago, I worked with an ex RAF fitter.

He used to talk of having to roll a ball bearing down the pipe after he had made it.

He used something called serra bend / cera bend / serer bend (speeling).

From his description it was like candle wax mixed with fine sand. You heated it up
to melt it, blocked off one end of the pipe, then poured it into the pipe and let it solidify.
Bent the pipe, then gently warmed the pipe and it melted and ran out.

Anyone ever seen it?

Paul G


p.s. My speel checker has just gone bonkers.

seen something similar.

I think now they use these superalloys which are like very low melting point solder based on some metal or other that I can't remember the name of!!

Bismuth, that's the stuff!

here y'are:

bismuth alloy bending

I thought that was a ship.??????


Paul G

Na, that was the Bismark. Bismuth is her sister.