I have a half dozen flares I need to produce on my copper brake pipes....
Are the cheap flaring kits on ebay any good? I know you get what you pay for, but will they manage to do the job?
Something like
this:LINK1
I've used one of those for lots of jobs and never had a failure yet. I use Kunifer pipe mostly but sometimes copper as well.
I think that the standard brake pipe is less than 6mm, 3/16ths inch IIRC, and that will only do single flairs not double. Not much use I think, buy a reasonable one, and it will last you a life time. Just my opinion, Ray
With cheaper kits you may find you have to sand down the flat surfaces of the split die so that it grips the pipe properly.
Use Kunifer pipe it is only a couple of quid extra a roll and is just as easy to work as copper.
[Edited on 16/4/07 by britishtrident]
I bought a cheap one. As soon as I had, I thought 'false economy' the one area yuo don't want to skimp is brakes.
Sure enough it arrived, quality was terrible, and it broke on the first use, not managing to make a single flare. I used a draper set, which cost
arruond £25. Done my brakes, all bled and no leaks.
see: http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/7pc-Pipe-Flaring-Tool-Kit-37870-Draper-BPF-KIT?sc=9&category=88
Cheers
Ian
[Edited on 16/4/07 by mackei23b]
The end result isnt as pretty as mine can wander slightly and not flare the pipe perfectly vertical.
You definately get what you pay for but at the end of the day it does actually flare it, its just not as neat but you wont see it anyway.
Rich
[Edited on 16/4/07 by RichieC]
I bought a cheap one - Valley Tools, cr*p. Then went to the local Motor Factors. He said he did sell flaring tools but that the quality of the flare was pretty poor unless you spent £100ish & that for a one off I'd be better off getting a garage to do the flares, so that's my plan.
I've got the machin mart one; made about 6 or so flares on brake and clutch pope, not had one fail.
Beware the instruction on how to make double flares in the MM one are wrong! (maybe they have corrected that).
It does a double, you just remove the first die and run it down again.
The end result isnt as pretty as mine can wander slightly and not flare the pipe perfectly vertical. A friend had the same problem with his
and when he showed me, it was because he was exposing too much pipe through the clamp. His was a more expensive version of the same thing and when
used properly made superb flares. Only push through to the depth of the step on the side of the first die and cut the end square and ream it.
[Edited on 16/4/07 by Peteff]
I (rather optimistically) bought a cheapo one like that and then hoped it would flare the bundy tube for my wiper box setup..... Didn't do a
thing....
Might do plain copper though.....
Don't waste your money on them.
I have a cheap set (actually snap on but of the cheap deisgn ) and it is utterly rubbish.
I bought a proper lever action one then and haven't missed a beat since, you can get them for £50 ish if you shop around (paid £50 cash for mine
at a show off automec as it had poor anodising on it ) and you won't regret it.
Its a pain really...I didnt want to spend out that much on a tool thats only going to get used for a couple of days and then get hidden in the back of
the garage never to be seen again
i bought the clark one from machine mart and had no problems, this was the first time id ever done brakes and not one went wrong, entire car perfect
first time. I still have it but havent used it since (3 years) 
Where abouts are you? someone local may have one you can borrow or may even make the pipes up for you . Hire company may also be another option?
The trick to getting a straight flare is making sure the end that is being flared is straight to begin with.
To do this close the split die on the bit of pipe where the flare will be this makes the pipe "die straight" then move the pipe up to the
correct position to begin the flaring operation.
The other thing that causes bent flares is if too much pipe is protruding from the die --- the exact ammount of excess pipe required varies from tool
to tool but on my tool about 0.025" -- a bit more than 0.5 mm is required.
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
I (rather optimistically) bought a cheapo one like that and then hoped it would flare the bundy tube for my wiper box setup..... Didn't do a thing....
Might do plain copper though.....