Technical Brake tubing close bend

Coming from a plumbing background we used spring benders to bend supply tubes without kinking them, bought the gravel guard to give it a try and it works wonders. Two birds with one stone as they say.

 

I have the spring benders too. They just don't go down that small. Otherwise, those work well for larger stuff!

And yes, two birds! With gravel guard, well, you get a gravel guard!

 

I shot a photo of the fixture that I fabricated, in my previous post it was difficult to see the mandrill.
The unit clamps in a vice when using it.

 

I’ve also put smaller sections filled with water in the freezer

 

Nice solution to making a tight bend with the fittings in place

 

the plier type i have several sizes i got from matco make super tight bends right at the nut ,,
fabricator john
miss you dad

 

It looks like a guy could get the grooved "die" piece from the center of an old bearing:



Which of course now means that I can't even throw old damaged bearings away.

 

And I feel your pain! SWMBO doesn't understand why I keep the stuff that I do.

I've said it before, it's a sickness! But I like these ideas. Guess what I'll be doing in the near future...

 

Great and effective tool. If you need to get an even tighter bend you could notch the mandrel to get the nut closer to the start of the bend. ( If there is enough meat to avoid getting into the bolt hole.) From the pictures it looks like there is at least 1/4"+ to be gained. Another gain of about 2/3 to 3/4 of the tube diameter could be had by making a presser arm, outer mandrel (like the first and third benders in your original picture) to keep the tube all the way into the center mandrel as it completes the bend.

 

They use that method for bending brass tubing for trumpets and trombones.

 

I use speedo cable it has 360 degrees of rotation. If I want the bend to stay straight I use electrical fish line, it only moves for and aft. If I need it to be thicker I put vacuum hose over top of it. I spray WD over everything. Especially vacuum connections where hose goes over tubing.
It's still a hard thing getting tubing just right some days I have one piece in the barrel and other days it's allmost full.
There's a lot of very talanted builders on here.

 

Great job!

 

No one remembers the original Flight of the Phoenix with Jimmy Steward? They filled tubing with sand.

 

Maybe it works with smaller tubing, but I tried it on exhaust pipe using a hydraulic pipe bender and didn't have any luck. It seems like it should have worked fine........but it didn't. Maybe its just me

 

The thing is sand needs to be packed tight and ends of tubing capped with zero voids in the sand for it to work correctly.

 

Yes, I packed it as tight as possible, but the pipe was kinda long. Then I welded caps on each end.........but I still screwed up the pipe. Tried it a couple of times and had no luck. Just saying, that I had a nice hydraulic bender with a smooth bending action and I couldn't get it to work for me. Maybe a smaller size pipe and hand bending would work.

 

Has to be one of the best tips ever. Thanks.

 

I tried sand several times with various size tubing and never got good results. Even bending around a v-belt pulley worked better..

 

I've seen some tube bent with sand and wasn't impressed. I always wondered if you used really wet sand and packed it if the wetter sand would pack tighter and hold firmer thru the bend.

It's one of those great ideas I've had but never got around to trying, some ideas I had when I was younger and never got around to trying probably saved me from hospital visits!

.

 

Holy crap, that’s cool

 

Roll it over a 1 in Socket that is the correct size

 

If you have not come up with an adequate solution by now, let me know.

You can borrow my little Imperial tool. It is still brand new in the package.

There isn't a whole lot of call for quarter inch in my, so getting it back to me is not a huge hurry.

I can mail it to you, and you can mail it back when you're done.

 

Thank You for the generous offer, in a previous post I explained that I fabricated a tool that made a bend tight enough to fit.
<a href="https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/brake-tubing-close-bend.1278583/#post-14669086">Brake tubing close bend</a>
The photo of your Imperial tool was helpful when I was figuring out how to make mine. The flare nut screws into a threaded hole that protects the thread and hold the tubing tight against the mandrel during the bend.
As of yesterday I have completed the brake line installation so now the next step is filling the system, bleeding and hopefully no leaks. I have Speed Bleeders installed to simplify the process and because I work alone with no helper to pump the brake pedal.

 

Good that! I totally missed that the previous post was you, and did not want to leave you stuck!