Looking for help on bending up a large hard line

**L,
If you've run out of resources, PM me the dimensions; I'll take a look.
And does the 1 1/2" apply to the inside radius or the center-line radius of the bend? Apply some tolerances so I know what you're after.

I just got done making a bender for 1/2" EMT which is .706 O.D. x .042 wall. It had a centerline radius of 2.5" which is very tight, but the tubing was bent without kinking or deformation. The part was used to make a fill-tube for the A727 as I couldn't find exactly what I needed. Also modified the dipstick for the new length. Non of the bends were beyond 45º, but I see no reason that 90º would present a problem.

Stainless Steel tubing may be more difficult as it may work-harden....depends on the alloy.

It takes quite a while to make "non-standard tooling", but if there are others that would need something similar, it might be feasible.

 

OK, I decided to waste some more time fiddling with the "what it should look like" part. I found some online 3D tools that were crude enough for me to operate them, yet featured enough to provide a good-enough view of the part.

 

And, an animation of the piece...

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q0BqYmJHYhM

 

this corner will present problems with a bender, especially if those bends run tangent-to-tangent (and they appear to be); as most hand benders need a straight section to clamp onto........might be best to fabricate this tube up from elbows/straights as discussed earlier.

You could make this up from 2 pieces that meet at the bend tangencies and have it tig-welded

 

Don't know if it seems too ghetto; but what about electrical conduit? Galvenized, easily bends with a 40 dollar 5 foot, handle bender, and about as cheap as it's gonna' come.

Just a thought; but stainless and capped ends with condensed/packed sand is the home/garage way to go. If you are in the Tri State area, RS Phillips may be able to help.

Pork

 

It does??

 

OK, what was used to produce that part ?

 

That looks much bigger than a 2" offset - c/c in the bends that is specked in **L's drawing.
Also way out of scale to his cad files.

There is no way on Gods green earth that 5/8 stainless can be bent in one piece on that tight of a bend radius and that close to another bend.
It just ain't going to happen.

Maybe the tube could be bent in some sort of mega buck operation , but two will need to be welded

 

Agreed. The material needed for this is 1/2", and with a ~ 2" offset between CENTERLINES of the bends (that means the air gap between bends is 1.5", which means the radius of EACH bend is 0.75"), bending on any kind of form or mandrel is unlikely. In addition, just bending it on a larger radius (like the generic tube bender I have), then welding them together, won't work either. That's because, in a larger radius, the bend won't be "out of the curve" yet, where it has to be trimmed back. That creates an oval cut in the tube. If I wanted a basic 180° there, that would be doable, but would create a "V" in the finished part... but... with my bends at 90° on axis to one another, you couldn't even weld them back together because the ovals would be pointing in different directions. So... the McMaster (or similar) TIGHT radius bends, welded together is the way to go.

31, I'm hoping to hear from you today to discuss.

 

Waiting for the west coast rooster crow

 

Thanks for the call! I just ordered 180° and 90° bends from McMaster as noted earlier, and have a small stick of 1/2" OD SS. I'm going to cobble together another mock-up, this time out of copper, because the bends are good. Once I have all that together, it's off to the races with welding it up. Yay!

More info to the thread when progress happens. Thanks, all.

 

The part was to represent that one could bend 90 deg off tangent without a flat and without expensive tooling.

Along with skill one is also paying for my knowlege to make or have made, a price that some people are unwilling to pay for, so they find or resort to a different way of doing it.

 

So much drama in your posts... shrouded in the mystique of your grandiose skills, then peppered in with a "some people can't afford me" at***ude. And you didn't even show that you could make the bend that's the point of discussion here ("Hey everybody, look at me. I made something that isn't what was requested, and I'm not going to tell you my secrets on how I did it!!!") I hope you have lots of customers standing in line to get to you... because you haven't presented a single thing in this thread to make me interested in doing business with you... at any price. BTW, knowledge is spelled with a "d." That's not something I chose to shroud in mystique...I shared my spelling expertise freely.

 

Here it is in copper.

 

Brown truck brought me the stainless pieces today. I lopped off the flared ends and cut the 180° in half, and then started carving up the straight pieces. I need to fit the straight pieces directly on the engine so I get the centerline right. More to follow.

 

Great ! you're on your way ... those will look nice when all welded up and polished.

Yesterday I scoured the 'net for some 1/2" SS elbows, not having noticed that you'd already ordered the ones from McM.

The ones I found wouldn't have worked as well as what you got. But if you want to see them, let me know.

I've also used McMaster for some 1 1/4" steel weld-els....both 90º and 45º Kinda expensive, but they sure save space, and fit the need.
I'll do a thread on the use of them shortly.

gatz

 

This may be the home stretch. I've got all the stainless cut up and marked, and I'm about to send them off to 31Vicky so he can do some magic welding. Here's what I've got--

 

and...

 

Project update... 31Vicky with a hemi did a brilliant job s***ching up all the parts into a single, solid tube. I just finished test fitting it on the motor, and making some templates for support brackets. Yay!

 

Hey ken , that looks good on there .
My samsung phone suffered the S3 sudden death syndrome on saturday.
I lost everything saved in the phone. So that's why you didn't get the other five pics.
That was a fun little project.

 

Great job guys boy the things we would just to keep from runnig a rubber hose I like it. That mill looks a little british.

 

You know that line looked pretty snazzy wrapped around the polished covers and next to the 671 on my hemi too. 3 hells of a lot better ( as opposed to just "a hell of a lot better ") than any rubber hose ever thought about looking !

 

I hear that I wont even run a rubber hose to a PCV valve my buddy think I have a problem there though is put a ****ing hose on it and get it done.
My though is I can drin more beer and crown trying to figure out something else that will look like someone gave a ****.

 

I grabbed some molded byp*** hoses that had bends within them that I thought would work. I cut one up... got the exact shape I was after... only to realize it was actually larger than 1/2" ID, so it wouldn't seal under regular clamp tension. So... after spending some time on Gates website looking at postage stamp-sized pictures, I decided just to go to a REAL auto parts store (you know... the ones where they have BOOKS on the counter). It took all of 5 minutes to find a hose that would work-- 2004 Toyota Sienna V6, Gates #16476.

 

So this one is done. For my next project, I think I'll drain all the water out of the ocean so I can have a fish for dinner. Seems like the most challenging way to do it.

 

very nicely done.
looks good in there.