Subject: Re: tube bender question

From: [email-masked] (Kurt Schaefer)
Date: 4 Dec 1996 19:19:30 GMT

I have an OxyA rig, and could piece together a press (in a pinch.)  
Tell me more about these dies. 

   -Kurt

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 5 Dec 1996 01:54:01 GMT

Several people have asked me how I made my bender dies for a hydraulic
press so here goes. I start with a piece of pipe big enough around to make
a decent radius. The ones that I've made so far are for 1/2 and 3/4 black
pipe. The 1/2" die was made from a piece of 3" pipe and the 3/4" die from
a piece of 4" OD light wall tubing. I cut a piece off that was as long as
the pipe to bent is around. In other words the 1/2" die was made from a
piece of 3" pipe (about 3 1/2" OD) that was 7/8" long. It is nice to be
able to cut the pipe long and face to length on a lathe but you can get by
just grinding it until it is parrallel. I then cut the resulting ring of
pipe in half so that I finished with a halfmoon shape. Then take two
pieces of plate or strap that is wide enough to go from two ends of the
half ring and stick over the rounded end at least half the thickness of
the pipe that is to be bent. For the 1/2" die decribed this would be at
least 2 1/4" wide but I think that I used 2 1/2" because it is easier to
find. The plates should be a little longer than the half ring  OD. Mine is
something like 4 1/2" for the 3 1/2" ring. I then take and weld the plates
to the half ring being carefull to keep the one edge of the plate even
with the ends of the half ring. I use several beads to fill up the corners
where the plates join to the half ring until it is fairly rounded. It
doesn't have to be perfect just get it fairly close. I then find a piece
of strap  to put on top. I cut it the same length as the OD of the half
ring. and weld it in place. I then put a short length of pipe on top of
the die to help center and stabilize the die on the press ram. It is a
fairly loose fit on the ram but it does the job. When all the welding is
done then it is time to grind. I don't round the plates on the sides as
they help to locate the die on the pipe. All that welding will have bent
the corners in and they will have to have a fair amount ground off. I just
keep grinding until a piece of the pipe I want to bend will just fit in
the die and touch bottom. I also grind the protruding corners so that they
slope out making them loose on the pipe. If you don't do this you may have
trouble getting the die off the pipe after you bend it. This is almost
harder to discribe than to build. I hope I haven't lost anybody. Here is a
acsii picture that may be clearer.

             |              | 
             |              |                                   The pipe
that goes onto the ram.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX                    The piece of strap that goes
on top. 
| .                                      . |                     The dots
are the half ring.
|  .                                    .  |
|    .                               .     |
|        .                      .          |
|              .         .                 |
|                                          |
|________________________|

        |          |
        |          |
   XXXXXXXXXXXX                 The top pice of strap can stick over the
side allowing 
     X              X                   the use of a standard width piece
of strap.
     X              X
     X              X
     X              X
     X              X
     X              X
     X _______ X
     X   W  W   X
     X W      W X
     X              X

 I have a frame made of two pieces of 2" sched. 80 pipe with two pieces of
strap welded between that I use with the dies. It looks something like
this.

PPPPPPPPP                    The P's are the pipe and the S are the strap.
 S             S
PPPPPPPPP     

 I have succesfully bent pipe up to a little over 90 deg with these dies
with a minimum of crushing. One thing is that you need to leave something
like 2 or 3 inches per side of slack between the frame pipes and the dies.
If you get this spacing to small it will start crushing the pipe as you
start getting closer to 90 degrees. The frame could be made adjustible but
I was just trying to get some pipe bent and didn't take the time. If you
have a welder and a good angle grinder it doesn't take to long to make
dies like these. I don't know that I would want to make dies much bigger
than 1 1/4 pipe because it would take a lot of weld to fill up the
corners. They also don't have to be made from anything very heavy. The
overall design lends considerable strength. The side plates can be made
>from  1/4" stock and the pipe can be really thin. On my 3/4" die I used a
piece of badly rusted tubing that was less than 1/8" wall. By the time you
get all the weld on it it's not going anywhere. 

 Have fun and let me know if you have any questions.                  

   Wayne Cook

Quality is like buying oats,
        if you want nice, clean, fresh oats you must pay a fair price.

However, 
        if you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through
the horse...
                          
That comes a little cheaper...

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Dec 1996 04:14:24 GMT

The first question that I've got is do have or have access to a
hydraulic press. One made from a little bottle jack will work. If you do
have access to one and access to a welder I can try to describe an easy
way to make dies for it that can bend black pipe without kinking. 

  LWC

   Wayne Cook

  Quality is like buying oats, if you want nice, clean, fresh oats you
must pay a fair price.
However, if you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through
the horse...
                                     That comes a little cheaper...

---

From: [email-masked] (fritzs)
Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 05:52:42 -0600

Look into the possibility of purchasing a Hossfeld Metal Bender (Winona,
MN.)This machine can bend tubing cold  without kinks by supporting the tube
completely.  They have a promotional video out also.  Also bends flat iron,
cold roll, tubing, just about anything.  This machine is really cool. 
Obviously, too expensive for just one project, but worth looking into. 
Email me for more info.

-- 
Member: MN Genealogy Soc; searching for: Beyer, Beier, Porter, Stuneck,
Danner, Pomplun, Minnich, Ludwig.