Hydraulic pipe bender set up

[JonnyMac]

Ive got a standard cheap type of pipe bender, bottle jack pushing the die.
Its been great for doing larger pipes 40mm with a thicker wall 4mm... but ive just tried it on a 25mm pipe with a 2mm wall and its kinked. So before i go filling it with sand i wanted to get the general opinion on the rollers...
Pretty sure they wont turn when under pressure but i could take the paint off, put some grease on them and allow the pipe to slip a bit (and same with the die)...
Has anyone done that and seen an improvement?

 

[astroracer]

The only way I got one of those to work on small diameter thin wall was to go very slow and work the pipe through the rollers a bit. The problem is not the rollers but the lack of support on the sidewalls of the tube. ANY thin wall is going to kink at some point. The only option for smooth bends is a real tubing bender that controls the O.D. of the tube as it is drawn through the bender. Sand is not going to work in this case either because you just can't compress it enough, inside the tube, to have any real effect on keeping the tube from kinking.
Mark

 

[gungatim]

there is a mod you can do to make those things work much better, it's called a bender shoe, I think I got these pics off the pirate4x4 site so you'll have to do a search to see exactly how the guy makes them, the first pic is the best one showing the detail, not sure what the 2nd pic was demonstrating exactly but I had it saved in the same folder...

 

[paranoid56]

the second pic is showing the follower shoes so they dont dent the tube when using the kinker

 

[Superbec]

yes, lube will work , ptfe spray or grafit spray are good.

also when you fill it with sand compact the sand as tight as you can and weld the bungs . a thread to push it in is even better

get a torch and heat the tube , not red hot, but heat will help


little bit of this, little bit of that you'll get better results but don't expect miracles

 

[astroracer]

If you go the sand route PLEASE make sure it is very dry if you plan to put any heat on that pipe. Any moisture in the sand will turn your pipe into a bomb if it gets hot enough. Just sayin'...
Mark

 

[JonnyMac]

there is a mod you can do to make those things work much better, it's called a bender shoe, I think I got these pics off the pirate4x4 site so you'll have to do a search to see exactly how the guy makes them, the first pic is the best one showing the detail, not sure what the 2nd pic was demonstrating exactly but I had it saved in the same folder...

Ah yes. Id read about the second photo but didnt quite understand it, i get it now...
Ill have a think over the weekend... thanks.

 

[no704]

Not sure what ur shooting for. 25mm pipe with a 2mm wall and its kinked. Might try a 1" conduit bender?