Pipe bender question

G'day fellas, I've just recently bought a pipe bender witht the intent of making some sidesteps. The problem is when I try to bend the pipe I end up with these crappy kinked looking bends, particularly if I try to have any significant kind of bend. I know that if you want a perfect bend you need a mandrel bender. But is this the best I can expect? this picture is two testers i did, and you can see how crap the bottom one is. the top one is ok but I think it is only because it was about 5mm wall and I packed it with sand. I think if I tried to bend it any more it would kink. Can someone help me and give me some hints? I'm stressing thinking I've just wasted my money on this bender when I should have just got it bent up in town.

You should have bought a tube bender, one that uses a die and mandrel to hold the shape of the tube, they are far more expensive than a pipe bender, which is really just for putting a few kinks in, or bending some fencing in 6mm gal,etc.

Also 3mm D.O.M tubing is best, rather than E.R.W tubes and pipe. Sand packing helps but messy and you need to pack in it hard with wooden plugs.

To be honest I don't think you'll get the quality of bend you were hoping for.

If you are only doing a few bends, muck around and fill it with sand, for any tighter bends just buy some weld on bends or elbows from your steel supplier. That's all mine are, you will get a much tighter bend with weld on elbows too.

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that. If I cant get it I'll do that. I only really need a few45 degree bends for the design I'm doing I just want them to look good. What is the difference between D.O.M and E.R.W? Thanks fellas.

Not only can you fill it with sand, but you can use an oxy/acetylene torch to warm the metal up for the bend too. Doing both should give a nice smooth curve unless you go too far.

Don't overheat the thing. Liquid sand is a pane.

Haydos said:

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that. If I cant get it I'll do that. I only really need a few45 degree bends for the design I'm doing I just want them to look good. What is the difference between D.O.M and E.R.W? Thanks fellas.

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Best to do a Wiki for a more factual definition, but D.O.M is Drawn over mandrel tubing, I'm not sure if this is cold or hot formed, but the result is a tube that has a higher tensile strength.

E.R.W is electric resistance welded tube, and is formed cold then has a welded seam. Much cheaper and not as strong. It's what exhausts and steel furniture are made from.

Old.Tony said:

Don't overheat the thing. Liquid sand is a pane.

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I see what you did there......very good.

Oh yeah, I only just got that. I'm very clever. The oxy is a good hint. I've got that so I'll do that too. I just did a few more tests and had some better results. I think I had the rollers in a bit close.

Haydos said:

I think I had the rollers in a bit close.

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You beat me to it...if you do end up using the steam pipe bends make sure you sleeve them and v them before you weld..

cheers mark.

Looks to me like you might have the guide blocks in the wrong position. Have you got the right die too? Surely you can get a better result without mucking around using sand etc. Especially if you only want to go 45 degrees?

Just what it looks like from experiance......

EDIT: Good one dickhead (self).... read the full thread! Looks like you sorted it.......

Old.Tony said:

Don't overheat the thing. Liquid sand is a pane.

Click to expand...

Tony.... You are so quick mate, you smashed that one out........