Hi All

Is there anyway of forming bends in aluminium tube (e.g. B&Q aerial pole)? These are for a cooling system. Would the Machine Mart bender (link just make a mess of it?

And when I say the Machine Mart bender I meant the tool not the bloke behind the counter in the S****** branch!

Wyn

[Edited on 30/10/08 by lsdweb]

swansea branch, was that?

erm, which pipe bender do you mean? your link was just a link to machinemart.co.uk


[Edited on 29/10/08 by blakep82]

You want to know if the bender at the Swansea Machine Mart will make a mess of your pole? Don't think I'd give him the opportunity!

The answer is yes, they're useless with any thin walled tube, and not that brilliant with heavy stuff either.

Neil

Hi Wyn, I use a cheap hydraulic bender for all my chassis tubes which are 25mm and 31 mm with a 1.5mm wall however I do need to fill the tube with sand to prevent the tube from collapsing.


Jools

Its a pipe bender not a tube bender.

For that swg of tube I doubt you will get it done without a mandrel bender.

Thanks guys - I thought it wouldn't work!

Did I say Swansea btw.....

I like your locost thinking

Wyn,

What dia pipe work are you trying to make?

Lots of people have used 15 and 22mm copper pipe and solder ring fittings to make up their cooling pipes. You can use a straight solder ring coupler at each end to provide a good sealing point for hose clips too. The copper also paints quite well so can be made to look decent in the engine bay.

second vote for copper pipe. spray it up black and you don't notice it. Plus you can run normal coolant hose off the ends for navigating bits where making it in copper would be a pain.

Cheers
Nigel

If you use copper pipe in any size you can bend them by anealing and sand loading, and rather than waste a fitting on the end for a hose stop just solder on a compression olive, works well. If you feel soldered joints aren't strong enough silver solder them instead.

Thanks all.

I'm looking for the lightest way of plumbing the cooling system so I won't be using copper!

I'll find somebody with a mandrel bender.

Ta

Wyn

Wyn,

Might not be the most locost route, but Car Builder Solutions will bend and weld ally tube to your requirements and form suitable sealing beads on the ends too.

Thanks Nick - useful to know!

I'd better get my chassis sorted first!