Laurence-RCU

How does one bend brass fuel tubing without getting kinks? I have 1/8,5/32 and 3/16.

Thanks in advance.

Laurence

Villa

Hi Laurence-RCU
I used to use a set of pliers and carefully made many slight bends. It was never pretty. Eventually I saw a bending tool for the 1/8" OD brass tubing and purchased it. I suppose Tower Hobbies has thase tools. I now use only Hayes fuel tanks and these require no brass tubing, so the problem was solved inderectly.

da Rock

You can make your own bending tool out of washers and a bolt.

You need two big washers and a stack of small ones. The stack is the size of the tubing.

Put the big washers on either side of the stack and bolt that new stack tight. Fit the tubing into the gap and slowly pull each side that sticks out. Pull down slowly. The big washers will keep the tubing from crimping out. It may crimp in if you pull too hard or fast.

Using the thing is like almost everything in a hand made hobby. You gotta perfect your technique. It works, because I still use the stack I made back in the 60s.

BTW, tubing quality matters some. It's nothing you can really control, but it's a good excuse when you mess up...

SBOT

I fill the tubing with fine powder like powderded sugar or flour. Kind of a pain to do; you have to fill tap, fill tap, over and over again, but it works very well.

O

jester_s1

A piece of weedeater line stuck in the tubing works too. It can be difficult to pull back out though if you make a really tight bend.

red head

Check out Dubro's tubing bender. Part #'s 785A & 786 B .
Also there is a set of springs that you put your tube in and then bend and it does not crimp the tube unless you bend it too far. I don't remember where I got the set, Tower I think. ENJOY !!! RED

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I have used fine fish tank sand and a socket chucked up in my vise. Works very well with no kinks or cracks and remember to flush it good after you remove the sand. The bender redhead mentioned works very well but I don't bend it often enough to buy the tool. When my wife worked at a hotel they used the fine sand in the casino ash trays and she would bring me home a bag of it once in a while. I'm sure something like salt would work too but have never tried it.

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

I have a set of bending springs. You can get them in different sizes to match your tubing and bend it any way you want to. Good Luck, Dave

JPMacG

My Feedback: (2)

I have had good luck softening brass tubing by annealing. Then I can usually bend it by hand without kinking.

I heat the tubing with a propane torch until it just starts to glow dark red, then I allow it to cool down naturally to room temperature and then bend it.

I'm not sure this is the best way to soften brass, and I'm not even sure that 'annealing' is the correct terminology, but it has worked well for me.

If you are using the brass for fuel tubing then having it soft is no problem. If you are using it for something structural then you may not want to soften it.

bingo field

I stick a drill bit with the smooth side in, and bend a little at a time. No kinks, and it's fairly quick. Just insert, bend a little, pull out a touch, bend some more, you will get the hang quickly.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

I use a spring stretched over the tubing.

opjose

If you stay in the hobby, you'll be bending a lot of tubing.

You can make your own tube bending device or buy a commercial tool for hobbyists.

Since the latter are inexpensive, I recommend the latter.

countilaw

This is what you are looking for:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXR791&P=0





Frank

Hydro Junkie

I have that set as well, works really well. The only problem I've had was bending the tube to the point it started to kink and became lodged in the spring. A little bit of reversing the bend and it pulled right out

Laurence-RCU

Many thanks for your replies.
Three cheers for "Yankee ingenuity"
Laurence

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I have a spring set too but I always forget to use it and end up just filling the tube with sand. I will have to dig out the spring set and stick it in the cabinet where I can find it next time.

raptureboy

LOL, GB thats my problem too. I was cutting out some gear doors for my P-47 the other day and I needed something that would cut a curve in fiberglass and suddenly after looking through my dremel bits I remembered that I bought this set of micro carbide cutters from harbor freight at least a yr ago. I finally started labeling my drawers with whats in them. I have the springs and the Dubro tubing bender http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXE228&P=7 also avail in 5/32

rgburrill

I had one of these. Note, however, the second item on that Tower Hobbies page in the "Other items of interest". Got rid of the springs and went with the Dubro Tube Bender and am much happier.

flyntruk

My Feedback: (5)

How you bend tubes ? The easyist way to do this is dishsoap and water... Mix 50/50 ... fill tube , plug ends , freeze.. remove when frozen , bend to what you want .. it will not crush, thaw and rinse, use ...

acerc

I use the bolt and washers method. But the biggest help is annealing, especially if the tube was bought outside of a hobby supply dealer. Hobby grade is softer than, let's say,  Ace hardware grade.

Rodney

To anneal brass, you do heat it to a red glow but then you quench it immediately in cold water, just the opposite of what you would do to most metals. Just ask any reloader, when we reload old rifle brass, you immerse them up to the neck in water, heat them till the neck turns red and then tip them over into the water to quench them. This softens only the neck area so that they can be reloaded easier yet does not take the temper out of the base.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

My shop is very small but it has a bathroom. I have kits and stuff, you understand stuff, in the bath tub and two tool boxes on the floor. Then I have my work bench with drawers, well two drawers, one got a bit heavy and the slide broke so it's on the floor. At least I can see what is in it. I tend to forget what I have in the bathroom tool boxes these days because I no longer work on my cars myself. I have a lot of small hand tools in that bathroom that I forget about. Most of my stuff I use all the time are in the main area where I work.
out understand, out of site, out of mind.

jmpups

My Feedback: (1)

Go to Micro-Mart, they have A spring tubing bender kit that covers all the sizes you mentioned for $6.25

warbird addict

I just heat half an inch or so either side of where I want to make my bend till it's starts to turn red and and gently bend away while keeping the heat to it but being a master HVAC tech I'm probably a bit more adept at it than most, with a little experimentation you'll get the hang of it, it's not all that hard to do.
There are some commercially produced mandrel benders out there but you are limited to how close you can make multiple bends in proximity to each other

ruthy

fill tubing with silica sand. rather than buy a 100 lbs go to someone that does sand blasting and get a quart of it probally free if you take a sack.