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Tips
Tips

Tube Bending

ralph_s

Jedi Trainee
Offline
Received my SS hydraulic lines from Classic Tube yesterday. Any suggestions/hints/things to avoid when fitting & bending the tubes. Especially the shipping bends!! I did purchase a tube bending tool to help in the process. The SS tubes do appear to be pretty "stoudt"!!
 
I had to do a bunch of rebending to get things to line up with my stainless lines from Classic Tube. I did a mixture of using my bending tool and my fingers to to the bending.

Basic advice is to go slow, and just tweak a little bit at a time. The SS lines are harder to bend, so some force will be necessary but be careful!

I was able to get all my lines in place without too much trouble, just needed some persuasion in place. Lots of breaks when I got frustrated helped as well.
grin.gif
 
I think sand in the lines is a bad idea. Caution and going slow is the order of the day.
 
I do a lot a ss.1/4 tube bending for control valves.
Get a good quality bender,nothing worse than a bad tool it can make or break the job. Apply some silicone spray to the pipe and the bender , take your time ,think it thru, take your time.Oh did I mention take your time? well If I didn't Jack did.
 
I did some tube bending as described in the sample web album, may not be perfect, but functional and no kinks.

And all that talk about going slowly.......thats the key.

My lines were copper and copper-nickel, so they were easier to work with than stainless steel.
Photo : Several of the brake and fuel line results:
https://picasaweb.google.com/minorsands/mgmidget1973#5360712504275246498

Cheers,
 
Got it, let me summarize:
Take my time
Take my time
Get a good bender

Drew, would you like to visit central PA and the beautiful Amish country?? Oh, while your here you could fit my lines. Take your time before you answer!!!

Thanks all
 
ralph_s said:
Drew, would you like to visit central PA and the beautiful Amish country?? Oh, while your here you could fit my lines. Take your time before you answer!!!
I hope to never have to do that job again. Fussy and infuriating work. Good luck.
grin.gif
 
"I'm a DOCTOR, Jim... Not a PLUMBER!" :devilgrin:
 
Sounds like I may need a Dr after this exercise. Buffing up the old lines doesn't seem like such a bad idea now!!
 
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