Bending brake tubing
 

Ok I have bent this stuff before but only on a larger scale as I have been a mechanic for 20 years but I for the life of me can not seem to get the nice tight bends withut kinking.

I check the sticky but only seen posts pertaining to aluminum tubing.


So some pointers would be great.

I thought about just ignoring the kinks and filling them with braze etc and smoothing them out but this might add unneeded weight.

There are tube benders at places like checkers/pep boys, etc. You can also just use wooden dowels to wrap the angles you want. Sometimes the angles are just too tight and you will get kinks.

"thumbsup"

Got it, and yes I have a tube bender. It just does not allow me to bend the tighter radiuses that I am hoping to get.

Hi Rat1

You might want to try something like this I have used them in larger sizes but was unaware you could get them this narrow.

Tube bending springs

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/i...ml&CatalogBody

I have used those springs before and they seem to work pretty good but if you are going for really tight bends you may still have kinking troubles and sometimes getting the spring off can be a pain in the ***.

At work I use differant size sockets to do bends. 17mm is my favorite. If you look under the clod section. I have a post about my tuber, another newb tube, that is completely done out of brake tubing. My buddy used to sockets and some nuts and a wratchet to make his own DOM bender. pretty cool tool radias's just over the size of a quarter.

sand mandrel
 

To make tight bends, crimp one end of the tube closed, fill it with sand, tap it on the floor to pack it in, then crimp the other end. After making your bends just cut off the ends and dump out the sand :) .

this will work you could fill with water and freeze it also.8)

i would worry about the line snapping due to cold and the fact that ice doesnt move like sand. I have never tried the sand idea, but it sounds like a good idea.

matt
cincy

I think the sand deal would work nicely!

MAC tools makes a real nice bender.

I picked up one from the local NAPA and it'll do 2" radius on 3/16 steel brake line with no problem.

I tried this method and it worked great. Note to self though.....don't use the sand out of the cat's litter box....:shock: :oops:

i tried the sand method today. it worked great! a little time consuming ,but a kinkless bend is worth it.