bending brass tube

[obijuan]

ok i didnt see anything worth a damn when i searched for this.

how do i bend a 3/16 brass soft tube without a kink and a 1/4 inch radius? for yall school kids about the radius of a dime.
i can easily make my own bender but the kinking part is whats really messing me up. i think its cause my bend fulcrum isnt shaped like the 3/16.

[sloppy]

you have to anneal it. here is a nice article on a boat site about they also touch on the fill it with sand method
http://www.rcboataholic.com/faq/bending_tubing.htm

[_BEN_]

Another option

Go to your local hardware store and pick up a tightly wound spring that will fit perfectly around the tube you want to bend.(Or you could just buy the tool. http://cgi.ebay.com/Refco-BS77-Coppe...QQcmdZViewItem)

Then bend the tube around a object that is your desired radius.

The spring will support the tube from all sides preventing it from kinking.

[sloppy]

have you ever used one of those things the suck they dont even do good bends on steel. I stand by what i said.

[obijuan]

this is soft brass so that might work

['83 chevy]

just anneal it like says in that link. When I was building my first rc boat, I kept kinking the stuffing tube, I annealed it like they said in that link and it bend like butter with no kinks

[Thorsteenster]

Any brass bends much smoother after a little mapps treatment. Anneal and fill with sand if need be. The springs look cool but I've heard they suck.

[obijuan]

ok sand first then heat it? will the sand melt or anything? im only doing this with a microtorch not MAPP.

if i cant get it to bend right can i get a steel rod to adhere to this stuff properly?

[Thorsteenster]

I'd heat treat it, let it cool, then fill it with sand and bend it to the desired shape. I'm not sure about the brass to steel, all I've done is brass to brass.

[sloppy]

brass to steel is not a problem just use more heat on the steel.

[roninwarrior555]

or you could cap one end and fill it with water and cap the other end and freez it. thats how the bend for makeing trumpets.

[mir4dor]

Originally Posted by roninwarrior555

or you could cap one end and fill it with water and cap the other end and freez it. thats how the bend for makeing trumpets.

That's what I was going to say. You must have seen that tv program called "how it's made" ?

[Harley]

Originally Posted by mir4dor

That's what I was going to say. You must have seen that tv program called "how it's made" ?

The were trombones not trumpets

Great show BTW!

[roninwarrior555]

my bad i dated a girl who was in the school band and she played the flute. ya i like watching how it's made gives me a few ideas....

[ALTERED IMAGE]

I know I used to bend alot of 1/8 brass when I was first starting out with tubers. I used a bender made by Dubro. I believe they have a few different sizes. I know that the rc airplane guys use it for their linkage and fuel lines.

[Flip]

Heat the tube with a torch where you want it bent, let it cool and pack the tube with table salt. Bend the tube and soak the tube in warm water to remove the salt.