Ghetto tube bending tricks?

[RoadWarrior222]

Hey folks,

Anyone got any good hacks for bending small bore but bigger than brake line steel tube? I've gotta make a custom EGR tube from the existing one, or black iron pipe.

Thoughts at the moment, are, either fill it with sand.... or... stuff wire coat hangers down it... if I had a source of bearings or steel shot about the right size, I'd consider that too.

Got a small tube bender I picked up the other week, but it might not be heavy duty enough.

TIA for anything,


RW222

[shackwrrr]

Fill with wax and seal the ends, or sand. The trick is sealing the ends. Coat hanger trick sounds interesting.

Also most hydraulic places can bend 3/8, 1/2, 9/16, or 5/8 pipe pretty easily and cheap.

[Rrider]

Coat hangers or wire would leave gaps that would invite dents no? That sounds too easy..

[RoadWarrior222]

Yeah maybe, but I don't need absolutely perfect, just "not too flat"... depends how many coathangers you pack down there I guess...

Yah, I'm nervous about the sand thing, think it will be hard to pack tightly so there's no chance of a void at the wrong spot.

Hydraulic press would be nice... but if I have real problems I might cut hardwood dies and use a hydraulic jack against the bottom of the voyager.

[turbovanman²]

Use a torch.

[RoadWarrior222]

What, like bend it round a maglite? ...


... heh sorry, automatic translation from English

[RoadWarrior222]

This is provided I can get the EGR tube OFF... got a 5" by 90 degree sweep on the intake end to attack it... which of course means pipe wrenches don't fit... well neither would my big wrenches anyway, which are in 1/8 sizes and this bugger seems to be 1 1/16 or 27mm... guess I'll have to pull the whole EGR assembly... grrrr... trying to remove as little as possible in order to break as little as possible this project has been nickel and diming me enough already.

But in other news, turned up a flexible natural gas pipe, I have heard of those being used, thinking I might use that until it burns out.

[shackwrrr]

The accordion natural gas hose is used on a lot of egr systems stock.

[RoadWarrior222]

Damn, well that's no good for a bodge then, what would a rat rodder do ???

---------- Post added at 07:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:09 PM ----------

(Answer, cap the EGR off with a budweiser can, making sure the bud logo is visible.)

[zin]

I'm not sure how well the wax would work, but if it's non-compressible, it sounds like a good way to go... In a similar vein, you could fill it with solder if the wax doesn't work... BUT, I like the accordion tubing idea, seem way too easy... must be a catch!

Mike

[RoadWarrior222]

Solder might not be a good plan, in case you get lead fume poison the cat from residue.

[guyd_15]

I was a pipefitter for the Department of Defense and we used a similar method to this http://www.ehow.com/how_8768520_heat...el-tubing.html however we used wood cones we whittled that were larger than the pipe OD and tapered to smaller than the pipe ID. After you beat the cone in one end and begin filling the tube/pipe with sand. As the tubing/pipe begins to fill with sand continually tap the sides of the pipe to insure it compacts the sand once full of sand beat the other cone into place. Heat it with the oxyacetylene torch and make your bents. I would suggest making a pattern from a piece of wire to make your piece easier to duplicate. If you use this method the pipe will be less than 5% out of round.
Guy

[RoadWarrior222]

Thanks for the tips Guy.

Think I found a tool to help get it unbuckled, was in a store last night and spotted a pair of short handled channel locks. If they're not short enough they can get shorter figure if I get those set tight on it and hose clamp the handles together I might get somewhere.

[RoadWarrior222]

Tube bending fun is back on again... now the crankcase vent tube is wrong...

Don't even ask about the channelocks.... sucky manufacturing, need fixing before modding.

[johnl]

Years ago I made a motorcycle fork brace out of 1/2 steel tube, used packed sand method, worked fine. Yeah the trick is the packing; I then welded end caps on and then heated to red to make the bends. Make sure that the sand is dry and no moisture in the tube.

[guyd_15]

^ ^ ^ Just 1 more tip. Don't wait for it to get cherry red, often times you can start bending once the steel starts to get the blue color. In my past experience, the hotter the material the easier the bend, however this makes it easier to overbend unless your using a jig. And once bent it's hard (almost impossible) to remove the bend without flattening the tube or pipe.

I've used this process with steel, stainless, inconel, monel and hastaloy and with some of those mistakes can be a little costly!!!!!

Guy

[85boostbox]

Hey guy I'm surprised your not telling him to get the foldable meauring ruler to get the angle and measurements correct

[zin]

Solder might not be a good plan, in case you get lead fume poison the cat from residue.

You can still get lead solder?... Here in Kalifornia that's contraband!

Mike

[RoadWarrior222]

Well I had about 60% success... sand packed it, rammed it down, hammered a plug in, which I though I managed to get slightly below the level of the sand... only have propane torches, so went at it with them, took a while, went double fisted with the torches... anyhoo, got it glowing a nice cherry red but only about 2" and this was a 1.25" steel chair leg... had it in a gatepost... and with about 2ft of leverage on it... nearly pulled the gatepost down, but it wouldn't bend...

So I set it up between aaxle stands and let it heat up again got neanderthal on it and beat on it with a 3" diameter lump of iron and a 2lb hammer, needless to say it got a divot in it... but still had half the area of the tube unobstructed, so since the PCV hose is 3/8 or so further up, don't think it will matter.