Believe it or not, we used duct tape over the ends to hold the sand in the steel tubing we bent for roll cages. We used slightly wet sand. We also used a Harbor Freight Chinese made 16 ton tubing bender. No kinks.
Beautiful pipe work. A proper Yank would have gone to the store "looking for a pipe bender" and tried it twice before deciding against the purchase. I hope you guys are enjoying the spring -- good to see you working outdoors. All the best from North Carolina, US (Redneckshire).
I saw a bit of pipe bending with sand as an apprentice 50 years ago in the drydock workshops. They used very, very dry sand packed into, in this case a 6" dia steel pipe, the area to be bent was heated cherry red and the plpe was bent with a 50 ton cylinder as far as I can recall. The sand had to be totally dry, if there had of been any moisture it would have turned to steam and could have ruptured the pipe. I'm thinking that they could bend upto 12" pipe like that.
I’ve heard of this method loads of times but I’ve never used it or seen it used. I’ve got a bag of kiln dried sand I bought for a panel beating bag which didn’t use all of it, I’ve been keeping it sealed up & dry, hopefully one day I’ll be able to try it out.
I've seen exactly the same technique as you describe used a number of times by a well known custom exhaust fabricator (Dave Kerby). He always plugs one end and fills the tubing with bone dry fine sand then plugs the top open end. Then the oxy-acetylene torch is applied to the bend area and the tube is bent by hand pressure only. As you say,any moisture in sand used for the 'hot sand method' would cause steam to eject the plugs at high speed.
That’s the weirdest thing I have just literally been having bother bending 5/16 copper fuel pipe for a 3hp amanco stationary engine I’m working on and came in and saw this. I managed to bend a 450 degree anti vibration loop 1st with suitable length left on each side , I’d been thinking this may be an issue but it bent round a 3” bit of exhaust in the vice no problem and I thought we’re away now but when I put the 1st 90 in with my cheep Chineese bender I always use for 3/16 brake pipe it kinked it straight away disaster. I went onto try several test 90s in other bits of scrap pipe and same results i annealed it with negligible difference, I think it’s due to the slack fit in the cheep bender iv ordered a new “swagelock” bender and hope for better results with that. I haven’t tried sand , salt or ice
Believe it or not, we used duct tape over the ends to hold the sand in the steel tubing we bent for roll cages. We used slightly wet sand. We also used a Harbor Freight Chinese made 16 ton tubing bender. No kinks.
John you need to be careful, you could end up with the reputation of being a massive bender! 🤪
Excellent work and thank you for the tips.
Beautiful pipe work. A proper Yank would have gone to the store "looking for a pipe bender" and tried it twice before deciding against the purchase. I hope you guys are enjoying the spring -- good to see you working outdoors. All the best from North Carolina, US (Redneckshire).
I saw a bit of pipe bending with sand as an apprentice 50 years ago in the drydock workshops. They used very, very dry sand packed into, in this case a 6" dia steel pipe, the area to be bent was heated cherry red and the plpe was bent with a 50 ton cylinder as far as I can recall. The sand had to be totally dry, if there had of been any moisture it would have turned to steam and could have ruptured the pipe. I'm thinking that they could bend upto 12" pipe like that.
I’ve heard of this method loads of times but I’ve never used it or seen it used.
I’ve got a bag of kiln dried sand I bought for a panel beating bag which didn’t use all of it, I’ve been keeping it sealed up & dry, hopefully one day I’ll be able to try it out.
I've seen exactly the same technique as you describe used a number of times by a well known custom exhaust fabricator (Dave Kerby).
He always plugs one end and fills the tubing with bone dry fine sand then plugs the top open end. Then the oxy-acetylene torch is applied to the bend area and the tube is bent by hand pressure only. As you say,any moisture in sand used for the 'hot sand method' would cause steam to eject the plugs at high speed.
Beautiful simplicity on the pipe bending, really enjoyed it. Thsnks John.
I've heard of the sand packed bending method but never seen the proper job being done.
I learn something every week here John , Great video .👍
old school tried and tested for generations you would be surprised how things can be made without large machines...
good inf oon the pipe bending....... hope people are taking note of this.
2024 give away 5
brill
That’s the weirdest thing I have just literally been having bother bending 5/16 copper fuel pipe for a 3hp amanco stationary engine I’m working on and came in and saw this.
I managed to bend a 450 degree anti vibration loop 1st with suitable length left on each side , I’d been thinking this may be an issue but it bent round a 3” bit of exhaust in the vice no problem and I thought we’re away now but when I put the 1st 90 in with my cheep Chineese bender I always use for 3/16 brake pipe it kinked it straight away disaster.
I went onto try several test 90s in other bits of scrap pipe and same results i annealed it with negligible difference, I think it’s due to the slack fit in the cheep bender iv ordered a new “swagelock” bender and hope for better results with that.
I haven’t tried sand , salt or ice
Nice job, John. A great demonstration of a very old technique. Mart.
Nice two parter John Fanbloodytastic 👍👨🏻🏭
Blast from the past technique, worked brilliant 👏
Good job on the pipe bending John.
Regards,
Duck
Bending copper pipe with sand takes me back to my plumbing apprenticeship many moons ago, those where the days. 👍
Both night caps were excellent John thanks.
👍👍👍