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I Forge Iron

Bending Tubing


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Okay, I'm making a floor lamp for my mom. I need to bend 3/4" pipe at a little angle so it points to her spinning wheel. I have heard of the sand method, BUT all the sand I have is wet and or has oil in it. I was wondering if there were any other ways to bend it. As easy as posible, please. I need to get this done. (would have had this done sooner if I got to the steel place)
Oh one more thing, I live in Georgia. I need to find a suspention shop (where they make car springs) and or a scrap yard that will let me buy and look around.
Thanks,
Steven

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If the angle is slight or the radius is wide you can bend it hot without any aid and tolerate a slight deformation.

You can also restrain the sides of the bend as you bend so the sides do not push out, maintaining a more round shape. Look at a tubing bender for more inspiration on this idea.

Wet sand can be baked out in an oven. Oily sand can also be baked out, but it smokes.

Phil

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You don't say how thick the wall of the tube is, that will have a bearing on how it performs when hot, and what angle is a little bend, a small amount of bend on a thick'ish' wall tube will only deform to oval slightly and could be acceptable.

If you do heat it and try to move it without filling and sealing in the sand, beware of the open end as heat will be concentrated out of the open end and onto anything that is in the way of the airflow(or steam if cooled)

Have fun

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Another way to bend pipe or tube hot is to bend it part way then work the oval back round then bend some more and repeat. Again this works better with thicker tube and the squeezing back round works MUCH better if you use flat power hammer dies, a flatter or top swage. A hammer just tends to dent the pipe rather than rounding it back up.

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A 3/4" conduit bender will normally yield a 6" radius bend.

A "Ridgid" brand "tri-stand" has a somewhat sharper radius bender cast into the top of the tripod, ... that works just fine for bending rigid conduit, ... or "black iron" pipe.

Stick a piece of 1/2" re-bar in the pipe, to a depth just short of the bend, if you want to concentrate the bend, and avoid "springing" the straight portion of the pipe.

Or alternatively, a larger diameter pipe, slipped over the length being bent, will have the same affect.


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