"Lyndell Thompson" wrote in message
m...


"Garrett Fulton" wrote in message
...


"Lyndell Thompson" wrote in message
m...

I have a similiar dilema. Refrigeration units that store salads and foods
with high acid content, eat up the condensate line (condenser high side
line
that dissipates the drain water in a pan). The radius is like you say
about
two inches and all the benders I can find are larger radius than that. Oh
and I need 180 degree bends to get as much surface area as possible. If I
lose a complete pass, due to space, it will not get rid of the water and
we
now have a water leak to worry about. Harbor Freight has one that
works........but mine leaves a pretty good scar on the tubing on a 180
degree bend, and all the others on the shelf look identical with no
difference in quality. It seems the guide is too loose and crimps the
tubing, For the money it is not bad. I am half tempted to fashion a
bender
out of some heavy wood using a 3/8" core box bit and woodworking router
(cutting the flutes as deep as possible). Another posibility is to stack
large flat washers between two flat pieces of steel and bend away. This
may
require dissasembly for each bend but get you out of a bind. Good luck and
tell me what you came up with.
Lyndell


----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve B"
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 9:35 PM
Subject: Bending copper tubing


I have some 3/8" copper tubing that I need to bend at a tight radius. Like
2". I have the spiral bender, and another hand held type, but can't
find either. Next week, I gotta get organized. In the meantime what's
the best way to bend it? I've heard of putting it full of sand. If I do
that, do I bend it around something round, or just bend it slowly and
cautiously?

Steve

I have bent 3/8" and 1/4" copper tube to some tight radii by wrapping the
area to be bent closely with small copper wire and bending by hand.
Carefully.

Garrett Fulton


Good idea, I will try it. I could leave the wire on it for extra protection
and wear resistance. 14 guage solid wire?

I always used .040 stainless lockwire. Don't see why the 14 guage copper
wouldn't work, but haven't tried it.

Garrett Fulton