Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257



"ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings"

You do seem to run into problems often,dont you?

Lets see now...30 elbows at a 85p a piece,thats £25.50 hmmm! I would have
gone and bought the Pipe bender there and then.

George wrote:
"ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings"

You do seem to run into problems often,dont you?

That might be because I do this stuff six days a week.


Lets see now...30 elbows at a 85p a piece,thats £25.50 hmmm! I would
have gone and bought the Pipe bender there and then.

Hmmm. That's 25 for £5:99 at Wickes tosspot.

Are you the former 3rd Earl?

--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
George wrote:
"ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings"

You do seem to run into problems often,dont you?

That might be because I do this stuff six days a week.

Part timer, you have a day off?

Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in
message ...
George wrote:
"ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings"

You do seem to run into problems often,dont you?

That might be because I do this stuff six days a week.

Part timer, you have a day off?

Groan. Tell me about it.............


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

Well worth it. When you get the hang of it one of the more satisfying
skills.

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?

I used a cheap one at a pal's place once and it simply wasn't a patch on
my Record - which did cost over three times as much. It's possible the
Screwfix one is ok, though - especially if you're only going to use it for
15mm. Or perhaps check Ebay for a secondhand branded one?

--
*Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 00:01:47 -0000, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?

Same one I have got and I would avoid. It's so slack and sloppy that a
simple 90 by eye is difficult. It necks the tube badly as well.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

Erm, yes. I've seen work done with fittings like you've described, and the
equivalent with proper bends is so much nicer.

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?

But I'm afraid I can't help with that. The gert Record one we hired to take
care of the 28mm stuff seemed to work and was an impressive beast, but I'd
expect that's rather more than you're looking for :-)

cheers,
clive

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?


I've got the Screwfix one and found it good, but have never used a Record so
can't compare. As Dave P says, satisfying (when you've got the hang of it).
But be aware that there are times when only a fitting will do - you can't
bend pipe down to that small a radius.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

You've added around 15m effective length to the pipe. I hope you allowed for
that when making the flow calculations.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?

My opinion is that it is never a good idea for a professional to buy tools
sold on price. They will have been made in the Far East and very rarely as
well engineered as those sold under British, German or Swedish tool
manufacturers' names. Some of those may have been made in the Far East too,
but the inspection would be to European standards. Indian (particularly) and
Chinese steel is also of rather dubious quality.

Like Dave, I have the Record tube bender, which is a nice piece of kit.

Colin Bignell

In article ,
nightjar nightjar@insert my surname here.uk.com wrote:
My opinion is that it is never a good idea for a professional to buy
tools sold on price. They will have been made in the Far East and very
rarely as well engineered as those sold under British, German or
Swedish tool manufacturers' names. Some of those may have been made in
the Far East too, but the inspection would be to European standards.
Indian (particularly) and Chinese steel is also of rather dubious
quality.

Like Dave, I have the Record tube bender, which is a nice piece of kit.

A quick Google shows the Record available for about 50 quid.

http://www.tooled-up.com/static/PipeBenders.asp

Other good thing is spares are available for it.

--
*All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:

A quick Google shows the Record available for about 50 quid.

http://www.tooled-up.com/static/PipeBenders.asp

Other good thing is spares are available for it.

I bought my Record bender in B&Q about 7 years ago.
It was about £40 at the time. Had to check a few
boxes to find one which still had the formers in it
though. As Dave says, a delight to use.

Treat the formers with care though (they are a soft
alloy), and make sure the pipe is reasonably clean
before you bend it. Any grit on the surface can get
embedded in the formers, and damage subsequent bends.

Record was bought by Irwin, and I've heard a few
comments from tradesman that Record tools aren't the
same high quality anymore.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On 2 Feb, 06:52, "nightjar" nightjar@insert my surname here.uk.com
wrote:
Indian (particularly) and Chinese steel is also of rather dubious quality.

Colin Bignell

Perhaps that's why they wanted to buy Corus?

nightjar nightjar@ wrote:

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

You've added around 15m effective length to the pipe. I hope you allowed for
that when making the flow calculations.

You are assuming they were all in one pipe ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
nightjar nightjar@ wrote:

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

You've added around 15m effective length to the pipe. I hope you allowed
for that when making the flow calculations.

You are assuming they were all in one pipe ;-)

That was how I read it, although, on reflection, it could have been two or
more.

Colin Bignell

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
nightjar nightjar@ wrote:

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe
around several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90
degree fittings.

You've added around 15m effective length to the pipe. I hope you
allowed for that when making the flow calculations.

You are assuming they were all in one pipe ;-)

That was how I read it, although, on reflection, it could have been
two or more.

They were on 5 pipes, 2 of which will be boxed in and 2 of which are under a
floor.


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 00:01:47 -0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

Certainly, that many joints will look an right bodge IMHO. Not to mention
the flow restriction (again)...

Take a read back on thread(s) in here on pipe benders. The cheapo ones
don't come out very well. The branded ones much better I recently bought
the Hilmor GLM from Screwfix:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=63880

I do find it quite heavy and when bending 22mm quite an effort (yes I
have lubricated the rollers and pivots). 15mm is easy. Getting a sequence
of bends in exactly the right place and direction can be "interesting".
There is a very good guide on how to use a bender on the web somewhere.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:

There is a very good guide on how to use a bender on the web somewhere.

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/ot...ml#pipebending

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:10:10 +0000, John Rumm wrote:

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/ot...ml#pipebending

I think it might be "BillP's Pipe Bending Notes (PDF file)" from that
location, though it doesn't look that familiar when I read it.

BTW the two Copper Board links 404.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in
:

Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe
around several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90
degree fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

I've found pipe bending skills a bit beyond me, in muscle _and_ skill, or
maybe it's Norm next door's bender.

But perhaps 45 deg elbows would help (screwfix 26209-85); and even *I*
don't use solder rings any more, end feed are no harder to fit and _much_
cheaper; ie 15 mm elbows end feed 100 for 14 quid, solder ring 100 for 25
quid.

And my local discount place is a lot cheaper than that

mike

mike wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote in
:

Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe
around several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90
degree fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

I've found pipe bending skills a bit beyond me, in muscle _and_ skill, or
maybe it's Norm next door's bender.

But perhaps 45 deg elbows would help (screwfix 26209-85); and even *I*
don't use solder rings any more, end feed are no harder to fit and _much_
cheaper; ie 15 mm elbows end feed 100 for 14 quid, solder ring 100 for 25
quid.

Sounds like a very appropriate job for using plastic pipes actually - or
is there some reason not to?

David

Lobster wrote in
:


Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe
around several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90
degree fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

I've found pipe bending skills a bit beyond me, in muscle _and_
skill, or maybe it's Norm next door's bender.

But perhaps 45 deg elbows would help (screwfix 26209-85); and even
*I* don't use solder rings any more, end feed are no harder to fit
and _much_ cheaper; ie 15 mm elbows end feed 100 for 14 quid, solder
ring 100 for 25 quid.

Sounds like a very appropriate job for using plastic pipes actually -
or is there some reason not to?

If that reply was intended for me, and not MH, I've never used them; I
trust copper prolly only because I'm used to it and it's never let me down.

But I've got some runs 9n the loft that _would_ have been a lot easier
with plastic, but it was pretty new when I put them in, and I like to let
others learn from experience ;-)

mike

mike wrote:
Lobster wrote in
:

But I've got some runs 9n the loft that _would_ have been a lot easier
with plastic, but it was pretty new when I put them in, and I like to let
others learn from experience ;-)

Mm. Bit like Micro$oft Vista, eh? ;-)

David

Lobster wrote in
:


But I've got some runs 9n the loft that _would_ have been a lot
easier with plastic, but it was pretty new when I put them in, and I
like to let others learn from experience ;-)

Mm. Bit like Micro$oft Vista, eh? ;-)

Yup, I've given up all hope of cracking linux in my lifetime (after several
tears trying, and I can cope with DOS, so Gawd help _real_ innocents who
try it!).

But me 98SE which I love dearly, is beginning to run out of up to date
software, so I'll have to move on - prolly to ME or 2K, if I can work out
which one is better; I mist confess I'm a bit scared of moving away from a
DOS based system, you can solve a _lot_ of probs in DOS.

But I think I'll give Vista a swerve FTTB.

mike

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree
fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

Pipe benders are excellent tools: Much better that stupid springs etc...

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.d-...5fee0e5c98d465

Also, read this ( I have a copy printed off in my pipe-bender box. ):
http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/Pi...%20(BillP).pdf

The only thing to watch for is that the radius is much larger than a 90
degree elbow, so you can't make sharp bends round an obstacle.

--
Ron

On 2 Feb, 00:01, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
snip
Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kithttp://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=18255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

there's also an own brand (kennedy) which does 12+15+22mm about £38 at

http://www.cromwell.co.uk/KEN5886200K?popup=yes



Anyone used one? Any opinions?

I have the kennedy one & it does a good job for the few times I ned a
pipe bender, though:

-it does tend to pinch the join somewhat

-it is difficult to judge a bend angle exact & reinserting a bend to
adjust is an art in itself

-difficult to judge position for 2 bends in succession. I normally
cop out on this one & use a link solder joint.

IMHE most Cromwell (Kennedy is their own brand) do reasonable job at
a reasonable price. I've never had an outright dud, though possibly
for intensive hard use you might be better with the branded item.

HTH

"jim" wrote in message
ups.com...
....
-difficult to judge position for 2 bends in succession. I normally
cop out on this one & use a link solder joint.

I made up some sample pieces in pipe offcuts, which help with that. I put a
reference mark on the bender and lined that up with marks on the pipes, to
make a U shape and an S shape. I scratched the marks in, so they wouldn't
wear off, although obviously on a working pipe I use a fibre tip pen. Now I
can just offer the sample piece up, compare that to what I want and adjust
the distance between the marks I put on the pipe I want to bend.

Colin Bignell

Hi

The pipe bender is now on special offer on the Plumbworld site, it's
now only £19.98, here's the link:

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/235-16145

Hope this helps

Mark

The Medway Handyman wrote:

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings.

What where you doing, tying a not? ;-)

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

Certainly worth having, but remember these won't bend a tight radius -
so there are still times when only an elbow will do.

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

I have the Hilmor GLM one which does make very nice bends with very
little deformation of the pipe... order code 7762 at BES

Anyone used one? Any opinions?

Plastic pipe perhaps?


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:01:47 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe around
several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90 degree fittings.

Maybe it's time to buy a tube bender :-)

This seems to be a generic piece of kit
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...8255&ts=73868#

£23 at Toolstation, £29 at Screwfix or £34 at Plumbworld. Same spec &
picture.

Anyone used one? Any opinions?

Yup. Couldn't get a non-corrugated bend out of it and ended up sending it
back and bought a decent one. Some tools aren't all the same and pipe
benders seem to be one such. I think my good one is a Hilmor - it's
yellow.

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Hi All

Very complicated plumbing job today, re routing 15mm copper pipe
around several obstacles - ended up using around 30 solder ring 90
degree fittings.

I hope you've done your head loss calcs!!!!!!
Jon