Bending Stainless Steel Tubing By Hand

This isn t an exact number because of the differences in temper and metal quality.

Bending stainless steel tubing by hand.

1 to 180 bending range. Homemade hand bending may not be the best technique for really short radii. Stainless steel hard lines are not too difficult to bend but flaring them is. As you bend a stainless steel sheet the bend area cold hardens increasing the amount of pressure required to finish the bend.

For example 1 x 1 18 gauge steel tubing can be bent to a minimum diameter of about 30 before it starts to kink. For show cars and street rods the polished look of stainless steel is. They help to prevent damage from bending such as crimping scoring and flattening. And there are a couple of ways to cheat that number even lower.

Tubing benders can help to bend aluminum tubing for oil and hydraulic fluid. For example piece of one inch pipe will seem to have a greater diameter than a piece of one itch tubing. Tubing benders can help create smooth tight radius bends in tubing such as soft copper aluminum and light wall hydraulic tubing. Generally tube is measured by the outside diameter while pipe is measured by the inside diameter so pipe may appear thicker than tubing of the same measurement.

Another method of bending stainless steel tubing is to use a mandrel bending machine which is a flexible insert that fits into your tubing bending it without allowing it to collapse internally. This added hardness increases the amount of force needed to place a bend on a stainless steel sheet. Rigid metal pipe and tubing tend to be made of copper steel stainless steel or aluminum but are not the same thing. You need a really good flaring tool to make good quality double flares with stainless steel tubing.

Available in 1 8 1 4 5 16 3 8 and 1 2 in as well as 3 6 8 10 and 12 mm tubing sizes. Swagelok hand tube benders feature roll dies reduce bending force and tube ovality compared to conventional slide block design. This method tends to damage the tubing however.