Bending Tubing- Free plans for creating your own bender.

[checkedout]

Hey guys,
While planning one of my side projects, I realized that I needed to bend some thinwall aluminum tubing.

I have some 5/8" .063-wall 6061 aluminum tubing that I was working on bending.

I came across this site, which offers to send you plans to build your own tubing bender. If you have interest in bending aluminum, maybe this could be helpful for y'all. I've emailed, requesting the plans, and will share on my progress.

http://www.pro-tools.com/200k.htm

~ co

 

[gbritnell]

I have built my own tubing bender and offered the drawings to anyone who wanted them. Send me a pm and I will send you a PDF of the drawing. That way you can compare the 2 benders and see which one you like more.
Here's a link to some headers I made with my bender.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=6038.0
gbritnell

 

[checkedout]

Thanks so much for the reply gbritnell.
I'll send you a PM.

I appreciate you helping out the newbie.

I noted you've done some impressive work with the tools you've built.

Do you know of a link to the effective way to anneal aluminum pipe before bending?

I'll keep searching, but thought I'd ask.

 

[John Rudd]

Do you know of a link to the effective way to anneal aluminum pipe before bending?

When I did metalwork at school, we were taught to anneal aluminium by marking the surface with white soap, then heat with a torch until the soap markings turned black...

Still works for me today..

 

[checkedout]

Interesting... I'll try that method.

Do I need to get the whole piece evenly hot over the entire piece? or can I do it piecemeal (ie: can I get one part hot, and work my way down the length of the piece?)

I only have a smaller torch, so can't heat the whole thing evenly at once.

I do actually have a small electric kiln, I wonder if I could anneal the pipe with that.

What I've read mentions 775-800 degrees. I suppose I shouldn't have bought 6061 T6 huh?

Edit: Looks like McMaster-Carr has temp pens.
Maybe I should give that a try.