Hello,
I thought I'd ask before I try because it's too expensive to waste! Can chrome plated 15mm copper pipe be bent, either with a spring or a proper bender or does something terrible happen to the chrome plate?
If I have off cuts and take them to the scrap yard, does the chrome plating carry a premium or is it just bundled with "plain" copper?
TIA
Fred wibbled on Saturday 02 January 2010 22:58
I asked this last year and people said it bent fine. I'll find out in due course. They also said the appearance of the chrome might change on the bend, but it shouldn't flake off.
If you want the fanciness of chrome, you probably want to use a pipe bender rather than a spring - the latter would leave ripples, unless the bend is hidden.
It bends in a pipe bender just fine.
I know that copper with brassware on it gets a lower price than plain copper so I'd expect chromed copper to be treated the same .
Both work fine, provided you can bend copper tube using either method you'll have no trouble with chromed tube.
It is fine, so long as you do it slowly, and dont make the bend radius too tight. A better solution is to bend copper pipe to shape, then take it to be chrome plated.
It'll be classed as mixed copper or brazier copper. This is 30% or so cheaper than plain copper. I've dealt with 3 scrap dealers, they all only pay for mixed copper. It has to be brand new, or look brand new to get plain copper prices. One joint, or a bit of solder on it, and it is mixed. I thought about sorting out all my copper last time I weighed in, but it was just not worth the extra £30ish I may have got. Alan.
The chrome plated stuff I got from Screwfix a few years ago was hopeless any bend over about 10 degrees and the pipe just snapped. The stuff from wickes I have never had a problem with.
What actually happens to scrap copper plain and mixed .I guess it gets melted down but does melted down plain get put to a different use than melted down mixed ..I'd have thought the impurities would rise to the surface and get skimmed off but probably doesn't work that way ...any experts on melted copper in today? :-)
The complete pipe just snapped ???
No, the mixed copper does not have 'impurities' float up (well, it does in small amounts, the various oxides will float), the zinc, lead and other elements in brazier copper will mix with the pure copper giving a different alloy. This resulting alloy, will, in most cases, result in a poorer quality, and can only then be reused in a copper alloy such as brass, gunmetal or other Cu based alloys. It can never be reused for copper pipe. Alan.
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This happened to me with some standard plain copper pipe so it's almost certainly not the fault of the chrome layer.
I have some dog-legged chrome pipe in use and there's no sign of the chrome cracking but I think there might be a limit to the size of bend possible before the chrome separates or cracks.
Cic.
I put some mild S bends in a pair chrome plated pipes a few years back using a spring. The plating is still doing fine... The pipes were from BES I think...
Gordon
It will not leave ripples.
A better solution is buy quality chrome pipe and bend it.
Copper is used because it's ductile and electrically conductive.It's alloys are less so.
So in practice, mixed copper scrap won't re-enter the food chain for copper, but it will go for use in casting alloys (various grades of brass) instead.
Thanks. I wanted to fit a new radiator but SWMBO would prefer visible horizontal runs of chrome rather than boxing out the skirting board to hide copper. I wanted the pipe to continue into the other room, which means the tee from the bottom pipe needs to go up and over the top pipe; the only way I can see to do this is with a bend, hence my question. Unless anyone can think of a better way to do this?
I never knew that. I wasn't sure whether the chrome was more expensive than the copper and hence would have got a better price; obviously not. I once took a bag of copper pipe to the scrap yard; all the pipes were bare except one had a stuck lock shield valve on the end. They told me the whole lot was mixed copper because of this. Next time, I'll cut it off before I go! I don't know why they couldn't have weighed the other pipes separately.
I was interested in the other reply that mixed copper gets melted down and used in alloys. I naively thought there was a production line where men with angle grinders cut off all the joints before the pipe was melted.
Thanks again.
Beware of Focus, who used to sell (and may still do) something that looked like chrome but was in fact steel, which quickly blunted my cutters. Now I always check the inside of the tube before I buy ;)
Are you sure it wasn't a clothes rail someone put back in the wrong place?
IIRC I bought two, so unless someone put two clothes rails... hold on, I suppose a Focus employee could have filled up the wrong space with the wrong item. There's a thought!
? 2010?1?3????UTC+8 ??6?58?11??Fred? ?
I'm the sales manager f King Joins Industrial Limited. The manufacturer of chrome plated steel pipes in China. We could sure that the chrome plated co oper pipe can be bent. It's no problem. Even the chrome plated steel pipes which we produced can be bent to shapes. They are not copper pipe but steel pipes. And it's no problem to bent. The copper pipes are more soft, so we can sure that the chrome plated copper pipes can be bent.
Or if you have any questions, welcome you to contact with me. My E-mail add ress is snipped-for-privacy@kingjoins.com
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