I have bought a cheap pipe bender from a surplus store.
Whilst the tool itself is good quality, the instructions are very poory translated into English.
I know how the thing works and it produces some nice looking bends but one of the instructions is confusing:
"Please utmost ensure copper is sufficient temper"
Does this mean I should be heating the tubing with a blowlamp before bending?
sponix
It shouldn't be necessary if the pipe is reasonably new. You can also wipe a small amount of grease on the dies to reduce the likelihood of pipes crumpling.
Don't you just love foreign language manual translations! ;-)
It is probably saying don't try bending hard wall tube with it. The normal half hard (Table X) copper pipe should be fine. Having said that you can still anneal the tube first if you want to make it easier to bend.
No it just means please ensure the copper you try to bend is sufficiently malleable to take that bend radius without cracking. That isn't going to apply to central heating pipe if that's what you bought it for.
-- Dave Baker
Yup, just to bend normal 15mm and 22mm copper pipes.
Thanks to all who replied.
sponix
It might struggle with 22mm - I've heard of some cheap benders breaking. Annealing it would reduce the effort needed - but be a bore.
It seems quite robust so I'll give it a go and see what happens. Works fine on 15mm and does a neat job.
I only need it to do 3 or 4 'hops' over adjacent pipework and it was cheaper than buying the appropriate fittings..
sponix
Better too. Less flow restriction, and fewer joints are always a good thing. And a very satisfying skill to acquire.
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