Bending copper pipe - it creased

There was also a "plated" steel tube in use around then arround the time of the Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) sanctions. I doubt if any is still extant. On average it lasted a couple of years.

I hired a Record bender for doing our CH - there's a 28mm gravity circuit in there. I was impressed with it - it worked very well.

Grr. They made good heavy tools. Who makes G-clamps as good as Record ones?

Clive George coughed up some electrons that declared:

Mine is a Forge Steel from Screwfix. It does the job, although it really does need clamping down. Not a very smooth action but no complaints on the finished pipe.

They do. Mine just does 15 and 22mm. I tried to hire a 28mm one, but HSS only seemed to have one shared across the whole South East, and it was booked out for ages. In the end, I did the 28mm bends by annealling, using dry sand fill and bags of builder's sand as the bending cushion, and it worked remarkably well. (I have an old book on working copper, and it gave the details.)

Getting better.

A tight roller can cause problems.

Check that the small roller on the bender can turn.

May need to slacken bolt a little, and a small amount of lubrication (on roller bolt) would help.

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You sometimes need the first slight movement of the bending arm to push the pipe fully into the former - not necessary if the pipe is an easy fit in the former.

Cic.

Now you mention it my pipe benders worked fine until my brother borrowed them.

I have just phoned him and asked if he tightened the rollers up when he borrowed them. Guess what, he did.

Adam

The tube is quite a snug fit into the formers on my Hilmor bender, if you don't make sure it is fully home you get crinkles. "Snug" as within tolereance but each bit at opposite, to make the fit tight, extremes.

"Lubrication" as in wipe over with a just oily rag. No visible or excess lubricant just enough to make things slide that little bit easier. Helps reduce the amount of effort required if nothing else. B-)

I have to say I've used a spring where I can generate enough leverage to bend the pipe, otherwise I've used end-feed elbows. At one time you could get a long swept elbow, but I can't seem to find any in the likes of Screwfix etc.

It's a Hilka.