pipe bending to make a shower 'rail'

It should look OK. However, on a tight bend, the bender seems to reduce the pipe radius a bit, so it isn't entirely smooth. I've never actually tried to bend chromed pipe myself, but my parent's house has some bent chrome for some surface mounted pipe in the bathroom which obviously had been bent just fine. I assume the plumber used a bender.

I'm thinking of doing the same for some bay window curtain poles. A 3m copper pipe bent to fit exactly the outline of the window, but painted matt black rather than chromed. Cost? 3 quid, instead of about 60 using "proper" poles and bay corner piece, and you get a continuous rod, rather than 3 sections with two nasty looking angle pieces.

Christian.

hmm - is there anything I can do to prevent it happening ?

It would not. If it is being used a curtain rail then if metal curtain rings are used the top section of pipe will have the chrome scraped off eventually. As this is out of sight, then it will probably be OK.

I thought that people in this group would have tried Speedfit.

Use plastic curtain rings.

Thanks for the reply. Now, my next quesiton - how do I attach the pipe to the wall, and where's the best place to get it ?!

Quite easy, BUT.....

the chrome plate will flake off. You would do much better to use cupro-nickel or stainless tube, bend it, and apply brasso and a small amount of elbow grease.

More than likely a good bet. But would the stainless tube require almost constant cleaning to keep it looking shiny and nice ?? 'Stainless' is never as stainless as I imagine it....

It just needs wiping over every so often, to get rid of water marks, that's all. Chrome needs this too!

________________________________________________________________ Sent via the PAXemail system at paxemail.com

"It would not." [..]

do you ever read posts before you jump in and give the wrong advice ?

read the post again...

"how easy would it be to take some 14mm (ish) chromed pipe and bend it into a strange shape with a pipe bender "

if he bends the pipe the chrome will crack

Les

However, I have definitely seen bent chrome pipe. Some was fitting to my parent's bathroom. I didn't see it done, but am assuming a bender was used.

Christian.

I don't need to as I have been dealing with chrome pipe for decades. Nothing like being given misinformation by an amateur.

You've just made a mistake and mis-read the OP, that's all. Everyone does, sometimes. Nothing to get het up about!

________________________________________________________________ Sent via the PAXemail system at paxemail.com

Apart from the bending damaging the chrome, how are the curtain rings going to get around the support you're going to need when it changes direction. The commercial kits that do this have a slot in the bottom, why not just buy one of those? I saw one in John Lewis that could do a variety of shapes, I think it was ~£40.

Hello NC

You can't bend chromed finished, the chrome just flakes off at the slightest pressure and change in the pipe. These things exist, but only because they've been chromed /after/ bending.

Might get away with normal copper pipe, then using a car spray paint to colour it silver afterwards. Best practice on a scrap first, though. :)

Have you ever seen the curtain rails they use in hospitals? The curtains can go round the corners under the supports because there is a slot extruded into the rail at the bottom which takes the runners. Since any supports are on the top edge, the runners are free to run unencumbered.

I've recently installed a new kitchen radiator and for looks I used chromed copper pipe. It bent to 90 degrees (using a pipe bender) without any flaking at all. The chrome at the bend did however show slight signs of a satin finish afterwards.

Hello Steve

Oop, I stand corrected. Maybe they're using a different composition now?