Bending 10mm alu pipe ... need some help!

[Muzza80]

Hi folks ...

Firstly, this is not strictly a plumbing question however I'm guessing there are loads of people on here who will be ablt to help with my question?

I have a alu tube with ID of 10mm that I need to bend slightly, I have seen internal bending springs on ebay and other sites which are pretty cheap but need to check exactly what I should be doing ... Do I need to heat up the pipe first and wont the spring just get jammed inside the pipe?

Thanks in advance!

 

[clf-gas]

You can form a slow bend in aluminium with your hands, using thumbs to form bend required. for more intricate or faster 90 degree bends a small former is used.

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

We dont know the thickness of the walls of your pipe or what you intend using it for!

With this in mind the only sure way to do it is to stick a rag in one end then fill the pipe with kiln dried sand.

Tap the pipe carefully to tamp the sand down then stick a rag in the other end. Your pipe will then have full internal support while you bend it.

The more you tamp the sand down the better support it will give and the less likely you will be to get a kink.

 

[ChrisR]

If you do use a spring, you over-bend the pipe a bit, then when you bend it back to the angle you want, the pipe releases the spring.

 

[Agile]

With such a small pipe an external spring would be safer if you can find one.

Ali can crack if over bent!

 

[TicklyT]

Another filler for tube bending is an alloy such as Wood's metal. This melts at about 70 degrees C (eg in boiling water). Fill your tube, bend it to shape then warm it up to melt out the Wood's metal for re-use.
http://www.goodfellow.com/csp/active/static/A/Woods_Metal.HTML
I used lead in the same way once to bend a small bore tube.