Small dia tube bending with tight radius?

[RR5L]

Does any one know a place on Melbourne where I can get 5/16" (7.9mm) Stainless Steel or Mild Steel tube bent with a 90 °bend and a radius of no more than 16mm?

I have a tried a few tube bending companies but lowest they go is 25mm Radius

[hiline]

i could ask pete

the guy you used to work with yrs ago


i'm sure he'll do it for you

[RR5L]

Hey Ray,
Thanks for the offer, what I dont want is the tube to collapse as. Im guessing it will need a mandrel of sortsd to prevent that.

[hiline]

i'll ask him Sunday arvo when he gets back

[discowhite]

can you fit eg, fencing wire, up the pipe???
if you can find the right size wire and insert it in the pipe,
it will-should stop the tube from collapsing.(if its copper or alloy)

if its good quality SS tube then it should not collapse (only if you kink it). ive made alot of SS oil/air lines around the traps and havent had them
collapse.

try some test bits first.

cheers phil

[sheff]

The old trick was to fill the part you want to bend with molten resin or sealing wax. (bung a bit of paper in to stop it running straight through)
Make your bend, then simply heat to melt the wax out.
If you can make a former, deep groove, its even easier.
sheff

[RR5L]

Thanks guys, Good ideas. I remember someone also saying that filling the pipe with sand worked as well. But I like the idea of wax as it would be easy to remove afterwards.