Who has used tubing benders?

I need to bend a few pieces of tubing with a max. diameter of 1". The material will likely be stainless steel with a 0.065" wall thickness.

Will the same dies work if the material is changed to mild steel or aluminum?

Which manual benders do you recommend?

The bender needs to be on the bottom of the budget scale.

Should be able to pick up a conduit bender at the hardware store for $30 or so.

Call electrician company.
They bend conduit all day long.

Might be able to have it done while you wait at the shop.

Benders start about $100 and go up. (to handle multiple sizes and metal type and wall thicknesses)

Internal flexible internal mandrels are more spendy.

So cost to have it done once, cost to be able to DIY more than once.

On stainless steel, an inch in diameter and over a sixteenth of an inch wall thickness? I can't imagine any hand bender even budging that. The conduit bender idea might work on mild steel. If the bend is at all severe and has to maintain the same diameter all the way through, some sort of mandrel would also be needed.

^^^ Yeah, that's going to be tough. I think you're looking at a hydraulic bender for that size.

I have used Swagelok and Rigid tubing benders but 1/2” is the largest I usually bend. I am not sure where you can get 1” benders for cheap. If you find them they will be expensive. I’d try to find somewhere to take the tubing to be bent for you.

Is this a one time use thing? Or is it going to be a regular occurrence?

If you’re only going to need it a few times, look at Pipe fitters, Plumbers or Electricians.
Look at ones from a larger shop- they probably have the tools.
Take a look at a muffler shop as well.

You’d be amazed at what a case or two of beer can get you!

Some muffler shops have benders that use an internal mandrel. A local shop where I am has dies as small as 1". This is where I would go.

You could sand pack the tubing, and bend it on a basic pipe bender. Sand packing works great, but you have to weld a cap on each end, and cut the caps off later.

If this is just a few items, I'd look into mandrel bent tubing. Much nicer than muffler shop stuff.
Bending over 1" stainless .063 isn't an easy job and probably requires hydraulics.
I used it for headers and coolant piping for automotive and there are several sources out there.
Here's one.
https://burnsstainless.com/col...AkMIjB2AsVBJvM064QZr

when I was in the semi industry and got contractors to install stainless tubes, they didn't bend the pipe. They welded sweep 90 degree or 45 elbows to get the fit. Of course we were using RA10 electropolished piping and were doing the welding with an argon or nitrogen purge. The welders we had were so good that you couldn't find the weld on the surface.

for 1" you'd be better served to buy the fittings rather than try to bend it.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
On stainless steel, an inch in diameter and over a sixteenth of an inch wall thickness? I can't imagine any hand bender even budging that. The conduit bender idea might work on mild steel. If the bend is at all severe and has to maintain the same diameter all the way through, some sort of mandrel would also be needed.

Thank you sir.
Based on your comment, I decided to make a prototype out of 1/2" mild steel tubing with a 0.054" wall thickness. I have already ordered the tubing bender.

After experimenting with the 1/2" tubing, I'll have a better understanding for the full size version.

Thank you everyone for the information and tips.

If you do find yourself needing a hydraulic conduit bender, you can rent one from Sunbelt. I would recommend a Greenlee.

We do a lot of stainless - admittedly, we need a very particular finish.

Order whatever bends you need, then weld them together.

We had a great fabricator, since passed, who could do custom bends/had a software to account for the “growth” of stainless as it bent/could handle how much is moved while welding.

It is not a simple task.

I need to see if they really work as depicted, but we may pick up a laser pipe welder to make pipes.

You may need to find a good plant, and get some acid wash from their CIP cycle to repassivate the stainless. Has to be done after welding. Not sure about bending.