7/16 tubing bender: suggestions?

I need to bend some 7/16" (OD) soft copper tubing. The coil spring bender I have just won't hack it. It's all I can do to bend it with this by hand, I can't get a radius tighter than 2-3 inches, and what I get looks like hell. The "three sizes" die bender I have only goes up to 3/8". I haven't been able to find a rental shop that has one for this size. I tried to make a bigger bender out of hardwood, but it just flattened the tubing. I can buy one on Ebay for around $30 with shipping, but I only need it for this one job. Before I spend a couple of hours in the shop making a proper die, I thought I'd ask you experts. Anyone have any other suggestions? I know they fill music instrument tubing with ice before bending it, but they still use a die type bender. I've seen filling the tube with sand suggested, too. All ideas gratefully accepted. Thanks. I need to make at least two 90 degree bends and two 45's, all with around a 1-1.5" radius.

Reply to
Bob Chilcoat
Loading thread data ...

Go rent one. - GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Reply to
Jordan

Make sure the tubing is SOFT about one bend and it gets very hard.

Jack

Reply to
Jack Hayes

--Using a pulley; what a neat hack! Will remember that one. --OTOH a friend made a fixture for bending not just tube but pipe and years ago I took some crummy photos. Here's a link:

formatting link

Reply to
steamer

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.