OT: Tube Bending vendors

Good luck. I did a RFQ (bending/welding, a series of telescopic bends (.75"-.38" dia), compound, basically a "d" in the XY (16"x22") and a "L" on the YZ profile.) 3 months ago to Bay Area vendors and another 4 out around the US and NOTHING came back (3 weeks), I had to change my design because no vendor would fully quote on the design (client requirement).

I included a PDF, DXF and IGES files (and any file they requested)... and, most of them only could understand and read the DXF, one could read the 3D IGES (but could not do anything with it).

Comments by a few, we do not use 3D and we are not setup to do fixtures for welding (BTW, I even offered to do the jig fixture for FREE in the RFQ.) So, I had to do two separate quotes, Forming and Welding. Well, a few would quote only on the simple bends and none of the welders would quote on it or respond. Later, I found out from a few it was about the small volumes, 5 sets, it was not worth their time??

BTW, for any of you having a nationalistic attitude about work going overseas,.. the above is my main reason for going overseas, asia is more responsive and they are willing to do the work, it's not always about cost.

..

kenneth b wrote:

Here's who I used for hydraulic tube bending some time ago.

WT

oh, btw, the material was crs tubing. And, I did get a call from one of the vendors, 4 weeks later (too late then), do not remember (since I sent them the data via their web interface so I can not recall..) the name but they were in so calif (Olancha?) and they were willing to do it with the fixture.

..

Not in N. Cal, but in S. Cal.

Have used

They bend SS a lot for outdoor grills.

Seattle is a bit north... but here's my favorite tube bender. They've sponsored the University of Washington Formula SAE racecar team for 10 years now. Good guys. Not sure about stainless, give them a call.

-Denny Trimble, UWFSAE

I may be a bit late on this, but we cut, bend, weld, etc. tube all the time. It's one of our specialties. Stainless steel and high purity plastic tubing only, I'm afraid. I'd have to check if we can do titanium.

___________________ Todd Bennett Celerity Group, Inc snipped-for-privacy@celerity.net

We have great success with 2 companies here in Canada. We are a Canadian mfg. Try Tripple DDD Bending in Calgary Alberta and Agreesive tube bending in Burnaby BC. Agressive does alot of heater coil tubes. Call 411 for numbers.

Stephen