I am looking to get a 1 off piece made from stainless steel tube, not sure of the grade but needs to be suitable for carrying clean water at 60C (140F) at 3 bar maximum. Tube is 3/8" OD by 0.020 wall thickness (9.52mm OD x 0.71 wall thickness), piece is a U shape about 2" across by 20" long with the ends bent at 90 degrees to the main part and flares to attach hosepipes to. I was quoted 500 UK pounds ($900 US) for a one-off today! If anyone can fabricate this for me or point me to someone who can, I would be grateful. I am located in the UK, Hertfordshire to be precise. Thanks, Martin.
Stainless steel tube forming assistance required
May 20, 2004
7 Replies
Martin, Sounds like you are using a standard hydraulic tubing, try to find a local small hydraulics firm, who will have bending facilities & could fit a couple of standard elbows to the ends. I am in yorkshire, mail me if you get stuck, guess at around £50 tops to do. cheers, Mark.
Why?
Do you care about appearance?
My first thought would be to simply fill with solder (not if it's for potable water!!!) and bend round a 1.9?" round round thing. Then bend the ends over.
Flaring is practically impossible (well, hard.)
I suspect you can join hosepipe to 9.52mm OD if you heat it and wrap it with wire, to keep it attatched.
The pipe is a cooling loop for a high powered power supply; appearance isn't critical but the dimension between the two sides is as it has to fit into grooves milled into the heatsinks. I hadn't thought of the solder idea, sounds like that should work. All I have to do is find the tubing, all I have found so far is .040 wall thickness which leaves the ID too small. Thanks, Martin.
Why do you want SS? Copper is trivial to do, and can be bent by hand.
The original part, which was damaged beyond reasonable repair, was stainless. If I cannot find someone to make it in SS for an un-astronomical price, I will probably have a go at making it in copper as you suggest. Martin.
un-astronomical
Just a thought: stainless is an awful thermal conductor compared to copper. I don't have numbers handy though....
Regards,
Robin
From memory, it's about 5 times worse.
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