Typically, a straight section between bends should be two to three times the tube diameter, depending on the radius. A thicker wall may be necessary to achieve the desired results. This is important to keep in mind if your application involves high pressure or flow. You can minimize this thinning by using some of the bending tooling, such as a mandrel. Wall Thicknessĭuring tube and pipe bending, the wall on the outside radius can thin up to 33%, depending on the radius and other factors. Whenever possible, choose a centerline radius of 1.5 times or greater than the tube diameter. 1.Ĝenterline RadiusĪs a rule, the tightest achievable centerline radius is one times the pipe or tube diameter. This part has four different bends without any straights between them. Using compression or rotary bending, you would need straights between the bends. tube can be bent without any straights between the bends as long as the radius is three times larger (21/4-in.). On this freeform bending machine, a ¾-in.
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Paul Krickeberg is president/CEO of Sharpe Products, 2550 S. You get a mark-free part, and because no oil is used inside the tube, it does not have to be cleaned. In addition to the minimal tooling requirement, very little marking occurs on the tube because the only thing touching the part is the ceramic ring. You can make a multibend part two days after it has been ordered without any tooling charge. As the tube moves through the ceramic ring, the computer controls the motion of the ceramic ring to form the tube. The tube is pushed through a ceramic ring with tooling designed for the tube size. It allows you to make bends of any radius and without straights between the bends. One of the most unique bending machines is a CNC freeform bender. The location of the middle roll determines the tube or pipe radius. The machine is equipped with round tooling for handling tube and pipe. It is frequently used to roll channels and angles also. tube, this is the machine that you would use.
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This process is used when you want a large-radius bend, say eight times the tube or pipe diameter. Roll Bending (Angle Bending)Īnother bending machine is the roll bender, also called an angle bender. Most rotary bending machines are oriented for right-handed or left-handed bends, but some are outfitted to bend in both directions. It holds the tube as it is bent and then pushes it forward to get it ready for the next bend. You need the collet to be sized for the tube diameter. The sixth piece of tooling you might need is a collet for when you’re making more than one bend on a part. The wiper die wipes, or smooths, those ripples or lumps away, pushing the metal farther from the bend. Normally, when you bend a piece of tube, material gathers on the inside radius, which results in a large lump or ripples at the end. In addition, a wiper die is needed to bend thin-wall tube. It is used predominantly for the furniture market. The bend radius and tube thickness determine the number of balls in the mandrel.Ĭompression bending is often used to bend tube when speed and economy are important but tube roundness is not. You’ll need a mandrel to go inside of it, which keeps your tube round as it is being bent. If you’re bending thin-wall tube or a tight radius, you may need three other pieces of tooling. This tool applies pressure to the back of the tube and follows along as the tube is being bent to prevent this. As it’s being bent, the part naturally wants to kick out. It holds the tube while you’re bending it. This type of bending requires a lot more tooling than compression bending. It is typically used to bend a tube three to four times the centerline radius of the tube diameter. One of the most common modes of bending is rotary draw bending. centerline to get acceptable bend quality. The centerline radius of the tube diameter needs to be approximately two times the diameter of the bend. You can set it up to make a 90-degree bend and a 45-degree bend, for example.
TUBE BENDING AND FABRICATION GENERATOR
A lot of times cleaning the part consumes as much time as bending it.Īlthough furniture, lawn mower handles, and generator frames often are symmetric, a compression bender isn’t limited to symmetrical parts. Because you don’t use oil, no cleaning of the part is needed afterward.
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In addition to speed, some of the advantages are that no oil is used inside the part and that you don’t use a mandrel inside the tube, which is why the bend is a little out of round.