Preferred Methods for Bending Steel Pipe

[Chris T.]

Hey,

I sighed up to the forums awhile back and thought I would finally post something.

So last fall I decided to start planning out a Go kart and begin building it in the spring. Well spring is here now and I'm ready to get the build underway. My question is regarding preferred methods for bending steel pipe. I will be using Schedule 40 pipe with a OD of 25mm (around 0.98 inches) for most of the chassis. Now would it be better to go out and buy a 12ton pipe bender or invest in a Oxy-Acetylene set. Now I know I will be annealing the steel when it's heated / bent around a jig, but how much will this really effect the overall structure of the steel / overall frame? I will of course be packing them with wet sand and letting it cool slowly if I go with the torches. I also see the torches getting more use then just getting a pipe bender.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[theo]

You will need a pipe bender if you are planing on using pipe. You don't need a torch to anneal the pipe. I've bent lots of 3/4" (about 1" od) pipe and what I have found when bending is to mark the center of the bend and then put marks 1" apart out on either side of the center mark and (use 5,7,or 9 marks the more marks the wider the radius) then pump 2 pumps (NO MORE) at each mark until you get the right angle. Also mark the center of the shoe to help line up the bender. There is no need for sand when doing this.

 

[newrider3]

I've bent pipe a few times by packing with sand and heating it with a torch. If you're careful it can come out alright, but it still kinks quite a bit if you don't have a nice jig.

If you can afford it, just get both. A bender is a nice specialized tool designed to do one thing right, but an oxygas setup is very very versatile and nice to have around.

 

[daveb]

m pretty sure if you pack it with sand and heat it better be dry. All the steam the wet sand creates might bust the pipe.

 

[newrider3]

The water is necessary to get a good pack.

 

[daveb]

http://www.rorty-design.com/content/sand_bending.htm . Not trying to say any one is wrong. I have never done sand bending before ,but having it dry makes sense to me. Thats if you are putting heat to it .

 

[Chris T.]

Thanks for all the advise so far, I'm still debating what to get.
Do you think the heating of the steel would cause it to be too brittle for use in a chassis. (I'll be heating the bends once and letting it air cool, so no heating / re-heating going on)

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

It will hurt the integrity of the tubing, i would just use a bender.

 

[fowler]

This thread is 2 years old

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[landuse]

This thread is 2 years old

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