Small diameter tube fabrication (no Laverda content)

"I remember watching a plumber using sand for an odd size copper pipe once.
He was a really really old plumber"

was that me Andy, it is one of my hidden skills as a pipe fitter working 60+ years ago, the trick with sand is to use budgie cage sand, or (more recently available) kiln dried grouting sand, never used the later, but you must pack in the sand very tightly and use a bearing press if you can, then weld a cap on each end and heat the pipe slowly, and water inside the sand and you are dealing with a potential explosion.

Internal and external springs are/were common for copper pipe, coiled small bore stuff is anneal, and straight stuff is half annealed, if you are talking domestic plumbing, hydraulics and air con are different. (how they half anneal" that mystifies me)

bending odd sizes of copper is not hard (anneal it yourself) fill with sand and mechanically plug the ends, then use the nearest bender that you can find for that one off size, only works for one offs of course but if multiple bending is required then always best to buy the correct formers and guides for your existing manual or hydraulic bender, assuming (like mine) they were not made in the 40's and parts are NLA
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
"I remember watching a plumber using sand for an odd size copper pipe once.
He was a really really old plumber"

was that me Andy, it is one of my hidden skills as a pipe fitter working 60+ years ago, the trick with sand is to use budgie cage sand, or (more recently available) kiln dried grouting sand, never used the later, but you must pack in the sand very tightly and use a bearing press if you can, then weld a cap on each end and heat the pipe slowly, and water inside the sand and you are dealing with a potential explosion.

CLEM
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Is that a coarse sand Clem? I tried numerous times to sand bend headers for my race bike. "It is really easy!!!" they said, but it always ended up flared/kinked at the bend. I was advised to use blasting sand, so I had grabbed a bag of ilmenite that they used for blasting up at a mine I used to drive the barge to. The stuff flowed like a liquid if the big-bag got a hole in it, and I wondered if that fluidity was the cause of my bending failures. There went a massive quantity of oxy/acet gas in those failures.
 
hooksey said:
Good luck buying lead..... but I’m sure you have plenty of ole sinkers in the shed Cam 👍
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Mate, I've got heaps of the stuff. I bought 2500 kg of scrap lead when I was building my boat. Melted it all down into keel ballast, but had a couple of hundred kilos left over. Sold some of it, gave some away. Probably have about 50kg left.
 
Tippie,
My headers were large radius for an Ariel Square Four twin pipe.
Used builders sand which is coarse.
Washed, dried and rammed.
Preheated on a fire before using oxy on the bend area, mostly biased to the outside of the bend radius as you want plenty of soft stretch without too much compressive force on the inside radius which risks buckling.
 
you beat me to it basketcase

no substitute for the right formers and guides, but that only allows you to bend at the radius they are set for,
I can still thread table 1 copper if anyone ever needs that!
CLEM
 
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