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Thread: aluminum tube bending...anyone?...

  1. #1

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    aluminum tube bending...anyone?...

    Hit a snag, unexpected. Have several parts to fabricate for a Buccaneer 2 project. several tight bends required in 6061-t6 1" dia, 0.049" and 0.065" thick walled tubes. As this sort of thing quite common on many ultralight designs, I figured living in Portland metro area home of Van's aircraft and several other kit aircraft businesses, I should have no problem finding a shop to bend thin wall aluminum tube. found one shop in St. Helens OR that advertised mandrel tube bending and they just told me "no can do". My first choice, have Aero Adventure (FL) do the job, they said they can. I sent a part sample as pattern before Christmas and now I can not get them to answer emails or phone calls. Still need the parts, project completely stalled till I do.

    Can anyone in this forum point me to a company local or even not local that can do the job? Or identify a tool or method that I can use to bend these myself?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Steve

  2. #2
    Dana's Avatar
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    Jul 2011
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    How tight is "tight"?

    One technique, that I've never tried, is to fill the tube with sand or Wood's metal before bending. Or perhaps a conduit bender might do it?

    If you're calling local shops, don't say it's for an aircraft.

  3. #3

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    A can't imagine those bends can be accomplished without a mandrel bender. There are some benders geared for home use that (with practice $$$) will do the job. Not sure of the price. Google bending soft alum. tubing or search YouTube for the same.

  4. #4

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    Give a call to the Pipefitters or plumbers local union hall and I'm sure the folks there can point you in the right direction.

  5. #5
    Mike Switzer's Avatar
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    3/4" EMT (thin wall electrical conduit) is just slightly smaller than 1" diameter, you might see if you can borrow a 3/4" conduit bender from an electrician & see if it works. I just measured a conduit in my shop & it looks like you can get roughly a 6 5/8" radius bend. (measured from a box to the center of the conduit)

  6. #6
    gmatejcek's Avatar
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    Tube bending

    Hi there-

    Find yourself a local hydraulic supply house. If they can't do the work, they should know who will.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve K View Post
    Hit a snag, unexpected. Have several parts to fabricate for a Buccaneer 2 project. several tight bends required in 6061-t6 1" dia, 0.049" and 0.065" thick walled tubes. As this sort of thing quite common on many ultralight designs, I figured living in Portland metro area home of Van's aircraft and several other kit aircraft businesses, I should have no problem finding a shop to bend thin wall aluminum tube. found one shop in St. Helens OR that advertised mandrel tube bending and they just told me "no can do". My first choice, have Aero Adventure (FL) do the job, they said they can. I sent a part sample as pattern before Christmas and now I can not get them to answer emails or phone calls. Still need the parts, project completely stalled till I do.

    Can anyone in this forum point me to a company local or even not local that can do the job? Or identify a tool or method that I can use to bend these myself?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Steve

  7. #7

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    May 2014
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    8
    Steve,
    I live in Oshkosh WI and worked at Basler Turbo Conversions for 16 years. We had to bend 1" diameter alum tube for our hydraulics system all the time. It was 5052-0 x .049" wall alum tube but I am pretty sure our bender would handle 6061-T6. How big of pieces are the ones that you need bent, what is the bend radius, and what is the angle that it needs to be bent to? I am retired from there but get me this info and I will talk to my friend that works on the hydraulics system and see if he would be able to do that like after work some day. PM me and we can exchange e-mails or phone numbers.
    Mark

  8. #8

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    Middleville MI
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    Tube bending

    6061-T6 is hard to bend. If I remember right Powrachute in Hastings MI gets mill runs of a special variant of 6061-T6 to use on their powered parachutes. They may be able to help.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Nov 2011
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    West Palm Beach Florida
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    Easy homemade mandrel

    [QUOTE=Steve K;52663]Hit a snag, unexpected. Have several parts to fabricate for a Buccaneer 2 project. several tight bends required in 6061-t6 1" dia, 0.049" and 0.065" thick walled tubes. As this sort of thing quite common on many ultralight designs, I figured living in Portland metro area home of Van's aircraft and several other kit aircraft businesses, I should have no problem finding a shop to bend thin wall aluminum tube. found one shop in St. Helens OR that advertised mandrel tube bending and they just told me "no can do". My first choice, have Aero Adventure (FL) do the job, they said they can. I sent a part sample as pattern before Christmas and now I can not get them to answer emails or phone calls. Still need the parts, project completely stalled till I do.

    Can anyone in this forum point me to a company local or even not local that can do the job? Or identify a tool or method that I can use to bend these myself?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Steve[/QUOTEasy]

    My sprint called for bending 3/4" .049 square tubing for the canopy Needed two bows and the instrument panel. The bows are 44.5" wide and matched the curve of the Plexiglas. I bent them, and they came out very nice on a wood mandrel I made. I cut 3/4" plywood into three half circles. Center 3/4" width (you would need 1inch. glue up 1/4" to the 3/4) and 7" in diameter. Fasten two 9" diameter to the sides looks like a pulley. I made half circles and worked fine. I set it in a large vise. Make small bends every 1/2" or so. Keep matching it against a form that you want it to match. They came out great. Tubing should by a piece of cake. for tight bends I bent some steel round one end similar to a conduit bender pivot. Go for it. Could not be cheaper to make.
    Good building,
    Joe G.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    Several good leads here already, so you should be fine. But allow me to echo the poster who cautioned against mentioning "airplane". This is large advice, especially for something that is structural. They'll turn you down flat every time. I've learned to use the term "homebuilt recreational vehicle". It IS the truth and I've never been inexplicably turned down since I adopted that term.

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