Squishing tube ends

[flynow]

Hello, I need to squeeze the ends of metal tube that's 1 3/8" .095. It needs to be symmetrical, but I have other pieces soon that are squeezed only on one side. What's the best way to accomplish this? I attached a photo of how it should look.

Thank you!

John C

[CraigCantwell]

That’s not squeezed. The tube was split and a plate inserted into the split. There were two ways to finish it out. One was trim and form the side of the split to the insert and then weld. The other way is to cut a blocking plate to fit and weld it in. I can’t tell from the angle of the photo with the viewing limits of my phone, which way was done in your photo.

[flynow]

Oh! Interesting. I think I can see that now. Thanks! Here's some other photos....

[CraigCantwell]

John: Now that I'm on a big monitor, the first photo shows a split tube with the fitting and caps all welded in. You can see the weld bead at the edge of the full section of the tube. The other two photos show ends that are most likely done the same way. What are you building parts for?

[flynow]

A Pietenpol. I'm at this part in the plans....

John C

[CraigCantwell]

John: Best suggestion I can make is hop over here and join the forum....

https://www.pietenpols.org/

[flynow]

Thanks. Been on the old forum since around 2012 and moved to the new one around 2020. Not many on those forums anymore. So, here I am:)

John C

[mmarien]

I not sure about the instructions on the Pietenpol plans but I found a way to flatten ends of tubes. Check it out here:

http://myhatz.blogspot.com/2017/05/2017-may-anti-torque-tube.html

[flynow]

That's great! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to look into that.

John C