Another tubing bender (G. Britnell clone)

[cidrontmg]

I made it all in brass (fasteners+axles excluded), because thatīs what I had in +/- sizes. The drawing has imperial measures, I only have metric stuff, so all screws are different (but close), but the rest I did with in. scales in the mill + calipers (my lathe is imperial anyway). I still have to do more rollers + bushes for the tube sizes I use (2, 4, 6, and 8 mm), and also for various bend diameters, but thatīs just simple lathe work + bit of sawing.

Parts before assembly


all together they look like this (no hammer needed in assembling)


other side. Thereīs some protruding screws beneath the base plate


couple more


autofocus didnīt quite get this correct 



Thanks again to George Britnell, for a very well-thought-of design, and the free plans. I know I will use this for good effect quite often. Iīve bent a lot of tubing, with various makeshift gadgets - not too often with presentable results.
I bet this will ease and improve my efforts whenever the need arises for smooth slick bends.
 

[George Greer]

nice work..

 

George

[Joe d]

Good Job

Did mine in boring aluminium... yours looks much nicer!

Cheers, Joe

[Bernd]

Very nice looking bender. I might have to make one of them one of these days. But brass? Aren't you afaid it might gual the dies, even using copper pipe?

Still though one impressive looking tool. 

Bernd

[Brass_Machine]

Very nice. Gotta get off my rump and make one of those.

Nice work!

Eric

[cidrontmg]

Hi Bernd,
I believe the brass dies will be up to their task with flying colours, for copper as well as brass tubing. The smaller roller just "wraps" the free tubing end around the bigger stationary bending block. Any possible deformation would come from the tubing, trying to widen the groove - thereīs no way I see that happening. And if contrary to expectations that would happen, I can always make new rolls, from something stiffer 
I made the needed parts for 2, 4 and 6 mm tubing, I did the grooves with a rotary table and mill, the way Bogstandard suggested in another tubing bender post. An excellent, fast method to get the size just right.
I also tweaked the plans a little, made an extra cut to all bending blocks, I think that way thereīs no chance of the bushing through which the tubing enters the bender from moving, not even a little.
Also I made some extra long screws from allthread, with large "knurled" heads, and another large "knurled" nut to the lever screw. These 3 screws are quite fiddly to adjust with a spanner or a key, they should be finger-adjusted, IMHO. I hope G. Britnell approves 
Couple more pics of the change parts for different tubing sizes, and the screws in place

[johnny123]

Very nice!

[Stilldrillin]

Beautiful work! 

Something else I haven`t done..... 

David D

[swhite]

Outstanding!

Steve W

[GArat]

Hi cidrontmg 
Anyway the project is well done! Good Job  and I did mine in cast iron and I did metric AutoCAD drawings discovering a little mistake on the original drawing... , if someone is interested, yours looks much nicer!
Cheers, Paolo
 
 
 

[gbritnell]

Congratulations on your build. It makes that simple looking tube bender into a piece of art when it's made from brass. I hope it works out for you. I have bent many pieces of tubing and it works great.
George