BY TONY BINGELIS, 8509 GREENFLINT LANE, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78759

HOW TO BEND TUBING

SUCCESSFULLY

F<

ORTUNATELY, MOST OF our homebuilt projects do

not require very much tube bending. However, I assure

you that these few components are important and many

of them are, for the most part, highly visible. Being so

visible, their fabrication merits your very best effort. But
giving it your best effort does not mean you have to make
a big production out of this tube bending thing. That goes

for bending steel tubes, copper tubes and aluminum tubes

as well.
Anyone building a tube and fabric airplane will probably encounter more opportunities for developing his tube
bending skills than he would if he were building a composite. These welded tube aircraft are ordinarily endowed
with nicely curved tail surfaces made of small diameter
steel tubing. Some of them also have tubular wing tip

bows, fuselage formers and seat frames as well. Builders

of other types of aircraft can add windshield and canopy

bows, flap handles and sometimes "S" shaped control columns to the bent tube list.
Just about the only copper tubes used in homebuilts
are the oil pressure line and the primer lines. Even these
are falling into disuse as more builders switch to electrical

gauges. These copper tubes are a mere Vs" in diameter and

may be easily bent by hand or formed around an empty
tin can or jar of the proper diameter. No serious tube

bending problem here.

Aluminum tubing is not only used for fuel lines, it is
also used for windshield and canopy bows and wing tip
bows, too. These being tubes of a larger diameter present
bending problems similar to those experienced with steel
tubes. Ultralight builders utilize a lot of pre-bent
aluminum tubing in structural elements but these components are, ordinarily, purchased pre-cut and pre-bent from
the factory or supplier. Aluminum tubes are important in
fuel systems and so are the bends you make in them. After
all, why use a fitting where a bend in the tubing will do
as well? Tubing bends are much lighter, cheaper and,
unlike fittings, can't leak.
Do not be lulled into thinking that simply because %"
aluminum fuel lines are rather ductile you can easily form
them by hand. You can, of course, but hand formed ends
often become flattened and have a poor irregular appearance. Such wavy flattened bends are the usual result of
48 AUGUST 1983

attempting to bend thin wall tubing to small radii without

the aid of a tube bender. A flattened fuel line can restrict

the flow of fuel and could, ultimately, fail in service.
What Happens Whan A Tube Is Bent?-

To make a bend in the middle of a piece of tubing, you

would grasp it at each end, right? Then you would place
it over some hard curved surface and push down hard on
both ends of the tube . . . and the tube will begin to bend.
If the radius of the underlying object (form) over which
you are making the bend is large, the bend will be large
and gentle and the tube will retain its round cross section.
If, on the other hand, the surface beneath has a small
radius, the curvature developing in the tube will be
localized. For the first few degrees of bend, the bend will
develop nicely. Then, you will notice that the tube is
beginning to flatten. The top side of the bend is now under
increasing tension and has to stretch. The tubing, however,
is reluctant to do so and takes a short cut around the bend
causing that unwanted flattening in the tube. But, what
about the bottom side that is jammed against the "bending
form"? It is being severely compressed and although the
tubing resists this crowding it is beginning to show signs
of buckling across the tube diameter. If you continue the
bending, the flattening on the top side will become more
pronounced while at the same time, the crowded metal on
the bottom side relieves the pressure by developing more
wrinkles. Ultimately, the tube will suddenly bend sharply
and fracture.
Thin wall tubing is more difficult to bend successfully
because it is very quick to flatten and buckle.
The larger the tube diameter, the greater the pressure
you must exert to make it bend. While you can easily form
a 90 bend in a Vs" diameter copper line that is only 6"
long, you simply cannot do the same with a similar length
of %" tubing. Not even if you had a form to bend it around.
Why is that?
You Need Leverage
No matter how you go about bending a length of tubing,
you will find it much easier to do if the piece is long enough.
You can then take advantage of the leverage it affords
(you know the principle). A lack of sufficient leverage could

make it almost impossible for you to form a bend near

either end of a %" diameter steel (or aluminum) tube.
Always start with a long length of tubing when bending
it. The larger the diameter of the tubing, the greater its
excess length should be. Allow an extra 12" on each end
for tubing up to %" in diameter. Allow even more for larger
diameters . . . you will need the added leverage it affords.
If you find you need more leverage, you can always slip
in a steel rod or slide a larger diameter tube over the end
to serve as an extended handle of sorts.
Equipment Needed
You don't need much in the way of equipment or materials to make good uniform bends. These items are definitely needed.
1. You will need a large rugged vise. The effectiveness
of almost any type bending device will be greatly improved
by clamping it in a heavy duty vise mounted securely on
a solid bench. In addition to freeing both hands (and in
some cases, feet), it will enable you to more precisely apply
the bending pressure to the tubing. A substitute for the
vise would be a good solid immobilized bench to which you
could bolt a bending device horizontally.
2. Some sort of bending device is essential for any bend
exceeding, say 15 to 20 especially when that bend is
concentrated around a small radius.
3. A filler material (sand, bending alloy or salt) for
those hard to make bends.
4. Templates cut from plywood. How else can you check
the bend you are making?

Tube Bending Devices

You can bend tubing successfully with just about any
simple homemade tube bending device if it is properly
made. You have a wide variety of types from which to
choose.
Locally you might have access to some commercial tube
bending machine. If so, great . . . just remember to bring
your templates, too.
Others of you might be able to locate someone who has
an Electrician's Conduit Bender and arrange for its use.

It should allow you to make simple bends with a high

degree of success provided it can accommodate the diameter of the tubing you need to bend. Most of the tubing we
use in homebuilts is either '/V' or W in diameter (sometimes VK", too). If the tube bender you have access to is
made for larger diameter tubing you probably shouldn't
use it as it might cause your bends to flatten excessively.
The design of an electrician's tube bender is simple enough
that you could duplicate it for the size tubing you need to
bend.
A simple plywood bending form nailed to a work bench
is a good basic bending device for large bends in small
diameter tubing. However, when cutting the form to shape
you must make its curve sharper as the tubing will have a
tendency to spring back. This sort of bending device is easy
to use for uniform curves because you can fasten one end
of the tubing and pull the free end around the form causing
it to bend smoothly in one easy sweep.
An improved variation of the plywood bending jig
(form) is one with its edges grooved to the diameter of the
tube for which it is intended. The groove is important. It
reduces the tendency for tubing to flatten and somewhat
sharper curves or bends in the tubing are possible. An
even greater improvement would be to make the routed
groove somewhat deeper so that the tubing will nestle in
it beyond its half diameter. This added depth permits the
walls of the groove to exert a restraining effect against
the tube's tendency to flatten. It is equally important,
when making any grooved pulley or bending jig, for the
grooved edges of the form to be strong enough to resist the
flattening and widening of the tube. A wood form, particularly a plywood form, is rather weak in this respect so it
should have considerable edge distance between the groove
and the edge of the pulley, form, jig or whatever. A grooved
aluminum "pulley" would be much stronger but is harder
to make if you don't have a large hunk of aluminum plate
or a metal working lathe. Figure 5 shows some options for
making grooved tube bending devices, be they pulley types
or the simple wood jig types. Figures 1 through 5 should
give you enough ideas to help you devise a bending device
of your own.

EXCESS TUBE LENGTH

A SIMPLE RIG FOR SIMPLE BENDS

FIGURE I.

BENCH MOUNTED TUBING BENDER

FIGURE 2.

SPORT AVIATION 49

2" SQUARES
HOLE FOR CLIP ATTACHMENT
RESTRAINING
I

(5/16" TYP)

CLIP

.^MLOOSE FIT O.K.)

PLYWOOD-

FOR
USE
FOR
USE

1/4" TUBE
3/8" PLY.
1/2" TUBE
5/8" PLY.

^WORK BENCH

TUBE BENDING JIG

TUBE BENDING FORM IN USE (FOR SMALL DIAMETER TUBING)
FIGURE 3.

GROOVE TO TUBE DIA.

WITH A ROUTER

STAY BLOCK
(SELF ALIGNING)

"PULLEY"-

LAMINATED WOOD

OR ALUMINUM
(GROOVE TO SUIT
TUBE DIAMETER)

PLATE - MAKE 2
1/8' ALUM. OR STL.

HANDLE STEEL STRAP 1/8

PRESS DOWN ON TUBE

WHILE PULLING ON HANDLE

3/4 STEEL
TUBE TO BE
BENT

CLAMP BENDER
IN VISE

I,. J

SIDE
7*Y ^fS

TUBE BENDER DETAILS

FIGURE 4.

Bending Procedures
Tubing in aircraft work is usually bent cold. Contrary
to what may seem logical and contrary to what you may

have heard, attempting to bend tubing by heating it can

turn out to be a lousy adventure. Most of us don't have

the skill and patience to play with a hot bend and will
usually get unhandsome results. The problem lies with
localized uneven heating and poorly coordinated bending
pressures . . . to say nothing of impatience. Pressing a hot
tube against a bending form will surely cause it to flatten
on the inside of the bend. Hand bending it without the aid
50 AUGUST 1983

FRONT

of a form is likewise very difficult to do successfully. In

short, bend it cold.
Heating tubing to a red hot condition does have a place
in bending. Bending causes the metal to harden somewhat.
So, by heating the tubing you can anneal it and continue
the bending carefully after the tube cools. In other words,
it is possible to make bends over a smaller radius if you
anneal the tube once or twice as the bend progresses. This
is a slow way but it can make an otherwise severe bend
possible. There is another way to reduce the risk of making
a poor bend. Use a filler material.

a solid surface (concrete floor). After the tube is full of

sand, the continued tapping will cause it to settle and pack

more densely. Add additional sand. After the sand shows
no further sign of settling, drive a wood plug into the top
end of the tube being sure it bottoms solidly against the
sand. Your tube is now ready for bending. The risk of a
flattened bend will have been considerably reduced.

ANY BENDING DEVICE

ROUTED
RADIUS
METAL REINFORCED
SIDES

. PLYWOOD

A more effective filler, of course, is any of the commercial bending alloys, CERROBEND, for example. These
alloys have a very low melting point, some as low as 165
F. When this bending alloy is heated to its melting point
it can be poured into the tube you want b e n t . . . sure, plug
the bottom first. Cooling the tube in water will solidify
the alloy and you are ready for the bending effort. After
completing the bend, the tube has to be reheated to melt
out the alloy. The material can be reused any number of
times. However, since it is unlikely that most of us could
find an economical source for a bending alloy, the sand
treatment is and will continue to be the one most used by
homebuilders.
More About The Bending Process
You cannot hurry your tube bending chore. It will

BEST

-PULLEY" NOT GROOVED

METAL SIDES ADDED
. PLYWOOD

PRETTY GOOD

/WOOD "PULLEY"
/(REINFORCED EDGES)

'

ordinarily take much longer than you would expect. Allow

yourself plenty of time for bends that do not have a uniform
radius.
Most any bending device you use, with the exception
of a template-like bending jig, will have a rather small
diameter grooved pulley, roller or disc over which the tube
will be bent. Obviously, you cannot bend the tube very
much in any one place if your bend requires a radius many
times larger than the bending device pulley. That means
the bending process may become quite long as you have to
bend a bit, check the bend in the tube against a template,
etc. As an aid to checking the accuracy of your bend as
you proceed, you should mark a center line around the
tube to use as a reference mark keyed to your template.
(Use a black laundry marker on aluminum tubes and a
silver lead pencil on steel tubes.)
Do not forget to check the tubing after the bending is
completed to be sure that it is not twisted, as viewed from
the ends. Lay it on a flat surface for a quick check. If
warpage is present, a twisting pressure in the proper
direction will take out the warp. Recheck the tube's bend
against the template again before congratulating yourself
on a job well done.

PLYWOOD JIG OR FORM-NO RADIUS

POOR

FIGURE 5.
The Use Of Filler Materials

It is easy to see that packing a tube you want to bend

with a solid material like sand or a molten bending alloy
will greatly inhibit the flattening tendency.
Before you attempt to bend any large diameter tube
(3/t" or larger), you should fill it with densely packed sand.
(I understand that salt works as well although I have never
tried it.) The sand has to be dry and well sifted to remove
all foreign matter and the larger grains of sand. Plug the
bottom end of the tube with a wood plug and pour in the
sand. Tap the bottom end of the tube repeatedly against

The component parts for this canopy frame were bent around
a 4" homemade aluminum pulley. The tubing was not filled with
either sand or a bending alloy, however, the bends are probably
the minimum radius possible without such a provision.
SPORT AVIATION 51