Working with steel tubing + tube bender plans

Does anyone here have experience working with steel tubing/pipe?

I have wondered how you go about cutting the ends of the tube into a radius to fit onto another tube to make a T for example.

If anyone has and tips, advice of how-to's on working with steel tubing i would definitely like to hear them, before I give it a go.


I also uploaded some plans to make a tubing bender that someone might find useful, I might have a go at making something like it in the future

Thanks

Didn't Dargo make some stainless tube pool ladders or some other things like that? I recall him posting some photos. It would be nice to know some step by step information. I've never worked with round tube steel, mostly just flat, square tube, angle, and bar stock.

Mith said:

I have wondered how you go about cutting the ends of the tube into a radius to fit onto another tube to make a T for example.

Click to expand...

I've only done it the old fashioned way; with a tube notcher. That makes it pretty darn easy to be honest. Well, Bob's right, I did build a ladder, basketball setup and volleyball posts for the pool this last year out of stainless. The cheapo tube notcher I have wouldn't cut stainless. I cut a similar mild steel schedule 40 tube and marked the stainless tube with a Sharpie marker. Then I made the cuts in the stainless with my plasma cutter.

I have about 9 1/2 pounds of stainless wire left for my MIG. After working with stainless for a while, I found I could actually stick weld stainless better than I could with the MIG. But, I assume you're not going to go rob a bank to buy all stainless stuff. Therefore, a tube notching machine is the only way to go. If not, you ought to look like a body builder when you finish from all the hacksaw and grinder use.

Oh, Bob, guess where my $59 tube bender was purchased!

Dargo, do you have a picture of this tubing notcher?

I had a go cutting radii with a holesaw, but it didn't work out.

Mith, you can do it the quick way, the cheap way, or the professional way. As you can assume, they go up in cost. The quickest way is to cut a birdsmouth into the terminating tube. This can be done with a band saw or an angle grinder. The problem is, the finished joint looks like crap because of the amount of filler weld needed. The cheap way would be to make a homemade tube notcher. All you really need is a good vice, and a metal cutting hole saw of exactly the same size as your tubing. Clamp your tube in the vice, chuck the saw up in a drill press, and cut the end of the tube. The professional way is how Dargo mentioned with a tube notcher. This is basically the same as the homemade rig, but will have better jigging, allowing you to obtain precise angles if your tubes don't meet at an exact 90 degrees. These machines can get quite pricy.

edit: Here is an economical fixture for your drill press.



edit2: Here is a not-so-economical one (for the home user).

There availabe from like 100 sources on the web... I looked at copying a bender that a friend bought, but the real $$ is in the hydraulics and dies. The part that a person would build is not too expensive, so the savings would be minimal.

Mine came from here: http://www.pro-tools.com/

my notcher is like the one posted by DaveNay above...well under $200. Probably the best $$ I ever spent, besides my digital camera.

Eric

Tube Bending 101

heres a good write-up on bending. It's not how I do it, but a good read if you dont have your own system and bad habits already.

Eric

Dave, that first picture you posted does look quite make able, and for 90 degree cuts it would seem possible that you could do it with a well clamped vise and a holesaw. Do you have any experience on how well it works?
Thanks

Eric, thats a great link, I bookmarked it.
Do you have any idea how one would go about making dies. it would seem that the semicircular one could be turned on a lathe quite easily, but the long one of the outside of the tube has me stumped. Cast maybe?
Thanks

Mith said:

Eric, thats a great link, I bookmarked it.
Do you have any idea how one would go about making dies. it would seem that the semicircular one could be turned on a lathe quite easily, but the long one of the outside of the tube has me stumped. Cast maybe?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Yeah, the inside die could be made on a lathe. the outside I don't know how its made, but a shaper like is used for press brake dies would work, real slow but it would work. A CNC mill could do it to I'm sure. The profile of the outside die needs to be almost perfect or it'll leave a lot of marks on the tube.

Might could bore a hole with the lathe in a piece of bar, then split it and have 2

from here: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...per&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a

"On the shaper, the cutting edge slides against a stationary workpiece and cuts on one stroke,
then returns to its starting point and cuts again on the next stroke after a slight lateral
displacement. The shaper can handle work that cannot be done on the other machines and is
flexible enough to be used in small shops and small-lot production plants"

Belt the end of the tube flat with the biggest hammer you can find and it fits very snug, easy to weld then.