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Mandrel tubing bender

H

hobby_rv6

Member
Sorta RV related since my friend is flying his friend's RV6A until he can get his Cassutt flying again. The Cassutt has a broken exhaust pipe and he is looking for someone with a mandrel bender to bend a 45 degree bend in 1.5" OD .060 stainless steel tubing for a new exhaust pipe. He's been told that using a regular muffler shop tubing bender will put stress risers in the bend which will result in early failure. (note that he is in the USAF flying B-1's out of Dyess AFB and he is consulting with some of the aircraft tech's on base).
Does anyone know where one of these critters exist and if a mandrel bender is the way to go?
Thanks,
Hobby
 
I built my exhaust out of swimming pool hand rails , nice mandrel bends, 304 stainless .049 thick.,. The rails come in two diam. and .049 or .060 wall. Check out Sr. Smith or Interfab. I used a figure 4 and a long comm. rail .049 wall.
 
most-

Military bases that have hydraulic shops have REALLY good mandrel benders. If that doesnt work, call Larry Vetterman.
Tom
 
Just an FYI on the Larry Vetterman approach... I talked with him at his fly-in a few months ago in hopes that he could do a few mods to my 1-1/2" Midget Mustang exhaust and he said he doesn't have the tooling to do 1-1/2", only 2".

He mentioned that there's someone out in California that does 1-1/2", but I didn't immediately write it down so it went in one ear and out the other. I still haven't done anything with my exhaust so if you find an answer, please post!
 
RWoodard said:
....
He mentioned that there's someone out in California that does 1-1/2", but I didn't immediately write it down so it went in one ear and out the other. I still haven't done anything with my exhaust so if you find an answer, please post!
Click to expand...

Perhaps it was John Harmon?

He and Alan Tolle made some of the original RV exhaust systems in Bakersfield.
 
so-

we need someone with a mandrel bender to form 1-1/2 2 inch pipe? Hum---I will see if any of my contacts will do this.
Tom
 
I'm sure these guys can help you...I have used them for other ground based fuel burning activities :) and their products are awesome.
http://www.burnsstainless.com/16gauge-8.aspx
UBend.jpg
 
neat-

machine---typically "good" mandrel benders are kinda expensive-the CNC ones with laser coordinate scanning are +- $100K. BUT--they make beautiful tube assemblies!
Tom
 
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