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Need some 1? tubing bent

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jim31886

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Not an RV project; but important to accomplish to be able to keep building my 7 and it’s kind of a neat project with home building implications.

We rescued my in-laws old porch chair/glider off the old homestead. It’s in rough shape. It’s got several complex shapes bent from 1” tubing.

I need to find somebody that I can take those tubing pieces to and have some new ones made. Somebody with a good tubing bender and knows how to use it.

The HF pipe bender isn’t going to do it. Borrowed one and played with it, it’s close, but this project demands a little better than what it can provide.

Who offers that kind of service in the DFW area?
 
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I assume your speaking of steel?

Ron Covell has a video where he bends 1-1/2" steel to a "custom" curve using a template. I watched him do this in person at the Santa Cruz Metal Meet.

FWIW
 
Tubing benders

Lowe?s & Home Depot rent conduit benders in various sizes.

Don Broussard
RV9 Rebuild in Progress
57 Pacer
 
Muffler shop

Find a reputable muffler shop. The one in our town is always excited to work or something other than exhaust pipe. Most are really good at duplicating bend. Mught even have the pipe/tubing.
 
Jim,

If you need close radius bends without wrinkling, look for a fab shop that has bending machines that pull an internal mandrel. They are expensive machines so it will be a large shop. A shop specializing in hydraulic lines for aircraft or process machinery. There was a shop near me at KHAO but it sold last year. They produced SS lines for Boeing and Cirrus.

Not sure how close you are to the DFW area, with all the aviation located there I'm guessing a shop exists somewhere close.

Don't know how familiar you are with the process and set up with these machines, so I will add this. Most perceive tube bending to be like the local exhaust shop. The comparison ends with they both can put a bend in a tube. If you are looking for close radius without impressions, the equipment requires considerable setup and may need multiple machines depending on the complexity of the piece. In other words costly.

Cheers!
 
Jim,

If you need close radius bends without wrinkling, look for a fab shop that has bending machines that pull an internal mandrel. They are expensive machines so it will be a large shop. A shop specializing in hydraulic lines for aircraft or process machinery. There was a shop near me at KHAO but it sold last year. They produced SS lines for Boeing and Cirrus.

Not sure how close you are to the DFW area, with all the aviation located there I'm guessing a shop exists somewhere close.

Don't know how familiar you are with the process and set up with these machines, so I will add this. Most perceive tube bending to be like the local exhaust shop. The comparison ends with they both can put a bend in a tube. If you are looking for close radius without impressions, the equipment requires considerable setup and may need multiple machines depending on the complexity of the piece. In other words costly.

Cheers!

modern exhaust shops that specialize in custom or high performance work will often have mandrel benders. However, I doubt that have dies and mandrels for 1" pipe.
 
Might look for sub contractors for heavy equipment. Lots of rigid tubes for both the heavy equipment, and trucking industries. WE have the CNC 3axis bender, but not the dies or the mandrel for 1 inche tubing. And Different wall thicknesses take different mandrels. Gets expensive. Know anyone at General Dynamics? Bet you they have several benders. Stratoflex in Ft Worth does, but you probably wont get in there.

Tom
 
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