By Scott Loehning

Custom Bend Metal Tubing

photo by Scott Loehning

Nothing says ‘Old School’ like polished brass and copper on the engine of a classic car. Copper tubing is relatively cheap, readily available and easy to work with. For all you ‘green now’ junkies out there, the tubing used for this project was recovered and recycled from an old 1940′s style chest freezer – a great source for usable copper and aluminium.

Bending the tubing into any custom design or shape can be easily performed with a little time, patience and a few hand tools. Things You’ll Need:

1. Step 1

   

   Standard tube bender.

   Most bends can be made with a standard tube bender that can be purchased at any home improvement center, but you are limited to the 1″ radius of the tool. Larger bends formed with this type of tool appear choppy, irregular and definitely NOT smooth. These type of bends will require a mold or wood buck.

2. Step 2

   

   Trace your pattern.

   First, look at your application and determine what look would be functional and esthetically pleasing to the eye. Keep in mind that there may be other lines that you may want to replace with the metal you are working with as well. Your design should keep all of these visually flowing together. Draw your design on paper, and trace this to a sheet of scrap 3/4″ plywood.

3. Step 3

   Draw a second line the width of the tubing.

4. Step 4

   Drill a 3/8″ hole in between the two lines, allowing enough room to be able to insert the saber saw blade and cut. Cut along the outside line first. The rest of the remaining wood to the inside line will be trimmed away using the sander, and it is easier to sand the outside of a convex piece than to sand the inside of a concave. Separate the two pieces, sand away the rest of the remaining wood to the inside line, and sand both pieces fairly smooth. Cut the outside piece into four sections as shown in the photograph. With a hand drill and 1″ paddle bit, drill eight holes as shown in the photo. These hole give a place for the jaws of your clamps to grab hold. Screw the center piece down to another piece of plywood substantially larger than the overall dimensions of the piece that you have cut. You have now created the tubing mold or wooden buck.

5. Step 5

   Determine the length of tubing that you will need to complete the bend and leave a little extra to be trimmed off. Remember – you can always trim off the excess, but never add if it is too short. Determine the center of the tubing, center it at the top of the mold, and using the cut top piece clamp in place as shown. Use only enough clamp pressure to hold the tubing firmly in place. Push down on the tube so that it remains flat on the board at all times.

6. Step 6

   With minimal pressure carefully bend the tubing with you fingers. Slowly coax it around the curves keeping it pressed flat to the board.

7. Step 7

   Continue to bend completely around.

8. Step 8

   When you have completely bent the tube around, take the concave piece of the mold and tap it in with a hammer until the tube is compressed to the shape desired.

9. Step 9

   Draw in with clamps and let it sit.

10. Step 10

    Repeat the bending process on the other side.

11. Step 11

    After bending completely around, clamp all pieces of the mold in place.

12. Step 12

    

    Spring out.

    After removing the clamps, you may have some spring-out. This just the metal trying to return to its original shape.

13. Step 13

    To do away with the spring-out, hold the top down with your finger tips, lift the end and carefully bend and coax the tube tighter around the mold.

14. Step 14

    You are now ready to trim, fit and polish to your application.

15. Step 15

    Fit to your project. Oh yeah… the tubing behind this project piece was bent…

16. Step 16

    ..with this mold.. Happy bending!!

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