Manky Monkey Motors

Thank you for allowing me to join your font of knowledge, I have returned to the UK after living in Egypt for the past 12 years and am about to get back into building my own toys again. I have spent the last couple of days preparing A jig for a trike but have some questions on pipe best suited for the Clarke 12 tonne pipe bender.
I want to use 1 ½” (40mm) bore pipe but has anyone any experience bending either

Light  with OD of 48.40mm  2.9mm wall
Or
Medium OD 48.40MM   3.2 wall

Using the above bender.

 I would like to avoid the crush , flat and wrinkled look you will get using the wrong size to the wrong forms so any advise would be welcome.


Thanks in advance
Doozer

Welcome Doozer. You have discovered the mother load of knowledge. I've not bent pipe that large so I'll leave the answer to others. Have fun on the monkey forum.

Sorry can't answer your question but welcome to the monkey site

hi doozer its andy from bolton who you got the vw trike from  welcome to the forum  hope you are well

Hi Doozer and welcome
Bent 48.8x3.85 for the top tube of my trike with no problems but that was just a single bend of about 75 degrees.
Obviously the thicker the tube the less chance of wrinkles or collapse.
Fit my 40mm former well.

Hi and welcome to the forum,you'll get all the help you need on here,I have as a newbie.

this what I have found

(http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t373/Eddie096/7D69DF1D-5B85-4766-BBBE-0E04DF5135B6-11016-0000139EF011962D_zps6094ee85.jpg) (http://s1056.photobucket.com/user/Eddie096/media/7D69DF1D-5B85-4766-BBBE-0E04DF5135B6-11016-0000139EF011962D_zps6094ee85.jpg.html)
the former that came with this type of bender (although mine's not clarke) did this if i tried to bend tight radius bends in 35 mm od pipe(gas pipe) withe a 3.2mm wall

where as this one bent it perfectly presumably because fo the deeper walls
(http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t373/Eddie096/0ABD3BB2-E68D-4EE0-AAA0-A76938C7E9DC-11016-0000139F08AC4451_zps652ccdfa.jpg) (http://s1056.photobucket.com/user/Eddie096/media/0ABD3BB2-E68D-4EE0-AAA0-A76938C7E9DC-11016-0000139F08AC4451_zps652ccdfa.jpg.html)
(http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t373/Eddie096/76E6A148-8D2C-47D4-8DC9-F497C9554C43-11016-0000139F1612BF08_zps3d919290.jpg) (http://s1056.photobucket.com/user/Eddie096/media/76E6A148-8D2C-47D4-8DC9-F497C9554C43-11016-0000139F1612BF08_zps3d919290.jpg.html)

i also found the the rollers make a difference,the deeper one doing less damage to the pipe
(http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t373/Eddie096/FBCF5C30-16B3-4114-B621-D1DD69C59F7D-11016-0000139F1D81C16E_zps517bcd10.jpg) (http://s1056.photobucket.com/user/Eddie096/media/FBCF5C30-16B3-4114-B621-D1DD69C59F7D-11016-0000139F1D81C16E_zps517bcd10.jpg.html)
(http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/t373/Eddie096/E85CBC94-128D-46D5-AEB8-84B7F2CE44BA-11016-0000139F255176DF_zpse50b9937.jpg) (http://s1056.photobucket.com/user/Eddie096/media/E85CBC94-128D-46D5-AEB8-84B7F2CE44BA-11016-0000139F255176DF_zpse50b9937.jpg.html)

I had no problem bending the larger diameter 42mm pipe i used for the frame using the clarke type bender

hope this helps and i'm sure others with more experiance be be better able to advise.

good luck with the project and beware it's addictive,I'm already planning the next project!

p.s. lots of pics please,we love pics on here

Hi Doozer welcome to the madhouse,
As old said the thicker the tube the cleaner the bend,
2.9mm can be bent but has it's limitations.

another thought when i was having that problem someone advised me to wrap the pipe in a coke can if it was loose in the former although i haven't tried that as yet

Should imagine that idea came from MM. He gets through a lot of coke cans. :D
One thing I have found is that placing a thick strip of leather between the rollers and the tube reduces the tendency for the rollers to dent the tubes.

Thanks guys for the welcome. And hello again to andy. We bought your trike originaly as a donar but looking at how nice a job was done on your frame we bought another to cut up instead.

Yours will be played with in the near future..

Doozer

I used smaller cold drawn tube (35mm I think). I found a tip on the interweb that works a treat.

Seal one end with insulation tape
Fill the tube or pipe with sand. You can do this easily by putting the sand in a bucket of water, and first filling the tube with water. Then put the wet sand in by hand a bit at. Time and keep tapping the tube. Keep going until you have a very solid column of sand.
Seal the other end with insulation tape
Bend away.

I got some very tight 90 degree bends like that. Time consuming but worth it.

Oh yes, it was 3mm wall as well

The only problem with the wet sand and filling with water is you are then starting the dreaded rust on the inside of the tube, and it may be 3mm wall but it does not take that long to eat through, using the sand is a great way to get good bends but kiln dryed play sand is far better

Even if you empty it out afterwards?

I wouldn't worry about it.
Unless you intend to pour water through the frame each week corrosion should be minimal. In any sealed tube, the Oxygen in any moisture will quickly be used up and any open ended tube, should dry out provided you have designed the frame with no water traps or have fitted drain holes.

My 11/2 tube bent ok on my robull, the formers are quite deep 1" tube is extremely strong I guess you are looking for the chunky look or is this a back bone you are looking at ?

(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t466/steveatthemorgue/v8%20trike/null_zps0f872e0d.jpg)

(http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t466/steveatthemorgue/v8%20trike/null_zpsadb93e6e.jpg)

I like the design of that Robull. The frame on the Clarke/Sealey type bender gets in the way of more complicated multiple bends.
Might be worth converting or look to buy a second hand one.

robull== pricey bit of kit ,,

Was a bit alright! got mine for 250 but came with all formers oil and crate , I will sell after use :)

or have fitted drain holes.
-how do you fit a hole Dave? Do you have a bag of spare holes I could use?

I got mine as part of a deal with grinder sparks.

With a hole fitting tool. ::)
No but I can get some. Thought the pop already had enough, or is this for the XS. ???

I usually get mine with swarf

Silly sods, I wonder why I bother :P

My steam pipe has a hole all the way down the centre I guess that helps with water flow...

i had some steam pipe but it never steamed  :(

Sounds like a lot of hot air to me ...

ay up doozer, sent a reply to your pm.

Thanks guys for the help... Last weekend I got the bends done I needed. Would go with the sand method for 90° bends but 45's were fine without, also heavy wall was better than medium...
Project is well on the way now... ;D

any pics then ???  ;D