Buying pipe benders for round pipes is not a problem with the current range. But if you need a tool exclusively for home use, it makes no sense to buy industrial and factory machines. It is more economical and easier to make a homemade unit.
To make an effective pipe bender designed for pipes with a circular cross section with your own hands, you must have at least a minimal theoretical base.
The pipe bender differs in the type of drive used.
- Hydraulic. The most common type of pipe bender is hydraulic. In this case, the machine can be homemade or factory. Making a good hydraulic unit with your own hands is not a problem. You will need a hydraulic jack for this. This option is good in that it makes it possible to bend round pipes that are decent in their parameters.
- Mechanical. A less powerful homemade version of the pipe bender. With it, you can bend medium-sized products.
- Manual. Manual drive is the most common in the household. Almost every homemade machine has a manual drive.
- Electric. These are factory made units. You can make it yourself, but you will need the appropriate drawings, certain skills, an electric motor and a number of other components.
Whether you need to bend round pipes up to 30 mm in diameter or profile pipes up to 40 mm, a manual machine is the best solution. For more serious tasks, it makes sense to make a hydraulic pipe bender.
Homemade machine options
To get a pipe bender for a round pipe, it is not at all necessary to spend a lot of money on the purchase of a factory machine.
You can make a manual or hydraulic unit with your own hands. There are various drawings, from the simplest to quite complex. But we offer you exactly the simplest drawings that allow you to get a full-fledged manual bender for round pipes in a short time.
Consider the following constructs assembled from:
- nuts and metal tube;
- Tree;
- Kryuchkov;
- Cylinder and rollers.
Let's start with the simplest and end with a machine whose technical capabilities resemble a hydraulic pipe bender.
Nuts and pipes
An elementary example of a manual installation for bending round pipes. Here, a special drawing is not required, since the machine is made by hand from two elements.
- You will need a strong metal pipe or rod. The handle should not deform when you apply force to bend.
- A nut is fixed at the end of the rod. In this case, the nut should be chosen so that its inner diameter is 25-30 centimeters larger than the diameter of the bent round pipe.
- Such a home-made machine can cope with a pipe with a diameter of up to 30 millimeters.
- The connection of the rod with the nut can be done by welding. Another option is a threaded connection. It is more difficult to implement, but then you can change the size of the nuts. To do this, a small steel piece with a thread is welded to the nut. The handle also has appropriate cuts for carving.
- The bendable pipe is placed on the floor. With your foot rest on one end of the pipe, and grab the other with a nut. Gradually move the handle towards you, due to which there is a 10 degree bend with your hands. Bend until you get the desired bend.
from wood
Another example of a simple do-it-yourself pipe bender for round products. It does not use many auxiliary parts, so the drawing is elementary.
- Cut a semicircle of the required diameter from the board. You can make several of these elements if you want to bend pipes of different parameters;
- The width of the section on which the pipe is laid must exceed the dimensions of the pipe itself. Otherwise, the product may break, cause injury;
- The template board is mounted on a wall or table;
- Near the board, you can install another stop made of metal or wood, where the bent pipe can rest;
- You can make such a template from a single board or connect several boards together. It all depends on what angle of bend you need.
Based on the drawings and see photos, video instructions, it is not difficult to assemble a home-made pipe bender from wood.
From hooks
Good choice of machine. You do not need a drawing, but be sure to clearly follow the dimensions.
- Apply on the table where the hooks will be fixed, markup for their fastening.
- The hooks themselves are available at any hardware store. Choose those that are made of quality metal. Otherwise your pipe will just break them.
- Attach the hooks to the base. The step should be no more than 50 mm. By fixing the hooks, you set a certain radius. The distance between the elements directly depends on the parameters of the round pipe.
- A blank is inserted into the resulting template.
- As in the first case, it is desirable to install an additional stop along the edges, which is stronger than the hook.
- The advantage of the design is that you can easily bend the pipe with your own hands. At the same time, you do not have to make different templates for different pipes. It is enough to remove the hook and move it to another point in order to reduce or increase the angle.
Each of the above machines is easy to assemble with your own hands. If you need a more serious unit that resembles a hydraulic machine, consider another way.
From rollers and cylinder
This is not a hydraulic unit, but similar in technical capabilities to a hydraulic machine. With it, you can bend round pipes of a larger cross section. An indispensable device for repair, construction, when you do not want to spend money on buying factory installations.
The price of a finished manual pipe bender can be from 4-5 thousand rubles. A hydraulic one will cost several times more. Therefore, for many it is easier to build something similar with their own hands.
- To assemble the pipe bender, you will need cylinders and rollers. This machine bends pipes at an angle up to 360 degrees, which is very serious.
- Take a couple of metal plates. Their length and thickness are 30 cm and not more than 10 mm, respectively.
- Also buy four steel corners with shelves. Their size is about 5 by 5 cm.
- Using wooden boards, assemble the template. Its thickness is about 30 millimeters, no more.
- Connect the steel plate to the underside of the plank template.
- To increase the strength, corners are fixed on the base.
- A second high-strength steel plate is mounted on top of the template. A hole is made in it in accordance with the size of the screw, which will serve for installation. It is the bolt that will be the focus, so choose a durable element.
- On the top plate, install the corners, rollers. The rollers should be oriented inside your machine.
- The fixed cylinder and free-moving rollers allow for pipe bending work.
Although this model is more intended for profile pipes, it is quite possible to adapt it to bending a round pipe.
These are just a few options for how you can create a full-fledged pipe bender with your own hands.
Owners of private houses, as well as many home craftsmen, require pipes bent at certain angles for the manufacture of various elements of arched structures and pipelines. To do this, they use industrial, and more often home-made pipe benders for a round pipe. Professional factory pipe benders are expensive, so often such devices are made in-house, which saves money.
The device and principle of operation of the pipe bender
The procedure for bending the pipe is practically not complicated, but requires special attention. In the process of bending, it can receive defects in the form of wall stretching and a decrease in its thickness at the bend, which will lead to a decrease in the strength of the pipe. Also, the place of the bend can change the configuration of the cut and take the shape of an ellipse instead of a circular section, which significantly reduces the internal throughput of the liquid passing through the pipe.
Design features
To minimize bending defects, when choosing or manufacturing a pipe bender for work, you need to understand how it works. The manufacture of a pipe bending device consists of three stages:
These manual tubular benders can be mechanically or hydraulically driven, both of which are great for the home workshop.
The principle of operation of almost all pipe bending devices is the same. The workpiece is fixed in a special fixture and under a certain force takes the required bending angle.
There are various pipe bending devices, and, of course, each of them uses its own system of force. For example, in devices of a crossbow or hydraulic type, a point force acts on the bendable section of the pipe.
According to another scheme, bending is carried out using several rollers, between which the workpiece is rolled, a certain bending angle is obtained. According to this scheme, pipe benders equipped with special inserts for pipes (mandrel) work.
What is dorn for?
To figure out what the mandrel is used for, you need to know what can happen to the pipe during its bending if you do not use the mandrel. For example, when a workpiece is bent, two opposite forces act on some of its sections at the bend:
- Compression of the wall of the inner radius, in which the metal, deforming, forms a wavy surface (corrugation).
- Stretching. In this case, the metal wall of the outer radius of the bend is stretched, due to which it becomes thinner. Naturally, this can weaken the strength of the pipe in the section of the bend made by almost 50%.
Especially strongly, if you do not use a mandrel, thin-walled copper, aluminum and other pipes made of soft material can be deformed.
For the mandrel inserted inside the pipe in front of the flexible one, steel springs are usually used, selected for the inner diameter of the pipes to be bent. Sometimes the surface of the springs is coated with polyurethane to provide better stabilization of the pipe walls.
Types and manufacture of bending devices
There are not so many ways to bend the pipe, but there are a fairly large number of devices for performing these actions. However, they can be of various types. In order to make the right pipe bender for a round pipe with your own hands, the drawings can be compiled independently or freely downloaded from the Internet.
According to the principle of influencing the workpiece of a round pipe, in order to give it a bend at a certain angle, there are various types of pipe benders.
Crossbow type model
These models of pipe benders are driven by hydraulic or screw drives. In the process of processing the workpiece, the model is bent in the form of a crossbow shoulder, from which the name of the bending device came.
The design of the crossbow pipe bender in manufacturing has some difficulties, but its power and technical capabilities are quite large. The fixture itself can be made with several functions, such as being used as a bending machine and a hydraulic press.
Depending on the design of the rigid metal frame, the machine can operate in a horizontal position (a jack or other power device is located horizontally) and in a vertical position.
The design consists of a rigid frame and two rollers mounted on special racks welded to the platform. A jack is located in the center between the racks, and clamps are fixed to the axes of the rollers, which ensure free fixation of the workpiece that is laid on them.
A punch for a pipe bender (shoe, template) can be made from old rollers, pulleys, or bent and cut along pipes.
The work of the crossbow machine is done in this way:
- A workpiece from the pipe is laid on the rollers and fixed with clamps.
- A shoe is fixed to the jack (a template with a certain bending angle).
- The jack presses on the center of the workpiece with a shoe and smoothly bends it to a predetermined angle.
Using the same technique, you can make a small manual pipe bender, with which it is easy to bend strong thick-walled pipes of medium and small diameter. For this purpose, you will need to purchase a small hydraulic jack, two rollers, make a punch and a strong metal T-shaped nozzle for the jack.
The entire design of the "crossbow" mechanism must be with a large margin of safety. Otherwise, if under the pressure of the jack, the workpiece breaks out of the fixing brackets, the operator may be injured.
Roller rolling system
Such pipe bending models are also called rolling. With this system, you can bend round or shaped pipes, as well as steel fittings to large radii. The ideal device for preparing arches for sheds or greenhouses.
The main elements of this kind of device are three metal rollers, matched to the diameter of the bent pipe blank. The workpiece is placed on two extreme rollers and the third, located in the center, is rolled along the pipe. Under his effort, the part gradually bends, acquiring a certain bending radius.
The system can be driven by a hand crank or by an electric motor through a special tube bender gearbox. The quality of the resulting product, which has been processed on this device, is quite high, and the pipe itself, in contact with metal rollers, is practically not damaged.
The advantage of a rolling pipe bender is its small size, due to which the tool takes up little space in any home workshop and can be easily mounted on a workbench or wall. And due to the fact that it is made entirely of metal, the workpiece in the process of bending it can be heated with a blowtorch or gas burner to facilitate work.
The simplest device
For urgent work where you need a manual round pipe bender to quickly bend an angled elbow, such as for domestic plumbing, you can make a simple bending device using available tools. To do this, prepare a lever from cutting a metal round pipe with a diameter of approximately 32-42 mm or thick, preferably smooth fittings. The length of the lever should be within 1-1.5 m, depending on the workpiece to be bent.
A ring made of thick-walled pipe cutting with a width of approximately 30-40 mm is welded to one of the ends of the lever. The inner diameter of the ring must be greater than the outer diameter of the workpiece prepared for bending.
Instead of a ring, two rods from a thick smooth rod can be welded to the lever. The rods are welded perpendicular to the lever and parallel to each other. The distance between them must be greater than the outer dimension of the workpiece prepared for bending.
The bending process is carried out as follows: P
- The workpiece is laid on a hard, flat surface, it can be asphalt, concrete floor, reinforced concrete panel or thick board.
- The tubular blank prepared for bending is threaded into the ring of the manufactured fixture or inserted between its pins, after which, acting on the lever with muscular force, it is bent.
winding machine
Pipe bending machines of this type differ from other bending devices in that the pressure roller presses the workpiece directly to the template itself, as if winding the pipe around it. This allows you to bend ring-shaped and spiral parts from blanks, which is completely impossible to do on conventional pipe bending machines.
During operation, the roller itself is in a stationary state, but the template, to which the end of the workpiece is rigidly fixed, rotates around its axis, winding the pipe over itself, which is why machines of this type are called winding.
The drive on such devices is most often electric, since it takes a lot of effort to twist the pipe into a ring. The mandrel for the template must be removable, otherwise it will be quite difficult to remove the workpiece curved with a spiral from it. The template can be made of wood, textolite or metal.
The advantage of the winding machine lies in its simple design, and the disadvantage is in some limitation in the size of the template and in the need for a powerful lever.
Wooden conductor
This design can be considered a break-in device, and the difference is that there is no pressure roller. For the manufacture of this device, you will need thick plywood or boards, as a base, you can use a workbench or a massive chipboard slab.
A template is made from a thick board, in which one side is rounded to a certain radius. It is rigidly fixed on the edge of the workbench in such a way that around it it is possible to freely wrap the workpiece prepared for bending.
The end of the workpiece can be fixed with a primitive wooden stop from a bar or trimming the same board from which the template was made. The bending of the pipe is carried out with the help of muscular strength smoothly, without sudden movements, then its damage will be insignificant, and the acquired geometric shape will turn out to be accurate and even.
So that the part to be bent does not jump off the template (punch), it is desirable to make a semicircular recess along the perimeter of its rounded part, processing the end with a round rasp.
Fixing the pipe on the template can be done in another way by stuffing a rounded piece of plywood on top of it, which should protrude beyond its edge within 6-10 mm. True, this option is well suited if the tube has thin walls, since more powerful efforts are needed to bend parts with thick walls, while the wooden punch can simply collapse.
Before bending the pipe, it is recommended to fill it with dry sand and plug both ends with wooden plugs.
This will help to avoid the appearance of waves (corrugations) on the workpiece from the inside of the curved section, and a large stretching of the metal on the outer wall of the bend.
Of all the existing pipe bending machines, the most widely used pipe bender is made by hand, the work of which is carried out according to the principle of a rolling fixture. Such a pipe bending model has practically no drawbacks, it has a small weight and dimensions, it can be freely transferred and takes up little space during storage.
While working on the site or in the garage, it is often necessary to bend several pipes along one or another circle. Or, alternatively, make flat steel strips semicircular. For this, a device such as a pipe bender is used, but acquiring a factory model for performing a couple of operations is not a cheap pleasure. It is easier to make a simple do-it-yourself pipe bender that can bend the pipe to the required dimensions. With the simplest and most popular options for this design, we will get acquainted today.
What are tube benders used for?
Profile pipes with various cuts are today considered the most popular metal products and are used in the construction of greenhouses, sheds, garages, to create fences, during the laying of a pipeline, and so on. And in the manufacture of most of these products, the pipes must be bent at one angle or another, and without special equipment this cannot be done.
So, a pipe bender is a special device through which, in most cases, pipes are bent, and the bending angle can be different (within 0-180 degrees). The drive of a modern pipe bender is often electromechanical or hydraulic.
Note! Using the device described in the article, you can bend products of any configuration (boiler rooms, gas and water pipes; moreover, pipes can be either steel or copper, aluminum or metal-plastic).
The scope of the pipe bender is quite wide - it can be found on construction sites, when creating heating / plumbing networks, at industrial facilities, etc. A hand-made pipe bender is an indispensable thing in the household that can be used for a variety of jobs. If you, for example, intend to install an air conditioner with your own hands, equip a ventilation or heating system, then it will not be easy to do without this unit.
How is a pipe bender arranged?
The specific design of the device depends, first of all, on its purpose, however, without fail, the pipe bender includes:
- frame;
- a pair of pipe stops;
- hydraulic cylinder;
- straps (upper/lower).
Note also that the frame can be either open or closed. As for the hydraulic cylinder, it is the main part of the device that performs the power function.
Also in the do-it-yourself pipe bender circuit there is an injection device, which is located on the back of the case; in the same place is the bypass valve screw, the handle. But on top of the cylinder there is a plug, through which oil is poured inside and its level is checked. The unit bar located at the bottom is screwed onto the thread located in front of the housing, and then pressed with a special fixing nut. Additionally, the bar is fastened with a lock and a pair of screws.
For manual reinforcement, a retractable rod is used, which returns back thanks to a spring located in the cylinder. The pipe bender bars are made as a welded structure. On the transverse plates there are holes through which the stops are installed. In the lower part of the body there are also threaded holes for mounting bolts, adjustable in height.
Note! The emphasis is made in the form of a trunnion, and the stops located at its ends are inserted into the holes on the slats. The bent product will rest on the stream located in the middle of the stop. The bending elements are made of precision cast steel.
Considering a do-it-yourself pipe bender, one cannot fail to note the fact that thin-walled profile pipes have become increasingly popular in recent years, moreover, they make it possible to create durable and attractive structures, as well as save on construction work. It is from such pipes that greenhouses and various sheds are made today. What is the difference between a profile pipe and an ordinary one? First of all, the cross section, which in this case is not round, but oval, rectangular or square. This is precisely what explains the design features of the pipe bender for this type of pipe - the rollers must be of the same cross section as the products being bent, otherwise the cross section of the latter may be deformed.
Types of pipe benders
With a manual pipe bender, you can bend rings and arcs. Such a device weighs relatively little (about 65 kg), so it can be transported to the place of work with small metal structures (the same greenhouses, gates, sheds). Here are the main characteristics of materials that can be processed with a manual fixture: a round pipe with a cross section of 3 centimeters, a square one - 4x4 centimeters, a rod - 1.6 centimeters, a strip - 4x1 centimeters and, finally, a square - 1.6x1.6 centimeters.
Thanks to various types of mandrels, the range of processed products can be expanded, and the pipe bender, in turn, can be turned into a profile bender. The cost of a hand tool is such that it can be purchased or made with your own hands, even for minor industries.
As for electric pipe benders, they are used on an industrial scale when working with products of various sections. Such units are very productive, which is primarily due to additional functions, including the rotation of the rollers in two directions at once, the use of foot pedals, and adjustment using the control panel.
The possibilities of electric pipe benders include bending arcs from square (8x4 centimeters) and round (3 centimeters) pipes. In order to match the configuration of the section and the diameter of the products, the devices are equipped with special interchangeable mandrels for each specific case.
A hydraulic manual pipe bender is considered more modern, the strength of which is such that it allows processing fairly large steel products. It is this option that is desirable to use for water or gas pipelines. In this pipe bender, the drive is equipped with a special hydraulic installation, which distinguishes it from a conventional device (the operator's work is noticeably facilitated).
Hydraulic devices can be of several types at once and can be used for various pipes and fittings. Thus, a portable pipe bender (TPB) can be used for solid steel pipes, as well as for round steel (we are talking about the bulldozer method, when the pipes are not filled with sand or other fillers). There is also a manual unit (RGU), with which water and gas pipes, fittings or, again, rolled steel are bent.
Note! From the point of view of operating conditions, a pipe bender (including with your own hands) can be manual and stationary. Representatives of the first group are more suitable for domestic use, while representatives of the second group are at enterprises that require bending pipes or other products.
The principle of operation of the pipe bender
At first it may seem that there is nothing super complicated in bending pipes, but in reality this is not entirely true. If handled incorrectly, you may encounter all sorts of defects, including crushing (may cause a change in diameter) or stretching of the thickness at the bend (due to this, the strength characteristics of the pipeline may suffer). For this reason, the device must be selected correctly, knowing the principle of its operation - this is how you minimize possible defects.
The very principle of operation is as follows. First, the required size of a semicircle is drawn on folded boards or pieces of chipboard, after which they are cut along the line and fixed with nails on the floor, wall or fence. At the same time, it must be remembered that this shield should be somewhat thicker than the product being bent (by about two to three centimeters). An emphasis is fixed from the edge of the board in the side part. The edge of the pipe is inserted between the latter and the template, and then, in accordance with this template, smooth bending is performed (you need to take hold of the second end of the product for this).
Important information! If we are talking about a short pipe or a small bar, then the second end is extended by cutting a pipe that is suitable in diameter.
We also note that there are quite complex solutions to the problem of bending large diameter pipes, however, they require plumbing skills and the use of professional equipment. To make such a pipe bender yourself is not only difficult, but also expensive - it is much easier to purchase a manual unit that has already been used.
Video - Do-it-yourself pipe bender for profile pipes
A simple do-it-yourself pipe bender for ordinary pipes
To assemble a simple pipe bender with your own hands, you only need what can be found at any summer cottage. More specifically, you will need:
- wooden shield;
- two small bars;
- large hooks;
- several sturdy boards.
Draw a semicircle on the finished shield, according to which the pipe will bend. If the unit will be used several times, draw a couple of semicircles at once. Next, nail bars or boards vertically from below (they can help with the pipe and fixing its ends). After that, fasten large hooks along the semicircle. This unit is quite convenient, but its minus is that the hooks will have to be outweighed every time in order to get different bending angles.
Making a pipe bender designed to work with shaped pipes with your own hands
For this kind of pipes, the design described above is no longer suitable. For this reason, you will need a special do-it-yourself roller pipe bender. If you familiarize yourself with the drawings and step-by-step instructions, you will be able to make such a machine with your own hands.
From the materials you will need:
- pre-made frame made of steel profile;
- videos;
- jack;
- three rollers.
After preparing everything you need, you can proceed directly to the manufacturing process.
Step one. Make a metal frame. Below you can additionally weld fasteners for fixing on the table top. After that, place a pair of vertical supports: on the side and in the center. On the opposite side (where there is no support), the profile will rise, and therefore it needs to be bolted. This part will be lifted with a jack.
step two. Weld the shafts to the finished frame. Two on the sides, while under the third it is required to prepare supports in advance. The shaft will be attached to the latter.
Step Three. Weld a handle made of steel pipe to the central shaft. With the help of this handle, the product will be bent.
Step Four. Fix two shafts between the shafts on the sides and the central one, as well as a roller, so that the product being bent does not move. The fact is that in this way the pipe will not move much, and therefore the work will be done with maximum accuracy.
Step five. At the end, place the jack under the movable part of the profile (the one with the roller). The jack, by the way, can be either a simple rack or a bottle jack. If necessary, fix it on the structure.
Note! Take careful measurements before starting work. Draw a diagram, check how well the parts are welded together. In addition, we recommend that you watch the video below.
Video - Making a simple pipe bender on your own
Manufacturing of a compact snail pipe bender
To make a pipe bender with your own hands, you can use ready-made design drawings. Familiarize yourself with several options, proportion their complexity and your capabilities, the availability of the required skills and equipment. So you will be able to choose the most optimal design. So, check out a few more options for pipe benders that you can assemble with your own hands.
To begin with, for the correct bending of profile pipes, it is necessary to clearly understand what the physics of this process is. As a rule, the so-called circular bend is used in manual fixtures, due to which the risks of damage to the product, the appearance of cracks or creases are minimized. To bend the pipe in such a unit, it is necessary to fix the pipe in it, and then press the lever. The product will flex as it rolls over the roller, which in turn presses it against the main wheel.
As for the necessary equipment and materials, you will need:
- a sheet of metal 6 mm thick;
- ruler / tape measure;
- Working wheel;
- a hammer;
- pressure roller;
- corners made of steel, with dimensions of 5x5x0.25 centimeters;
- welding machine (and skills to work with it, of course);
- a piece of thick pipe with a diameter of 2.5 centimeters;
- Bulgarian;
- axes of rotation;
- washers, nuts;
- a piece of metal rod with a square section (2x2x4 centimeters).
Note! When building a pipe bender with your own hands, be sure to follow the safety requirements! In particular, this applies to welding and metal cutting!
How to calculate the design. Drawing
Before you start making a pipe bender with your own hands, determine under what radius you will need to bend the pipes most often. It is on this that the dimensions of the impeller will depend (they must be the same as the inner radius of the finished elbow).
The drawing presented above was created for profile pipes whose diameter does not exceed one inch. Using this unit, it will be possible to obtain a bending radius of up to 12.5 centimeters (this is 1/2 the diameter of the impeller). But if you require other bending parameters, apply the appropriate calculation method.
So, the main size of the fork is the distance between the axes of the roller and the impeller (here a = 200 millimeters). This gap is chosen in this case, taking into account the fact that the maximum diameter of the profile pipe will be 25 millimeters, but we recommend adding a few more “reserve” millimeters.
Here is the formula for calculating the distance between the axles:
d + r1 + r2 + 2= a, in which:
- d is the exact diameter of the product;
- r1-2 is the roller/impeller radius.
Note! If the design of the future unit provides for the presence of a kind of brook pulley, then measure, starting only from the lowest point of this element.
To determine the size of the fork, take 10 millimeters as the gap between its base and the roller, and then add another 30 "spare" millimeters. But to determine the internal clearance, add one or two millimeters to the wheel thickness.
Important information! For a more versatile design, make a few holes on the sides of the fork. When you move the axis of the roller, you will change the distance between the surfaces of the rotating elements.
How to make such a pipe bender - a detailed guide
As you can see from the diagram above, the design consists of:
- iron thick plate (base);
- forks;
- impeller;
- and finally the roller.
To make a pipe bender with your own hands, follow the sequence of actions below.
Step one. First, make a roller and an impeller. If you have a lathe, this is very good, but in the absence of such equipment, these elements can also be made without any difficulties. For a moderate fee, a specialist will quickly turn your pulleys for you.
Note! Do not skimp on the creation of movable parts! They must have a groove for the maximum diameter pipe, in addition, the roller must have a seat for a rolling bearing.
If necessary, you can make adjustments to the design of the surface of the knee; the roller/wheel chute is shaped. When the roller rolls, it will leave a mark on the outside of the knee, while the wheel will leave it on the inside. To facilitate work and reduce the cost of the total cost of the structure, you can install two ball bearings of the required dimensions instead of a roller.
step two. Using the same machine, it is necessary to make an axis for the roller and the impeller. It is important that the thickness of the elements matches the inner diameter of the bearing you are using. As for the length of the axle, it should be the same as the outer width of the fork. The length of the axis of rotation of the wheel will be slightly longer, since the thickness of the base plate of the unit will also be taken into account. If you refuse to install bearings, you can thereby significantly reduce the cost of the process, and in this case, long bolts with nuts will act as axles. Be that as it may, remember that working on such a device will be much more difficult.
Step Three. After that, take a sheet of metal, cut out the back wall and side surfaces of the fork from it; in addition, you will need a piece of pipe with thick walls, which will serve as a lever.
Step Four. Make holes in the fork for the roller/wheel according to the diagram.
Step five. Weld the elements of the fork. At the same time, make sure that exactly the right angles of this product are made with especially high quality.
Note! It is better not to fasten the lever butt to the fork, as this kind of fastening will be unreliable due to the large applied forces. The best option is to drill a hole in the back wall, where the end of the pipe will subsequently enter. If you weld such a joint using a welding machine, you will end up with an extremely strong joint.
Step Six. We continue to assemble a pipe bender with our own hands. So, now arm yourself with a grinder and cut out the frame with it. After that, drill a hole of the appropriate size in it for the stationary wheel axle.
step seven. If necessary, press the bearing into the roller.
Step eight. Place the roller in the fork, and then secure with nuts or a welding machine.
Step nine. Install the assembled fork on the base, fixing the wheel axle in the same way as when installing the roller.
Step ten. Weld a piece of square section - this will be a kind of retainer for the workpiece.
At the end, make holes in the corners of the base to install the unit to the workbench. Do not forget to clean up the welding spots so that the design looks more attractive in the end. Also paint the pipe bender with enamel to prevent rusting.
Another design of the bending machine
Here, as you can see, the roller is pressed by means of a threaded gear. In this example, a hydraulic jack and a manual drive will be used, in which there will be elements of a gas distribution mechanism (we are talking about those in automobile engines). And one more thing: do not forget about personal safety! Always use personal protective equipment when working!
Now - directly to the process of making a pipe bender with your own hands
Step one. First, make a pressure shaft and support shafts. If you do not know how to work with a lathe, then you will need the help of a professional. At the same time, it is important that the rollers have shanks necessary for mounting sprockets.
Note! The chain, as well as sprockets, can be any.
step two. Attach bearings to the shafts, fasten the gears to the keys.
Step Three. Weld the frame of the future pipe bender. First of all, make a square frame on which there are support legs, and then install a structure on it, through which the plate with the roller will move.
Step Four. The plate in this case will serve as a channel (H- or U-shaped). To install the pressure shaft, make holes on the edges of the plate, taking into account the dimensions of the bearing supports.
Step five. Hang a piece of channel with a roller on four springs on top of the frame (pre-weld nuts in the corners that will serve you as mounting loops). Then, finally install the hydraulic jack.
Step Six. Fix the drive shafts on the lower frame.
step seven. Put a chain on the sprockets, push it down to determine the place where the tensioner will be located. Install the latter on the construction frame.
Step eight. Install a handle to rotate the shafts of the structure. We recommend using a handle with a rotating tube to make it easier to work and to avoid blisters on your hands.
Step nine. You can process a finished pipe bender with your own hands with a special rust converter, and then paint it.
In the end, it remains only to check the resulting design for operability. That's all, we hope that you, following our instructions, will definitely get the desired result! And at the end - another thematic video.
Good luck with your work!
Video - Making a simple pipe bender
When carrying out repair work, it often becomes necessary to give pipes a certain shape. Although here you can resort to improvised tools, you can still achieve the best effect if you use a manual pipe bender. This tool can be purchased at any specialized store, but if you wish, you can make it yourself. Every craftsman should take care of the presence of this device in his arsenal, since at the most unexpected moment it may be necessary to bend tubular products.
According to its design, this tool is distinguished by a number of features, thanks to which it manages to bend metal pipes without any problems, giving them the required corner radius, which is carried out with minimal physical effort. The equipment available today for bending profile and round pipes can be divided into several types:
- hydraulic;
- manual;
- spring;
- mandrel.
Along with them, one can distinguish tools and other execution:
- crossbow;
- segment;
- electromechanical.
All of the above tools have certain positive and negative qualities, but any of them allows you to bend a round metal pipe in a short time and with minimal physical effort.
The easiest option is to visit the nearest specialized store that offers such tools. But if the owner has experience in making a wide variety of devices with his own hands, then he may consider creating a manual pipe bender at home. But before you start assembling such a device, you should prepare everything you need: drawings, materials and certain tools.
The main purpose of the device
In recent years, various profiled metal blanks have become widespread, on the basis of which fences, nets, garden furniture of unusual design are created.
Profile pipes have gained wide popularity as a material for the manufacture of structures for car sheds, garages and greenhouses, and in addition, arbors in the country. The design of such products provides for a wide variety of elements, and they certainly include curved pipes.
To perform bending of a profile or round pipe in order to give it a certain shape, in most cases they resort to such a device as a pipe bender.
Having such a versatile tool at hand, the owner can effortlessly bend a profile and round pipe at a right angle, for which he does not need to exert significant physical effort.
Such devices may be equipped with a hydraulic or electromechanical drive. In this case, the most common option are pipe benders with a manual principle of operation. Such a device allows you to perform certain operations with pipes small and large diameters for various purposes.
Today, equipment such as a pipe bender for profile, metal, and metal-plastic pipes is widely used in various industries.
If we talk about their use in industry, then usually here we mean professional pipe benders, which are driven by a hydraulic or electromechanical drive.
If the task arises of using the device to solve everyday problems, then most often the choice stops at home-made units, for the manufacture of which improvised materials are used. Naturally, you can avoid all the problems that accompany the process of making a pipe bender with your own hands if you visit a specialized store and pick up a version of this tool there that meets the requirements. However, making a pipe bender with your own hands is attractive primarily because it saves a considerable amount of money.
Design features
Regardless of whether you plan to purchase a pipe bender in a store or make it yourself, it may have different designs, which is determined by its type and purpose.
Each such device is characterized by certain elements that are presented in the design of any pipe bender model:
- rigid frame;
- hydraulic cylinder;
- metal strips;
- strong supports
- rollers for pipe bender.
If you plan to assemble a pipe bender with your own hands, then it must necessarily provide for the above elements. Pipe bender frame can be made in a closed or open version. The hydraulic cylinder will act as the element on which the main power load will fall. A home-made apparatus for bending pipes must certainly be equipped with a pressure device, for the placement of which a place is chosen for the extreme part of the body.
In addition to this, it is important to take care of the presence of a bypass valve and a handle that will provide convenience when bending pipes.
To simplify the process of servicing the hydraulic cylinder, it is useful to provide in the design such an element as a plug that will allow you to fill in oil. Rollers will simplify the bending process.
To avoid errors when bending pipes, care must be taken that the profile or round pipe is rigidly fixed.
The key role in pipe bending will be assigned not to rollers, but to rising stem, and it must be able to return to its original position. This problem can be solved by equipping the tool with a strong spring.
The upper and lower metal strips must be securely fastened, for which it is recommended to use welding. An important role in this device is given to the stop, for which it is mandatory to have a strong and reliable design that can withstand significant loads.
Most often, the device of a pipe bender with and without rollers provides for certain design features that must be given in the drawing to it without fail. Create reliable pipe bender it is possible with your own hands, provided that, in addition to a correctly drawn up drawing, you have the necessary structural elements for this.
The most common version of such devices is a manual type pipe bender with rollers, with which you can quite effectively bend pipes into arcs and rings. Among the distinguishing features of such a device, it should be noted small size and weight so that it can be easily moved to another location. This tool will bring considerable benefit if necessary to deform light metal structures, for example, greenhouse frames, gates and awnings.
In some cases, this equipment can be used in combination with a variety of mandrels. This expands its functionality, allowing you to bend profile pipes. Pipe benders of this design are offered in most professional stores, although each owner is able to make such a unit and rollers for him on his own.
Features of pipe benders
In industrial enterprises, pipe benders with electric drives are most widely used. In addition to the wide range of tasks that they can successfully solve, this tool with rollers demonstrates high performance.
With the help of a pipe bender, you can perform operations of a different nature, but, given its specific application, it is not so easy to assemble it with your own hands. In a situation where enterprises need to deform large-diameter metal pipes, they usually resort to the help of pipe benders with rollers equipped with a hydraulic drive. With the help of such a tool, you can create significant efforts to solve the problem, and this device itself can easily cope with high loads.
Pipe benders with rollers equipped with hydraulic drive, most effectively cope with their task in the construction of gas and water pipelines, where a significant amount of work is planned. The presence of a special hydraulic installation in the equipment of such a machine eliminates the need for the operator to exert any physical effort to deform the products.
When making a do-it-yourself pipe bender with rollers, you should remember that this operation is quite complicated. In case of violation of the execution technology, one may encounter the appearance of defects on the material, including cracks that may occur in the bending areas. Working as a pipe bender, the owner has the opportunity to perform any operations on workpieces, providing the desired shape with minimal physical effort.
All available types of pipe benders with rollers are united by the fact that the same principle is put at the heart of the work.
Operation features
The first step in the manufacture of a pipe bender is the preparation of a working template that will contain all the necessary configuration information for the workpiece.
After that, using the stop, the bending pipe must be fixed, and then they begin to bend by making smooth movements along the contour of the template.
In some cases, the workpiece may yield to the template in size. In this case, you will need to build it up using a small piece of pipe for this purpose.
A mandrel-type pipe bender does its job in the same way as professional devices. If there is an interest in pipe benders for domestic use, then it is best to work with a roller-type device, which can be made on your own or purchased from a specialized store.
Assembly order
Even before you start manufacturing a device for bending pipes, you should prepare all the necessary material and tools.
You should also take care of the availability of a drawing, where the details should be given device components and their description.
Work technology
The first step in assembling the pipe bender is to make the base of the machine. It is very important that the walls of the pipe used have a rectangular cross section and the required thickness.
A hole is drilled in the pipe, where the main pulley will subsequently be installed. The unnecessary part must be cut off with a grinder.
After that, they begin to assemble the lever: by welding, it is necessary to fix a nut on one end of the stud, and a lock on the other.
Next, it's time to make a handle, for which you will have to use steel plates and rubber fragments. After the handle is ready, it must be fixed as rigidly as possible on the pulley.
The next step is the general assembly of the entire pipe bender structure. It is necessary to take the plate from the handle of the machine and fix it on the base of the device. Then they begin to install the main pulley.
Having finished assembling the pipe bender, you should check it in operation. It is necessary to take a pipe blank and try give it any shape.
If after completion of the tests the result is satisfactory, the machine is ready for operation.
Conclusion
Every home craftsman who often has to deal with pipes, creating various structures and systems based on them, should think about the presence of a pipe bender. Here it is not necessary to go to the store and purchase pipe bending equipment there. Having the necessary materials and tools available, as well as knowing technology for such work, you can quite easily make a pipe bender with your own hands. Such a solution is preferable in view of the fact that it allows considerable savings in the cost of manufacturing such a device. And as a result, the owner gets quite reliable equipment that will help him simplify the process of deformation of various tubular products.
For construction and installation work, especially when it comes to pipelines, pipes with different bending angles are often required, and the use of fittings may not be justified at all.
Pipe bending in such cases is carried out using pipe benders. These are both portable, industrial and for home use.
Article content
The device and principle of operation of a manual pipe bender
A manual pipe bender is quite simple in design and principle of operation, so a home craftsman may well handle it yourself. The main elements in any pipe bending device are the pressure plate. A special mechanism presses on it with a certain force, and it transfers the force to the pipe being processed.
As a mechanism for pressing, both an electric motor or a hydraulic pump, as well as a spring with latches, are used.
To perform bending, the corrugation is installed between the pressure plate and several shafts that act as stabilizers. Also, with the help of shafts, you can adjust the bending radius, since their position is adjustable.
So, to bend the pipe along a small radius, the shafts are located close enough to each other, and if it is necessary to increase the radius, then they are moved away from each other.
To bend a round pipe, crescent-shaped shafts are installed on the pipe benders.
Hand device
A home-made manual pipe bender, with which round pipes are bent, consists of two machined pulleys, one of which is fixed motionless, and the second rotates around the first at a distance of the diameter of the pipe being processed. The principle of its work is simple: a pipe is laid between two pulleys and, by rotating the movable pulley, the round pipe is bent to the desired angle.
A manual pipe bender in the hands of a skilled owner may be needed at any time, therefore it is worthwhile to approach its manufacture thoroughly, so that they can bend pipes of various diameters.
This design would require two triple sheaves instead of single sheaves: one pair would be used for bending 1/2″ pipe, one for 3/4″ pipe, and one for inch pipe.
It is unlikely that you will be able to buy such devices on the market, so you will need to order them in a turning workshop. At the ends of the shafts, a groove is made, which in size coincides with the half diameter of the corrugation.
Another important point that must be taken into account in the manufacture of shafts is that the stationary pulley should be minimal in size, since the minimum possible bending radius of the product depends on this. The optimal size of the movable shaft is twice the diameter of the stationary one.
The sequence of manufacturing the design of the pipe bender
So, now directly about the stages of work that are performed independently:
- after the shafts are ordered, they begin to manufacture the base for a home-made pipe bender. A thick metal plate (at least 10 mm) of a square shape is suitable for it. To attach the base to the table, it is necessary to drill four holes at the corners of the plate, or weld it to a metal pole immured in the floor;
- in the center of the plate, a pin of the same diameter as the small triple shaft is fixed by welding;
- next step it is necessary to make a rotary mechanism. To do this, three metal plates are welded in the form of the letter P (the width of the plates is more than 50 mm), and the height of the structure depends on the diameters of the large and small shafts: a fully movable pulley and half of the stationary one should fit in this height;
- to mount the shafts, you will need to drill several holes. The legs of the letter P are at a distance from each other, slightly greater than the height of the shafts. A handle, about 25 cm long, is welded to the upper bar of the structure, on which a lever tube is subsequently put on;
- the large pin is mounted first and secured with cotter pins behind the plate in the form of the letter P, and the small shaft is put on together with the entire structure;
- to equip the pipe stopper, another pin is welded to the frame, installed vertically. It will serve as a stop.
The second method is similar to the previous one, only metal hooks are used as a template, which are fixed over the plywood sheet along the line of the intended bend. The advantage of this design is that the hooks can be repositioned to change the radius of the pipe.
Advantages and disadvantages of manual pipe benders
The main advantages of manual devices:
- has small overall dimensions and weight. Bending pipes with their help is possible almost anywhere: in the workshop, at the dacha, in the garage or at the construction site. As a rule, the need for a pipe bender for round pipes arises in those places where engineering systems are laid.
- Another advantage is that with the help of such devices it is easy to bend pipes made of soft metal or.
- The manual unit is quite mobile: if necessary, it can be easily moved to any place.
- Even the most inexperienced user will cope with work on a manual pipe bender: the principle of its operation is so simple that it is simply impossible not to understand it.
However, along with the advantages, there are also disadvantages of using such a device. One of the most important: the inability to bend a large diameter pipe. Thick-walled bending will also be difficult.
