How do yall bend brass tubing?

[justneedspeed]

I was thinking about just bending 1/4 brass tubing (hopefully thats right for .150 flex shaft) using some elbow grease. I was just wondering what method do yall guys use? Thanks in advance.

[JimClark]

fill it with sugar or salt to hold the shape when bending or get one of the spring tubing benders

Jim

[Fluid]

You can spend a lot of time spilling sugar or sand or what-not, or you can just go ahead and bend it with your fingers. I've been doing just that for 20 years and have yet to ruin any tubing. I bent the tubing straight out of the K&S rack - NO ANEALING - even the large diameter stuff for the 1/4" cable in my big cats.

Go slowly and do not cut the tube to the final length until it is bent. I've bent 3/16" tubing in a 3" diameter circle in under 2 minutes, with witnesses.


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[justneedspeed]

I love doing it the ole elbow grease way. (especially in front of my Girlfriend) it makes me feel strong. lol

[andym]

I use 7/32 tubing for my .150 flex although I dont use teflon, and bend it just like Jay

[ReddyWatts]

I use the tube bender from Harbor Freight Tools for under $10.00 and make a long sweeping bend.

[crazzy maxx]

I love doing it the ole elbow grease way. (especially in front of my Girlfriend) it makes me feel strong. lol

yea bending w/ salt gets messy sometimes but it works
bending w/o salt or stuff gets real tricky but it works also.

[GregS]

I also do it the elbow grease way and with no annealing. Like Jay said it's important to not cut it to length first so you have more purchase to bend with.

I have my doubts about how effective the salt method is. The first time I bent a tube to make a water pickup I kinked it. I packed it with salt the next time and had success. At this point I concluded the salt was the difference and it worked. However, recently when making a water pickup I packed the tube solidly with salt and kinked it very easily. I re-did it without salt being a lot more careful and had success. I think the key is to be careful and go at it slowly.

Greg