Copper tube bending

[Garry ColesParticipant @garrycoles69390]

[Garry ColesParticipant @garrycoles69390]

Hi, I need to put some bends in copper tube for the exhaust pipe from the cylinder to the chimney on my Traction engine. And I don't want it to collapse. I was wondering if lead is melted and poured down the tube, this will work the same as cerrobend (woods metal). I know I can buy Cerrobend on line, but living in Jersey the postage gets a bit silly. And I have plenty of lead in stock.

Garry

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

What diameter and wall thickness tube are you using and do you already have a tube bending device ?

Emgee

[MikelkieParticipant @mikelkie]

Go for, it anneal the the copper at the point where u want the bend Works every time for me

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Popular method on the Fowlers that have a close tight dog leg bend in the pipe is to make a series of saw cuts almost all the way through then as the pipe is bent the saw kerfs close up and the gaps are filled by silver soldering.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I made an exhaust for a motorcycle by that method many years ago. BSA C10, horrible thing but kept me off the streets for a bit getting it going. My mat got the exhaust chromed as a foreigner, all the plating fell off after about a year.

[Garry ColesParticipant @garrycoles69390]

Well, thanks for all the comments, but i'm not any the wiser about using lead!

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

I had a mate who used to pack the tube with sand. It worked ok. Never heard of doing it with lead, but I can see your theory behind it. Anything to stop the tube kinking

Out of interest as already asked, what diameter tube & wall thickness. Also what angles. Are they as tight as Jason's photo.

Steve.

[Dave Smith 14Participant @davesmith14]

Garry

Only one way to find out, just try it on a test piece. It should work, your biggest problem may getting all the residue out of the pipe.

Dave

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Yes lead is a traditional filler for pipe bending so should work for you. Be careful on removal that you melt the lead out from one end and work along. Just throwing the pipe in the fire can lead to the centre section melting first and firing the unmelted plug from the end across the shop floor.

[Garry ColesParticipant @garrycoles69390]

The size of the copper tube is 3/8 x 21 g and the bends are like the one in JasonBs picture. I now know I can use lead thanks to Hopper. Cheers

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Just a thought. If the pipe is really clean inside, you'll probably get some lead effectively soldering itself to the inside of the pipe. I don't suppose that matters, unless you are going to want to silver-solder lead-contaminated parts of the pipe at a later stage.

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Cerrobend is better as it is harder than lead and melts in boiling water. Find it on various web sites.

CERROBEND

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