pipe bender

Got hilmor here, don't like, only has lines on side for angles, I start marking & number of the angles with a blue sharpie indelible pen on the side.

My old pipe bender had pre etched degrees on the side.

 

Prefer my old set which were cheaper from the market. The bends were all marked.

This one bends nicely but nee d to check angles, going to take a while to get used to.

 

Can't really help with this, I ain't a plumber, but in my days of pipe fitting, we used Hilmor. Yeah,OK in imperial sizes, but can't remember the angles being marked, as we had to use our skills to take account of "spring" in steel tubing.

 

http://www.benditnow.co.uk/plumbing-machines/bhb-15-22/product These are made by the same moulds as the original hilmors...I would buy one of these over any new hilmor.

 

I don't think the hilmor bends pipe too bad, as I dont do plumbing regularly It takes time to familarise yourself with a different setup.

Going to practice bends on old length of pipes.

 

One thing with the Hilmor it dosen't crease/ripple the pipe when bending, which is due to the quailty formers.

 

I've heard rumours that the rothenberger isn't much cop.

 

Well, their pipe freezers are a load of carp!
Especially the Plumb Freeze Eco Pipe Freezing Kit, had the carp go into defrost,flooded the place.

 

using the Hilmor finding I am getting creasing on 22mm pipe, 15mm pipe seems fine.

It a fairly new bender and not seen much use only DIY.

I heard somewhere you can spray the former with lubricant to help stop the creasing of pipes?

 

A pipe bender should bend without creasing the inner radius, but sometimes the creasing is down to the pipe used, & occasionally the pipe moving slightly when bending,I tend fit my bender in a workmate when bending 22mm,& use a smear of plumbers grease on the bending roller, but you could fabricate a a stand for the bender.
But copper pipe of yesteryear, say 30 years ago I could bend easier without creasing.

 

I'll try some grease next time.