I have been trying to bend 15mm copper pipe with a spring. But problems! The pipe kinked and it was very difficult to extract the spring although it was greased and tied to string, I only got it out by cutting the pipe in short sections and manually unthreaded it. I then found that the spring would not go in any of the other cut lengths, due I thought to burrs so it was cleaned and filed but still the spring would not go in to any of them. I thought the spring might be damaged so bought another one but this won't go in either! I don't have this problem with a 22mm pipe and spring which seems to have just enough clearance. Any ideas please on why this difficulty. Thanks
Could be due to quailty of copper pipe, the degree of the bend is too sharp & traps spring, I prefer a proper pipe bender as this eliminates this problem.
Hadn't thought of thought of that. Maybe he using old imperial pipe he has/reusing with a metric spring?
If you want to bend pipe then invest in a set of benders, otherwise use fittings. Springs are fine for forming plastic but the modern copper is too thin to take a spring. Incidentally you didn't mention if you used an internal or external spring, you may get better results with an internal spring.
When I was in college they taught us to heat up the copper with a blow lamp first...till the length of the bend goes "cherry red" and let it cool naturally before bending it that will soften the copper and make it that bit more malleable (so I was told anyway) tried it in college 9 years ago...never tried since as I have my trusty benders at hand
It weren't much better when I learnt tho so if guess that stuff was cheap copper...so if it worked then in theory it should work now?
15mm is OK as long as you don't go for tight bends like you get with a bender and move it around your knee so you don't try to bend all in one spot, slightly over bend and then pull out to ease the spring. The spring on a bit of string was always a bit of a gamble though I tend to only use it where you can grasp the eye on the end and twist to tighten when pulling to remove it. I wonder why old plumbers have bad knees! Spring is fine for offsets and return sets, but for 90 deg that are to be seen a bender is the way to go. PS I remember using the annealing technique to soften tube at college to do a reef knot in two bits of 15mm just to see if it could be done but is was most likely imp 1/2" tube then!
Hi Many thanks for all your contributions. The spring is new as is the 15mm copper pipe. I think the video explained my problem, both in getting the spring into the pipe and to bending, extracting, etc I used a pipe cutter and this does compress the pipe so will try the method given of cutting it off square with a hacksaw to maintain the diameter. I think I tried to bend it too quickly in one go which made the kinks and stopped me being able to slide it out. I will try out these ideas on a bit more pipe and see how it goes. I would never have figured this out.
If you want to save your knees, you might find something of the right diameter to bend it round, like a log of wood or 100mm drainpipe, for example. You would have to stop the log from being pulled somehow. (Don't do it round a live tree/branch) Mr. HandyAndy - Really
Springs are superb doing tight offsets and the likes. I have used one for decades and those who cannot use one can to use one. They do not replace benders but very useful. Those who kink a pipe pull too much at one point. Spread the bending points on your knee along the curve.
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