Bending Square aluminium tubing

[Alan Ing]

Originally Posted by T^2

368 did it this year with a pipe bender (I think) and 6063 alloy. 6061 will probably crack.

Yes, our team uses a hydraulic tube and pipe bender specifically a pro4 bender from pro bender at this website:

http://www.probender.com/probender/drupal/benders

These types of benders are used by car fabricators to make roll cages and all sorts of neat stuff. There are many other companies that make tubing benders such as JD squared JD2. You can see many of them in operation on youtube. we decided on the pro bender because it is powered by a cheap pneumatic hydraulic ram and you don't have to bolt it to the floor.

These types of benders use dies and roll the tubing through them. They are rotary type benders. This is not the same as a mandrel bender which pulls a mandrel through the inside of the tube so that it does not crush the tube when bending. Hardly anyone has a true mandrel bender except for high performance muffler shops. Too expensive for the average small shop. The pro bender as well as others can bend up to 1-1/2" Square tubing, but you have to buy a 1-1/2" die to do it.

We used 90 degree bends on 6063-T6 1"x1" x .062" tubing for our wings, and about 15 degree bends on 6063-T6 1"x1" x .125" tubing for our collector. An easy job for our bender. There is a science in making multiple bends on a single tube. We use a program called bendtech pro which allows us to draw up the tube, make bending marks, and then make all the bends from one end. You have to calibrate it for the tubing and die you use.

Harbor freight benders are not rotary type and do not put out the same quality of bends.

Remember, these type of benders do crush and deform the tube. The square tubing gets collapsed on the inside by a controlled amount. If I have time tomorrow, I will take a picture of what I am talking about.

If you want to bend 1-1/2" aluminum, I would call the manufacturer of the bender your interested in. Let me know if you have any questions.

1678 and the others have it right, 6061-T6 will snap. We tried it with about a 15 degree bend thinking it was on the mild side and it just snapped in half.

I have a personal project using the bender. Gonna make some tubular control arms for my project car.

Alan
Mentor for Team 368

[artdutra04]

The problem with bending 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.063 aluminum box tubing will be crushing the profile (it'll likely look squashed when you are done).

To prevent this, fill the entire tube with sand and duct tape the ends closed really well. The sand will prevent the tube when getting crushed when you put it through a tube bender.

[roystur44]

Tube bending is easy with the right machine. Go cart frames are made this way. Here's is a video of bending square tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPNXQr9OPoQ

I have a version of this tool which is great for bending manipulator parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q47gO2ViRxk