Bending Copper Tubing

[Dick Strauss]

Mark,
As far as the finish goes, try searching for "brass lacquer" to get some good ideas.

I think ice does a better job of filling all spaces evenly. The ice will crack as you bend the pipe but it will only separate on the outside of the curve (where you don't need as much support).

I'm not an expert but have seen the complete process...

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Have you considered using a solid rod instead of tubing?

[Russ Filtz]

Second the sand fill method. That's how I've always heard to bend pipe/tube without kinking. May require a fairly good taping up at the ends or you may just squeeze out the sand and negate the support it provides. Most likely not though.

[Ross Ellis]

If you can't find a proper tubing bender and decide to use a pipe bender, I also recommend going with sand. Tape the ends. Copper is pretty soft and should bend quite easy. Also, if you don't have a lot of experience bending and want the stands to match, do the bends in the tubing at the same time. By this I mean do the first bend on each piece, match the bends up, then move to the next bend. Don't make a bunch of bends in one stand, then when finished start on the other. Use tape or marker around the tubing to see where you start and finish each bend. Once you start making more than a single bend, it can become difficult to match pieces up. I hope this makes sense.

[Ted Calver]

Back when I was in scouts we made pack frames from aluminum tubing by filling the tubes with sand taping the ends and using a clampable 2 piece bending jig made of wood in the shape of the frame ribs. It worked great and gave us consistent shape with no distortion--prolly work on copper too.