# Who Bends?



## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

Any other copper benders out there ...say I 

"I"

anyone else?


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## muck (Oct 10, 2008)

i've been known to


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

whoooho 

Nice Muck!

On Long Island I used to bend my arse off when I did New Construction


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## muck (Oct 10, 2008)

alot of times its just easier than using fittings. mostly in barr areas


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

muck said:


> alot of times its just easier than using fittings. mostly in barr areas


Yea, we do a lot of forced hot water boilers that have heat loops,

Most shops use M cause its cheaper , but my bosses used L so we could bend it.

Guys that would "fit" the heat loops would take 3 - 6 hours in a basement

I could bend the whole basement which is around 14 loops in under 30 minutes , I have done up to 12 bends on one piece of pipe , 45 , to 90 , to 22 all just to kick it into a sill or something 

If you know hoe to bend you can bend anything

I got lucky and was taught by this dude that was cool. 

He told me if I bought him lunch all week he would show me all tricks all week long 

Well worth the money

When I used to work for shops I wouldnt tell them I could bend on the interview 
When we did loops or DW , I brought my own bender to work and watched all the other guys weep 

No wonder everyone always hated me


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## smellslike$tome (Jun 16, 2008)

******* said:


> Yea, we do a lot of forced hot water boilers that have heat loops,
> 
> Most shops use M cause its cheaper , but my bosses used L so we could bend it.
> 
> ...


What exactly are you talking about?

Bending hard copper with a tubing bender?

Are you heating it to take out the temper or just running it through the bender? You're not talking about using soft copper are you?


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

There's only one plumbing company in my area that does it, and their work is beautiful.


I'd rather have a house done this way instead of fittings. 


The copper piping is actually quieter when in operation this way as well; less hard turns, less connections where piping wasn't reamed. :whistling2:


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

Roast Duck said:


> There's only one plumbing company in my area that does it, and their work is beautiful.
> 
> 
> I'd rather have a house done this way instead of fittings.
> ...


 
i can definately see that. if you have the room, i can't see any disadvantages to bending. i bought a bender because i got a good deal on it and have used it a few times. i don't do new const. of any kind so i just don't have the use for it right now. maybe one day.




paul


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Pex Pex Pex!!


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## rombo (Jul 17, 2008)

what kind of bender are you using rocksteady ?


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

the one i have is a ratchet bender made by ridgid. i only have a 5/8" o.d. one but like i said, i don't really need a full set of them since i don't use it much at all. if a 7/8" one comes up for cheap, i'd probably grab it though.

like this one














paul


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

smellslike$tome said:


> What exactly are you talking about?
> 
> Bending hard copper with a tubing bender?
> 
> Are you heating it to take out the temper or just running it through the bender? You're not talking about using soft copper are you?


No, How would I rough a house with soft copper silly 

Well. I mean you could but that would be super expensive!

I am talking about bending sticks 

Here is the bender I use


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## richfield (Oct 29, 2008)

gear benders. I use the same one but I only have 1/2" and 3/4"


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

richfield said:


> gear benders. I use the same one but I only have 1/2" and 3/4"


Yea, I only do up to 3/4 as well, I could not imagine bending any bigger, crap I would be like Popeye


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

I haven't done any bending while plumbing... But!
A few years back I was working as a plumber in a maint. dept. at a company that did a lot of tube bending work...
Whatever material you wanted bent they would bend it.
They even did 1D Radius bends without kinking in many materials.
They did a lot of aerospace, medical & scientific work

Here's some pics of the stuff they did.










This one below is actually made with a square copper tube.
I believe it was for cooling a high power laser.










Below is a picture of one of the machines they used for bending tubes.
It has a mandrel the tube is bent over to prevent the tube from collapsing and the mandrel has a lube pumped into it.
The machine is CNC controlled and once programmed they just insert the tube into the collet and it takes over making multiple bends of different degrees turning the tube and bending head as needed and feeding forward to the right bend points.










Neat stuff!:thumbup:


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

Oh that is neat @@@@

Thanks for sharing that !!


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## Bulldog Plumbing (Nov 9, 2008)

I didn't know you could use the bender on a regular length of L. I really hate using the bender on the soft copper, but I gues its because no one has ever taught me how to properly use it. 




******* said:


> Yea, we do a lot of forced hot water boilers that have heat loops,
> 
> Most shops use M cause its cheaper , but my bosses used L so we could bend it.
> 
> ...


I'm confused. Are you talking about baseboard here? Tying the first floor loop together down in the basement?


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

JoeTepleyP&H said:


> I didn't know you could use the bender on a regular length of L. I really hate using the bender on the soft copper, but I gues its because no one has ever taught me how to properly use it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hell yea, 

You can even bend M, if you are real careful BUT the writing has to be facing up


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## richfield (Oct 29, 2008)

******* said:


> Hell yea,
> 
> You can even bend M, if you are real careful BUT the writing has to be facing up


I really hope your joking. lol


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

richfield said:


> I really hope your joking. lol


Nope, I used to have a Boss that would make us Bend M, It can be done, mostly 45's , 

90's can be bent but its a *****


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## richfield (Oct 29, 2008)

I will admit that I might do a 22 or a 45 but never a 90 unless I am just goofing around. It is too thin on the corner and will leak over time. I have some some pretty cool bends though, doing 180's and twirls but copper is too expensive now to do that.


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

richfield said:


> I will admit that I might do a 22 or a 45 but never a 90 unless I am just goofing around. It is too thin on the corner and will leak over time. I have some some pretty cool bends though, doing 180's and twirls but copper is too expensive now to do that.



Agreed, and this Boss I had was back in the early 90's and copper was way cheaper


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## Bulldog Plumbing (Nov 9, 2008)

I was asking my old boss about this. He said that it can't be just any old copper. It has to be "BT" copper, or Bending Tempured copper. Said that back in the day people used to use it all the time, but hasn't seen BT in the supply houses in ages.


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

JoeTepleyP&H said:


> I was asking my old boss about this. He said that it can't be just any old copper. It has to be "BT" copper, or Bending Tempured copper. Said that back in the day people used to use it all the time, but hasn't seen BT in the supply houses in ages.


bULL - You *can* bend stick L


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## Bill (Jun 17, 2008)

Never did, always use fittings because I am afraid of kinking the pipe and having a leak


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

Bill said:


> Never did, always use fittings because I am afraid of kinking the pipe and having a leak


well its hard to kink the pipe with a wheel bender, but I suppose if you were using a tubing bender or spring bender that would be easy to do


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## WestCoastPlumber (Jun 17, 2008)

I never bend any copper, just soft if I am doing a repipe and need to get it in the hole  I am scared of flow restriction and copper ware.

They make fittings like 90's 45 etc............


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

Actually they say bending improves flow


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## richfield (Oct 29, 2008)

JoeTepleyP&H said:


> I was asking my old boss about this. He said that it can't be just any old copper. It has to be "BT" copper, or Bending Tempured copper. Said that back in the day people used to use it all the time, but hasn't seen BT in the supply houses in ages.


my code states type L can be bent. Heres a pic I posted on another thread. see the bend? it's on the 4th control valve from the left, simple bend but only pic I had. all my boiler systems I usually have one bend. I used to do a lot more but found an easier way to avoid bending.


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## Wethead (Oct 13, 2008)

Nice clean joints )

I like that , My old bosses would always say: "Joseph, NO drips, NO runs, No errors!"

I can still hear them scream , but it made me one hell of a plumber


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