How to Bend Stainless Tubing

In today's video Ethan McNeese explains the specifics of how to bend stainless steel tubing for instrumentation or any other application. It's start to finish details covering every step from planning to implementation.
For more information, check out SuperlokWorld.com or follow us on Linkedin! ( / 10692134 )
0:00 Intro
1:09 Tube Bender Anatomy
3:53 Planning Your Bends
7:23 The First Bend
10:35 Prepping for second Bend
14:01 Cutting the Final Length
16:28 Test Fit
18:19 Closing

[@fishingfool5859]

Perfect!!! Showed me everything i needed for a basic bend. Thank you

[@JackSparrow-ky4rw]

This videos are really helpful, wish to see more soon!

[@SuperlokTV]

Thanks! we are glad you like them. We are always open to suggestions for topics. Is there a topic you would like to see covered?

[@peterlowry5947]

This has been the best instruction I have seen so far. Just wish you would have shown laying out marks and using the R

[@SuperlokTV]

Hey Peter, Glad you liked the video. These are good requests and when I get a moment spare I may make a follow up video soon addressing these things. Just to be sure that I understand, what exactly are you meaning by "laying out marks"?

[@markl6769]

Great info. very complete. Thank You.

[@tcthetford]

Good Job on the presentation and great explanation!

[@heathtodd6045]

great demostration.

[@kevinsullivan8975]

Hey thanks . I'm always trying to learn a new way of bending tubing! I have to build up some oil lines to feed a turbo!

[@Lem0nIlja]

Very informative video. Thanks!

[@johnpayne5623]

Thanks. Very helpful to watch your video.

[@mdmullikin]

Nice job! Very informative

[@gregorymaldonado7714]

Great work

[@superprojb]

Very good content. Thank you!!

[@SuperlokTV]

Glad you liked it!

[@sgproductions4364]

Nice presentation guys..from 🇮🇳

[@jccadventures]

Wow great video!!! I feel like a pro now.

[@SuperlokTV]

Thank you. Great to hear!

[@henryjantz]

Does anyone use setback advance and gain formulas and layout tubing properly? I can't seem to find any videos showing the actual way to bend tubing...

[@motikarirajeshrao]

Thanks for the video

[@SuperlokTV]

Our pleasure!

[@guillermocure4502]

Excelente, recomendaciones para el ajuste de racort.

[@petermcneill80]

Hey great video , that’s a nice bender with very nice usable graduations on it , iv done a little pipe / tube ? bending before on hydraulic systems at work with reasonable success but the processes I used to achieve the bends were a lot more difficult due largely to having no graduations on the bender. Anyway great video nicely presented and iv learned some valuable tips from it thanks man Ps iv not watched all your videos maybe you already have one but if not a video on how tight to make them would be a good one to do 😄

[@SuperlokTV]

Hey Peter, Glad you liked the video! We do have a video about tube fitting installation as well. You can check it out here → kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqjQnIGfibN6m7c We are always looking for more video ideas though, so be sure and suggest any other ideas also. We love informing people about how these products work and how to use them safely.

[@raho24781]

Hi I bought a Rigged 1/2 inch tube bender before I ran across your video, thank you for teaching at a pace that I can absorb, I am Bending 1/2 inch stainless for a car build ,my bender it pops in and out was wondering if you could go thru it how you teach ,thank you ahead and greatly appreciate your work

[@SuperlokTV]

Hi, Micheal! Thanks for the kind words and glad you liked the video. I have not personally used the Rigid brand bender, but we have recently sourced a few of them and they seem like a good quality tool. Can you explain the issue you are having a little more? What exactly is popping in and out?

[@oscarmolinar4308]

Thank you 😄

[@johntaylor8271]

Measure from OD on one fitting to ID on the other fitting to get center to center measurement.

[@oscarvillalobos2453]

You can also measure from the outside edges and will give you a more accurate measurement.

[@kronnos9]

thank you

[@milansevcik8092]

Nice video 👍 I have a question. If the nuts were against each other. How do I know how much to add to the measured value between the matrices. So that it is just on both sides accurate in the nuts. Is there a table for how much to add on a given size. Thx

[@SuperlokTV]

Thanks for the question Millan, This information can be found on the spec sheet for the fittings. Here is the spec sheet for the Superlok i-Fitting uploads-ssl.webflow.com/614a0a8332b6ab3696001910/639caec79f35af95e9dd6182_Superlok-i-Fitting-Full-Catalog.pdf It may be different if you are using a different brand of fitting.

[@jiazhancheng]

🎉you are good man

[@tylerstewart1471]

That looks like a brake line bender. Do you have a more advanced class to help with determining angles ?

[@zoob7]

We need the "R" part explained i understand its for reverse bending just don't know what a reverse bend is and how does a 45 work with 90 or a reverse cheers

[@rifatamy5714]

What tool do you use to bending a 1" tubbing ?

[@SuperlokTV]

1" tubing can be bent using a couple of different options of tool. They do make large scale lever style benders for 1" tubing, but it would be easier to work with something like an Imperial 270 gear type bender. The important thing to keep in mind if you are bending any size of tubing for use with tube fittings, is make sure you are using a quality bender that does not mar the surface of the tubing. At higher pressures any imperfections can become a failure point.

[@kernbread3653]

Some vids say the L and R are for which side of the bend you are bending from, Left or Right. I'm trying to figure that part out so not a criticism, just want to know

[@SuperlokTV]

There is an element of truth in the "left and Right" idea. However, I feel it is confusing to say left and right. These are subjective terms that would be impacted by your position relative to the work. If we consider the origin of your measure to be the "Right" and the tail that you measure towards the "Left" then when you have the "right" side clipped into the latch you are bending toward the "left". This would use the "L" mark to make a 90° bend. If there is not space for your bender to bend in this direction, you will have to Reverse the direction of the bender now bending from the left to the Right. This would then use the "R" mark to make the same 90° bend at the correct location. For this reason, I would say that "L" is for L bend and "R" is for reversed bend.

[@robertroberts2795]

measkure from edge to edge on the same side of the circle to get center

[@SuperlokTV]

You are correct. This is a viable method to measure center to center if the fittings are in the same plane and you are making a straight line between them (as in the video). However, once a few more dimensions are needed, it gets a bit more muddled. At that point you can either measure to the center or start doing some math to subtract half of your fittings diameter.

[@djritm3215]

No 7/16ths deduction?

[@DiogenesNephew]

Measure right edge to right edge. That's more accurate than guessing the centers.

[@interceptzen1799]

edge to center. done.

[@DiogenesNephew]

@@interceptzen1799 Again though, that's approximate. The edges are exact.

[@polatrealinal]

Büktüğün boru kaç mm dış çapı

[@SuperlokTV]

9,5 mm'ye yakın

[@jameslaurencesmith7537]

i build small jet engines...its just a hobby,,i have great difficulty in making up the vaporising tubes for the combustion chamber. . its 10mm tubing bent to 180 degrees what they call walking sticks ..when i make one it nearly allways gets collapsed and need to beat it to gain some sort of result..... each engine has 10 of these walking sticks ,, i would dearly like to purchase a device to solve my problem.... regards laurence

[@AmirTvc]

Thanks Too much applied points.. But why you didn't use the tube cutter which is more convenient rather than hand saw . Good luck and again thanks

[@SuperlokTV]

Tube cutters are very convenient. However, they tend to leave a sharp ridge inside the end of the tubing. This narrowing just at the very tip can cause turbulence, pressure drop and flow restriction in the line. While this issue is easily fixed with a de-burring tool on soft metals like copper, stainless is quite hard which makes it difficult to remove the burr. The saw teeth leave a burr also, but the are quite a bit smaller and can be easily handled with a hand tool. If I was to be working on tubing in the shop all day, my preferred cutting tool would be a band saw. But I understand that band saws are not viable for field use.

[@elyj6677]

what is the name of the tool?

[@SuperlokTV]

The one in this video is an Imperial Roto-lok Tubing Bender. But any reputable brand of instrumentation tubing bender should have the necessary features for proper bending.

[@crawford323]

Why the L? It didn’t put your mark in the center of the bend. Is that the goal?

[@SuperlokTV]

The center of the bend is not the crucial measurement. Since tubing runs are measured on the center line, the L mark lines up with the center of the tubing after the bend. Basically, If you needed just a 90° bend at 6", and you measure to 6" and line up to the L, The center of the tubing leg will be at exactly 6".

[@crawford323]

@@SuperlokTV Roger that. It’s been a growing pain to learn this. Thank you for your input and patience.

[@interceptzen1799]

If anyone in the oilpatch used a hacksaw to cut their tube they would run them off the job.