Mandrel Tube Bending EXPOSED! Watch as Bill Hahn Jr tells the REAL story.

Ever wonder just what a "mandrel" is, or what it means to tube bending? Wonder no more! Bill Hahn Jr cuts through the murk with a smirk, and does the work...right in front of your eyes. 4-12-22: The Ercolina Model 30 Mandrel Tube Bender in this video is now for sale! It includes tooling for 2.0, 2.25, 2.5 and 3.0 inch bending in 16 gauge, aluminum, steel and stainless steel. Contact Bill: [e-mail] for details.

[@GeneralElectricCNC]

I'm a retired Machinist and always wondered how this process was done. You just took the mystery out of it! Now I can die in peace!!!! Thank you so much.

[@BikingVikingHH]

This guy has great screen presence and delivery. Seriously, one take without a bunch of jump cut edits. Well done. if you didn’t have any integrity I’d say you could be on the news!

[@DarvinSelley]

I couldn't have explained it any better than you did. Up until November of 2016 I had worked in a factory that produced air conditioners I was one of the 6 machine operators to bend tubing for their gas heat exchangers Exactly the same principles of bending but our machines were fully automated for high volume with automatic lubricant coming in from the rod into the mandrel.

[@ken481959]

Nice video. One of the things to be aware of when using grease or some other type of lube, particularly with stainless, is to make sure that it is as sulfur free as possible, especially with a system that will be heated, such as an exhaust system. Sulfur has the ability to infiltrated the surface and reacts with the stainless to cause cracking. I have seen this many times during my career, and while most of the time it was on things like valve bodies and gates, as well as fittings that are much heavier, the fact that we are dealing with a much thinner wall means that it can have a faster catastrophic failure issue. Once again, thanks for the nice video.

[@Yusa9204]

Good comment! Useful information.

[@leew3084]

Great video. Short, focused, and full of information with visual backup.

[@hahnracecraft8172]

Thank you, I'm pleased you enjoy it.

[@turbo20lbs]

Awesome video without cuts or FFWDing. Nice to see it real time

[@hahnracecraft8172]

We're keeping it real! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@hameedmakki4120]

Ercolina dies sat 030

[@JG-kv4oi]

35 years in the exhaust industry here. Metal is like clay. Nice bends, and TIG welds. 🙂

[@Le10White]

Bought my first my first welder from your dad 55 years ago in Santa Ana.

[@BobSmith-mc7uq]

Cool deal. Thanks for showing us.

[@blairanthony3801]

Great video!! Thank you. I definitely can’t build one of these machines for my garage.

[@mfsolutions]

very good video... actually the hydraulic system is running at 3000psi but the bending process is exceeding the yield strength (flow stress) of the material so when you see the material flowing as the mandrel balls pass it is at about 40,000 psi.

[@hahnracecraft8172]

That's a very valid observation, thank you for sharing it.

[@mfsolutions]

@@hahnracecraft8172 I have work with cnc tube bending of truck exhausts. One of the OEM's decided to aluminize their stainless steel exhaust to hide the yellowing with heat... created a bending nigtmare for the mandrels (AL-bronze mandrel balls and wiper die gall immediately with the Al coating on the inside and outside of the tubes - mandrel snapped off in the bend!). Took me quit a while to solve that problem.

[@hahnracecraft8172]

@@mfsolutions wow that sounds challenging. It's like all the worst issues with galling and dissimilar metals at once!

[@brianfreeman3676]

Thanks for the video. It was always a mystery to me. Very informative.

[@krusher74]

I see you randomly positioned the weld seem on the tube, would it be better to put it on the inside of the bend? ( understand it cant be on the inside if doing several different angle bends)

[@TeamSTCDonny]

Cool to see the process 👍

[@hahnracecraft8172]

Thanks Donny! It's a demanding machine to learn and run, but it's very fun when everything clicks. I was confident folks would find the details interesting. - Bill

[@gregjames666]

where can one find this wooden stick you speak of ?

[@hahnracecraft8172]

Any hardware store :)

[@pierremarcoux886]

Impressive !!!

[@blacktopmods]

What are the standard high performance V8 header tube sizes, downpipe size, exhaust tube size?

[@RPMPerformances]

I cannot find any information that the Ercolina Megabender 30 bends 3" diameter. Did you make the tooling and does it struggle bending 3". Id like to purchase a bender like this.

[@hahnracecraft8172]

I believe they may have changed the machine specs since our purchase some 13 years ago. We have no issues at all using it on 3", but I can't speak for what they're selling now.

[@hameedmakki4120]

Ercolina mega bender 030 31nches can I got some this dies

[@clutch5sp989]

Can it mandrel bend solid stock?

[@hahnracecraft8172]

That's rather a contradiction of terms. A mandrel cannot fit inside solid stock. That said, yes the machine can bend solid stock: just without the mandrel.

[@clutch5sp989]

@@hahnracecraft8172 Thanks for playing ! lol

[@wesleynichols5383]

Does this do exhaust pipe? He says tube here.

[@hahnracecraft8172]

Yes it does! In manufacturing and fabrication, the term "pipe" usually is applied to thicker-walled material, whereas thinwall such as we see here is usually referred to as "tubing".

[@scubatricky]

What would a machine like that cost?

[@overbuiltautomotive1299]

mandrel tube benders a way to pricey just silly until Rouge fab starting making them here in USA

[@kennylinton2840]

what bender is that?

[@hahnracecraft8172]

This is an Ercolina Megabender 30 mandrel tube bending system. Ercolina is an Italian supplier of many such bending and fabrication machines.

[@neilsenlewis7376]

Where u can buy this

[@kylefentz]

Could be a wonderful host for the price is right or car salesman

[@g62419]

0:58 these balls 🤣

[@hahnracecraft8172]

Deez balls? 😂

[@miltongonzalez3322]

Vendes ese tipo de máquina ? Me interesa comprar una

[@hahnracecraft8172]

Milton, thanks for your interest. This is an Ercolina Megabender 030 set up for mandrel tube bending. And I am pretty proud that I was able to translate your question on my own! I don't know Spanish per se, but I can comprehend some of it :)