Sunday, April 29, 2012

Small Copper Tube Bending

If you're want to work with small copper tubing for alcohol stoves, or RC construction, there's a few things you need to know.

As we all know, if you try and bend soft copper tubing by itself, it will collapse and become useless for carrying alcohol or wires through it.

Below is a short video of an alcohol stove I made using my technique, and a short demonstration of that technique.

Your best friend is a blow torch. Heating the copper tube up to nearly red hot will make it soft as butter. Using two pliers, slowly bend the tube into whatever shape you want.  The trick is to heat it well, and take your time while bending, and slightly stretch the tube as you bend.

Work in curves, not complete 90 degree angles.

No comments:

Post a Comment