A canopy is needed in almost any area: it is a good place to accommodate a car, it will come in handy for creating a mini-greenhouse, recreation area, etc. The design of the canopy most often involves the construction of a frame from shaped pipes: they are light in weight and have a large bearing capacity.

However, they are difficult enough to bend to give the desired shape, so it is difficult to use them to create arched and other complex structures. How to bend profile pipe at home?

Common methods for bending profile pipes

There are a lot of options on how to bend a profile pipe for a canopy, but in most cases the use of special tools or equipment is required. Let's take a closer look at some of the main ways:

Important! With this method, overheating of the metal should not be allowed. In this case, scale will appear, reducing the strength of the metal structure.

This method is generally not applicable to galvanized pipes, since the zinc coating will simply burn out, and the steel will be defenseless against corrosion. Such a frame cannot be installed: it will quickly rust and can collapse at any time.

Each of these methods has both pros and cons: in any case, profile pipes have to be bent very carefully, calculating the radius. The metal is not designed for repeated bending, so it is advisable to complete such work at a time.

If you have to repeat it, the pipe may simply break, anyway load bearing capacity such a frame will be much lower. Since artisanal methods are much less reliable, it is better to use a pipe bender.

Advantages and capabilities of domestic pipe benders

How to bend a profile pipe in a semicircle? To give it the desired shape, you can use various models of pipe bending machines and hand tools. Their use is beneficial for several reasons:

1. Pipe bending work can be carried out without special education and skills. Not everyone knows how to handle a welding machine House master, and with a mechanical device it will be much easier to figure it out.
2. It is possible to obtain pipes with exact observance of the originally planned size. This is very important if you need to get several identical elements, for example, for the construction of a greenhouse.
3. The metal will retain its characteristics, and there will be no creases and cracks on it. This will allow you to do quality work and get excellent material for the frame of a canopy or greenhouse.

Copper pipes are much easier to bend than steel pipes, so hand tools can be used for them. To work with profile pipes, a pipe bender with a roller mechanism is used: it was specially designed for such tasks and is the most convenient option.

The most common model of this type of machine is "PG-1": three rollers mounted on a frame make it possible to bend a square tube to the state of a full ring.

Pipe bender "PG-2" costs almost one and a half times more expensive, such a machine is designed for larger pipes and more durable metals. The powerful design makes it possible to bend pipes, the profile of which is 30 by 60 mm.

The easiest way to bend a profile pipe manually

How to bend a pipe for a canopy, if not welding machine, nor are modern pipe benders available? There are several bending methods that can be carried out in a conventional workshop. Although they cannot boast of increased accuracy, some skill and folk ingenuity allows you to get a good result.

Such methods always give only a relative result. On the machine, the result will be more accurate, and homework largely depends only on the experience of the master. Handicraft methods are suitable for creating ordinary frames for greenhouses and greenhouses, but when building complex engineering structures, they may be useless.

Not everyone can afford to buy a stationary factory pipe bender, but you can easily use the services of specialists in this field. If you need to bend pipes, it is better to entrust such work to specialists, so that later you do not doubt the strength of the supporting frame.

Profile pipes make it possible to implement various construction projects and interesting solutions, and correctly made bends will allow you to build canopies and other frame extensions with curved elements.

16494 0 3

How to bend a pipe: more than 10 ways to do it yourself

Hello dear readers. Today I’ll talk about how to bend a pipe without a pipe bender and with a pipe bender, and how to bend polypropylene pipe. The topic is of considerable interest, since it is difficult to build a greenhouse, gazebo or canopy over the porch without bent pipes.

Why the right choice of bending method is important

Incorrect cold deformation of the pipe, regardless of what material it is made of, adversely affects the strength of the walls.

In the process of bending the pipe, the wall along the outer edge is strongly stretched and the material from which it is made becomes thinner. By inside pipes, with improper bending, the walls are crushed and folds are formed, which adversely affect both appearance, as well as the strength of the product.

In order for the bending of the pipe to be performed correctly, the walls must not be crushed, while the stretching of the material along the outside must occur evenly.

How to achieve such a result?

Ways to deform pipes without compromising their strength

The choice of pipe bending method depends on the type of production materials. Three types of pipes are widely used: metal, metal-plastic and completely plastic.

You can bend the first two categories to the required configuration. If the question is how to bend a polypropylene pipe, we use an industrial hair dryer with a special nozzle.

By installing the part on the nozzle, you can heat the plastic to a temperature close to the melting point, after which you can gently bend it. However, for working with plastic, I recommend using angle fittings with soldered or adhesive.

How to bend metal pipe

Let's take a closer look at each of the methods listed in the diagram.

The hydraulic pipe bender is used to work with thick-walled steel pipes, which require a lot of force to deform.

The instructions for using the tool are as follows:

• The deformable part is located between the metal guides and pressure rollers;
• Due to the hydraulic shifting of the pressure rollers, the radius and angle of the bend are set;
• the workpiece is rolled through the guide and pressure rollers, due to which the required shape is obtained.

The use of a hydraulic pipe bender, due to the selection of rollers of the required configuration, allows you to work with workpieces with a traditional round section and with modifications.

To increase productivity, the hydraulic tool can be supplemented electric drive on rollers. As a result, you will have to set the necessary bend parameters and monitor the work process without exerting physical effort.

The manual pipe bender is similar in design to the hydraulic modification. The main difference is that the location of the pressure rollers is set not by a hydraulic drive, but by muscular effort.

Due to structural differences, a manual pipe bender is used to work with pipes with a small wall thickness and a small cross-sectional diameter. Main advantage hand tool is an affordable price and the possibility of making your own.

The use of external springs is relevant when working with thin-walled pipes with a round section of small diameter. To increase the efficiency of deformation, the metal walls in the stretching area can be additionally heated with a blowtorch.

• A special spring selected according to the diameter of the section is put on the surface of the pipe and pushed to the place of the bend, so that the deformation area is located approximately in the middle of the pipe;
• The area where the deformation is performed on the outside is heated with a blowtorch;
• The pipe is taken by hand from both ends and gently bent with force until the required angle and radius are obtained;
• After the metal has cooled, the spring is removed.

Why is a spring needed?

Regardless of which spring you use, external or internal, it prevents the pipe walls from deforming unevenly. That is, the walls of the pipe in the bend section will repeat the shape of the spring.

To do this, special springs are made of hard grades of stainless steel. In order for the spring to be easily removed after use, its surface is made smooth.

The use of sand filling is an opportunity to give the pipe a more or less uniform radius and bend angle without strong wall creasing.

Using sand backfill, it is possible to bend only individual sections of pipes, while at the same time it will not be possible to deform already welded structural elements of the pipeline.

The deformation instruction is as follows:

• A plug is installed on one of the ends of the pipe;
• Sand is poured from the other end without heterogeneous inclusions;
• The open end is also sealed with a cork;
• At the intended place of the bend, the metal is heated with a blowtorch to a slight reddening;
• Holding both ends, we bend the metal pipe on a round post until the desired angle and radius are obtained.

Methods suitable for working with metal-layer

Pipes made of metal-plastic differ from metal counterparts in their lower wall strength due to the smaller thickness of the metal. Therefore, to work with a metal-layer, you can apply the methods listed in the following diagram.

Let's consider these methods in more detail.

The use of a manual crossbow-type pipe bender allows you to set the required angle and radius of the metal-plastic pipe.

Due to the lower degree of pressure, in comparison with the hydraulic counterpart, it is possible to deform the metal-plastic product without the risk of damage to thin walls.

If you want to set a small bend radius, you need to deform the metal-plastic gradually, moving from a large radius to a small one. Despite the fact that the workpiece will have to be rolled several times, its walls will remain intact.

The use of a steel spring is similar to that of a metal pipe. But if it was possible to use a larger spring on metal than the diameter of the pipe section, then when working with a metal-plastic, the size should match.

We bend the workpiece gradually. In order to make it easier to remove the spring at the end of the bend, it is advisable to lubricate the adjacent surface of the pipe with machine oil.

The use of sand backfill is practically no different from the use of backfill when working with metal. In fact, the sand backfill acts as an internal spring that prevents the walls from collapsing.

Since the metal-plastic is more plastic than a thick-walled metal product, we take the metal-plastic pipe for bending not by the ends, but closer to the deformation area.

The use of wire is a type of pipe deformation using filler. That is, if the cross-sectional diameter is small, the pipe can be filled with wire scraps to at least 80% of the cross-sectional area. Then, holding the workpiece by the ends, carefully bend it, after throwing it on a round post.

The only drawback of the method is the impossibility of making a bend with a small radius, since then it will not be easy to pull the wire.

Work with profiled metal pipes

Finally, I’ll tell you how to bend a square steel pipe with a grinder and a metal cutting disc.

The instruction is as follows:

• At the site of the intended fold on the inside, we mark the slots;
• We cut the pipe with a grinder so that the disk passes through the inner and two sides and from the side the cuts look like small hollow triangles;
• We bend the workpiece along the cuts.

The smaller the bend radius, the greater the angle of each cut.

Output

Now you know how to bend a HDPE pipe and how to do a similar operation with metal and metal-plastic parts. For more details, please watch the video in this article.

Do you have any questions about the text? Ask them in your comments.

July 25, 2016

If you want to express gratitude, add a clarification or objection, ask the author something - add a comment or say thanks!

Drywall has already become an integral part of modern renovation. From this finishing material you can create various complex curly elements for walls and ceilings, as well as assemble beautiful partitions. And everywhere you will need to bend profiles, which are an integral part of the frame needed to install drywall sheets.

Therefore, the question “how to bend the profile?” remains very relevant. If everything is done correctly, then in the end you can get exactly what you wanted.

The structures that are made of drywall today often contain a variety of curvilinear and curly elements. Especially often they are used in the installation of suspended ceilings. Here you can find the following options:

• circles and ovals;
• squares and rectangles;
• various geometric shapes;
• waves, steps, flowers, sun and much more.

complex ceiling

In addition, bending a metal profile will be needed in other situations:

• arch installation. Here the profile should be bent into an arc;
• creation of a single composition of walls and ceiling when the figured elements of the ceiling flow onto the wall;
• installation of niches with curved elements;
• creating a curly partition. It can be decorative, contain complex curves and curls, or be straight.

Drywall arch

In any of the above situations, in order for the installation of drywall to proceed according to a given pattern, it is necessary to bend the profile. If you do the whole process correctly, then the subsequent installation of drywall sheets will be quick and easy, and the end result will please the eye for many years.
As you can see, in almost any repair using drywall, bending profiles at different angles is a necessity.
The bending of the metal elements of the frame under the drywall sheets is carried out according to the scheme. Therefore, in order to correctly fold the profile, you need to read the corresponding instructions. We present it below.

What is required for bending?

Working with metal profiles for drywall requires a certain set of tools. In order to bend metal elements and make cuts on them, as well as to carry out their further installation, you will need the following tools:

• screwdriver;
• screwdriver;
• pencil, tape measure and building level;
• scissors for working with metal.

To the list necessary materials in this situation will include:

• metal profiles;
• fasteners. Here you will need self-tapping screws.

Don't forget to protect yourself while doing the work. So, you will need protective gloves that will prevent cuts and scratches on your hands. In addition, you may need protective goggles.
With such a set of materials and tools at hand, as well as taking all precautions, the procedure for giving the profiles the necessary shape will take you 20 minutes at most.

Getting Started

On the this moment There are two main types of profiles: rails and racks.

Note! You can only bend the profile guides, since the rack ones are used to support the main weight of the drywall structure.

In addition, when creating an arched opening, you can use a special arched profile.
Regardless of which frame element is used, bending methods can be applied to all of them. It is necessary to bend the profiles before they are installed.

The bend is given to the element due to cuts at a right angle. The angle here should be 90 degrees, i.e. direct.
There are two options for the execution of cuts, which depend on which part the further installation of the frame element will be carried out:

Side notch

• an incision at a right angle of 90 degrees is made on both side parts of the profile. The base of the element remains intact, which allows you to keep the stiffeners intact. This method is great for making arches, semicircular elements or a circle;

Note! When using this method, you need to remember that the smaller the bending radius is needed, the more often you need to make cuts at an angle of 90 degrees.

• an incision is made on the basis of the frame element. It is also necessary to cut one of the side parts of the profile. This method is used to make ovals or wavy elements.

Often curly elements are made on the ceiling. Therefore, it is necessary to start their formation only after the frame of the first level has been assembled and sheathed with plasterboard sheets.
The procedure for forming a bend is as follows:

Notch on side and base

• we apply markings on the first level of the frame or wall surface (in the manufacture of decorative shelves). This stage is mandatory, since without markup it is impossible to make complex curly elements;
• we take the guide profile and shorten it to the length we need;
• to shorten the element, you need to use scissors for metal;
• further, depending on the method of cutting, we make an incision at a right angle of 90 degrees. The cuts must go strictly parallel to each other, otherwise the element will not be able to bend. The step for incisions can vary, depending on the needs. But often it is 5-8 cm;
• we make incisions where you need to make a curl or along the entire length of the profile;
• we apply the incised profile to the marking line;
• after that we fix the finished element, bending it in the course of action. Must be fastened with self-tapping screws. Here you should be extremely careful not to cut yourself on the sharp edges of the metal product;
• you need to fix the element sequentially, carefully giving it the desired shape.

Curved element fastening

Note! Self-tapping screws are installed whenever a bend needs to be made. This will give the final design more fluidity.

When attaching a frame with curved elements, be sure to check each profile with a building level. It is necessary that all frame elements are in the same plane. Only in this way will you be able to flat surface ceiling or walls.
To give greater rigidity and strength to the curly element, we mount rack profiles inside it.
After that, you can carry out the installation of drywall. The main thing here is that the pieces from a single sheet are cut to exactly the required size. If they do not fit slightly, they can be cut to the desired length with a drywall cutter.
Following this instruction, you can correctly bend any metal profile and give it absolutely any shape.

Things to remember

So that the procedure for giving elements metal frame the required form has passed correctly, you need to follow some rules and recommendations, because only in this situation you will be satisfied end result:

Sheet fastening

• There are several types of profiles that differ in purpose and size. You need to choose a frame element based on what kind of structure you plan to design;
• strictly follow the steps given in the instructions;
• to create curly elements, you can use two types of guides - "UW" and "UD". These elements do not have profiled sides. Therefore, it will be possible to make a couple of cuts on their sides without problems;
• in rare cases, the use of "CD" profiles is allowed. But only if they do not carry a load and are part of a small curly element. Cutting their sides at a right angle will be a little more difficult;
• the curvilinear frame structure must correspond to the parameters of the element that were applied to the drawing;
• installation of drywall on a curved profile should be carried out using self-tapping screws;
• the greater the bend in the profile, the smaller the step will need to be done when installing drywall. So you will achieve maximum attachment of sheets to the frame, without the formation of cracks;
• use the right tools, especially for notching profiles. So you will avoid damage to your hands and quickly cope with the entire amount of work.

By adhering to these rules, you can easily create unique drywall curly elements at home, giving your home a new, original look.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in bending the metal frame elements. The process of giving the desired shape to drywall sheets is much more complicated than for profiles. You just need to follow exactly all the points of the above instructions and the result will be great!

Home repair, in particular the repair of a private house, often requires the use of pipes, and not always perfectly even. In such a situation, the question arises: how to bend a pipe without a pipe bender at home? If you know all the tricks of this process, then doing it is quite simple.

Methods for bending a metal pipe at an angle of 90 °

Metal - the material is strong enough, but with a special impact it is quite easy to bend. Today, there are several methods for bending a metal pipe with your own hands.

Modification of a profile pipe

This type of metal structures is often used for the construction of greenhouses of various sizes and purposes, as well as gazebos and other buildings on the site. The main feature of the building material of such a pipeline is that it is very easy to damage it when bent, for example, it can easily flatten or crack. The way out of this situation is quite simple. Its cavity must be filled with dry fine sand or water (in the future, the water must be frozen). It is these actions that will eliminate the possibility of damage to the pipe and achieve the desired result. The same technique is suitable for both duralumin and brass pipelines.

How to bend a square profile pipe?

If in your hands is square pipe with a small cross section, it can be easily bent without heating. However, filling the cavity with sand or water is still desirable. Unlike the usual round blanks, you will need a rubber mallet.

The pipeline itself must be placed on two reliable supports. After that, using the mallet directly, bend the product, and all actions must be performed very smoothly and carefully to avoid possible damage. If you need to achieve a sufficiently large angle of curvature, to facilitate the process, the material can be heated at the place of the intended bend.

Rules for bending metal-plastic

It is the metal-plastic pipe that is most often used to equip the underfloor heating system. To ensure the efficiency of the system, it is necessary to ensure parallel operation of the pipeline with the heating system.

Features of laying a warm floor imply the presence of a large number of folds. However, they are not available for free sale. You have to make bends yourself, and for this you need to know all the secrets of the material and the procedure for carrying out.

Just as in the case of a metal blank, there are several ways to obtain the necessary inversion:

• easiest and cheapest method to bend pipe on their own, without the use of improvised means. To do this, the building structure should be clamped tightly in fists and bent smoothly. Try to exclude the possibility of a strong inflection. There is a norm for this, which assumes the presence of 15 ° curvature for every 1-2 cm of the metal-plastic blank;
• for another method, you need to take care of the presence of pieces of wire with which you need to fill the cavities. This will achieve a smooth and even bend in the shortest possible time;
• as for a metal pipeline, dry fine sand can be used as a filler, which must be poured into the cavity and the pipe openings closed with plugs. One end of the building structure must be fixed, and it is desirable to do this quite reliably and firmly, and then, using a blowtorch or gas burner, heat the place of further bending. Checking the readiness of the material to change the shape is checked by a piece of paper.

Features of bending a polypropylene pipe

There are situations when it is simply vital for you to bend a polypropylene pipe. However, the opinions of manufacturers agree on one thing: it is undesirable to do this. But if you can't do without it, use one of two possible methods.

The main methods for bending polypropylene material:

• the first method involves all the same heating of the bend. For these purposes, you need to use a building hair dryer. The optimum end temperature is 150°C. Further, it is recommended to protect your hands with high temperature resistant gloves, bend the product to the desired shape. The main thing is not to forget about the basic rule: the thickened wall of the polypropylene structure must be placed with outside bending. Now wait for the material to cool completely and inspect it carefully. There should be no dents or cracks on the surface;
• the second method is cold. Everyone can bend such a pipe with their hands, however, the bending radius should not exceed 8 diameters of the pipe used, otherwise you can simply break it.

How to effectively bend a plastic pipe?

Instruction to help you bend easily enough pvc pipe, includes several points, following which, without outside help, you will give the desired shape to the plastic pipeline at home. So, to work with a PVC pipe, you need to follow these steps:

1. Get a fiberboard, from which in the future you will need to build a special frame. You need this frame in order to give the plastic structure a certain shape.
2. After giving the plate the desired shape, it must be properly sanded. It is better to use fine sandpaper for this.
3. The next step involves shaping the silicone into the right shape and size for your plastic blank. This shell serves as a fastener PVC structures in a frame prepared in advance. In addition, it is able to perform a protective function against scratches, chips and other mechanical damage to which the surface of a plastic pipe is exposed.
4. Now you should place the object itself in the prepared protective shell.
5. The next step involves heating the bend. Plastic exposed high temperature, begins to soften and settle on the installed frame. Such actions will eventually lead to the formation of the desired shape of the plastic blank.
6. After shaping, it must be allowed to cool. It takes ten to fifteen minutes to do this. Only after that, you can safely remove your modified PVC pipe from the frame, after which the building structure must be left again to completely cool it.

It is quite difficult to achieve an ideal pipe bend, regardless of its material, at home. However, if you carefully study the theory and conduct more than one experiment on unnecessary sections of such a pipe, in practice you will clearly understand how to bend a pipe without a pipe bender and you can do it at any time convenient for you. Be sure to use our tips to do the job as correctly as possible and without big losses.

The question of how to bend a profile pipe without using special equipment for this is asked by many of those who are going to build on their personal plot greenhouse. Such structures, made of bent pipes, not only let in much more light, but are also highly stable and durable when compared with structures made of wooden blocks. It seems that it is not easy to bend a professional pipe, creating an arched structure from it, but if you understand the features of this process, it is quite possible to effectively perform it using the simplest devices for this.

What is the complexity of profile bending

The essence of bending rolled metal, regardless of the shape of its profile, is that the profile pipes are given a partial or complete bend. Such a technological operation is performed in two ways: by acting on the bent pipe only by pressure or by additionally heating the section of the pipe in the area of ​​which the bend is performed. During the bending, two forces simultaneously act on a metal pipe:

• compression force (from the inside of the bend);
• tensile force (from the outer part of the bent section).

It is the impact of such multidirectional forces that causes difficulties characteristic of the bending process of any profile pipes.

1. Segments of the material of the pipe, which changes its shape during the bending process, may lose the coaxiality of their location, which leads to the fact that individual sections of the pipe will be located in different planes;
2. The wall of the pipe, located on the outside of the bend and subjected to tension, may not withstand the load and burst.
3. The inner wall of the pipe, subjected to compression, may become covered with folds that resemble corrugations.

If you do not take into account the subtleties of such technological process, then instead of bending the profile pipe, you can simply crush the product, irrevocably damaging it.

To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to take into account not only the characteristics of the pipe material, but also its geometric parameters - section dimensions, wall thickness, radius to which it is necessary to bend. Knowledge of the above will allow you to choose the appropriate technology and bend the corrugated pipe correctly without crushing it and without getting a corrugated surface.

The need for profile accounting

The category of profile pipe-rolling includes products that have different shape cross-section - round, square, oval or flat-oval. Despite this diversity, for the construction of a greenhouse or a canopy, rectangular or are mainly used. This is due to the fact that it is much easier to mount the outer coating on their flat walls.

The range of modern profile pipes is very diverse. Their geometric parameters, the main of which are the cross-sectional area and wall thickness, determine the plastic capabilities of the product. The latter characterizes such an indicator as the minimum allowable radius of curvature. It is this parameter that allows you to determine to what minimum radius the pipe can be bent so that it is not damaged.

To determine such a parameter of a pipe with or a rectangular profile as the minimum bending radius, it is enough to know the height of its profile. If you are going to bend the profile pipe with cross section in the form of a rectangle or square, the following recommendations should be followed.

• Pipes whose profile height does not exceed 20 mm can be bent in sections whose length exceeds a value equal to 2.5xh (h is the profile height).
• Products whose profile height exceeds 20 mm can be successfully bent in sections whose length corresponds to 3.5xh or more.

Such recommendations will be useful to those who are going to bend profile pipes with their own hands in order to make racks, canopies and various frame structures from them. In this case, however, it should be borne in mind that the possibility of high-quality bending of pipes is also affected by the thickness of their wall. Products with a wall thickness of less than 2 mm should not be bent at all, and if it is necessary to create structures from them, use welded joints.

At home, it is possible to bend professional pipes, which are made of carbon or low-alloy steels, only taking into account certain nuances. Such pipes, after bending, can spring back and return to their original state, so the finished structures must be re-fitted according to the template. The amount of springback is characterized by such a parameter of shaped pipes as the plastic moment of resistance - Wp. This parameter is indicated in the accompanying documentation (the lower it is, the less the professional pipes will spring during their bending).

Features of the most popular pipe bending methods

In industrial or domestic conditions, professional pipes are bent both with heating and in a cold state. The heating produced by gas burner, significantly increases the ductility of the metal, so that bending requires less effort. Pipes of small cross section can be bent without heating, since they already have good ductility.

Regulatory guidance regarding the use of heat is only available for products round section. So, it is recommended to heat pipes with a cross-sectional diameter of more than 10 cm before bending. In cases where it is necessary to bend square or rectangular pipes, it is worth focusing on your own experience or the advice of other home craftsmen.

1. Without preheating, pipes are bent, the profile height of which does not exceed 10 mm.
2. If the height of the pipe profile exceeds 40 mm, they must be heated before bending.

If you have a pipe bender at your disposal, with its help you can easily cope with the task of cold bending pipes, the profile height of which is in the range of 10–40 mm. In the absence of such a device, it is necessary to decide how to bend the pipe without a pipe bender, having previously carried out simple tests. They will help you determine whether the pipe should be heated before the flexible one or not. These tests are carried out as follows. One end of the pipe is clamped in a vise, and a pipe with a large internal section is put on the other. If with the help of such a shoulder it is possible to bend a pipe clamped in a vise, this process can be carried out without preheating.

The training video demonstrates the bending of pipes according to various methods, but it will not be superfluous to first study this process in detail.

Pipe bending with preheating

In order to bend the profile pipe using the hot method with your own hands, you must first fill it with sand. This will make the bend better and more uniform. Since you will have to deal with hot metal, all work should be done in thick canvas gloves. The bending itself, the implementation of which can be found in the video, is performed in the following sequence.

• Both ends of the profile pipe must be closed with plugs, which are made of wooden bars. The length of such plugs should be 10 times the width of their base, which, in turn, should have an area twice the area of ​​the hole in the pipe closed with their help.
• After fitting the plugs to the internal section of the pipe, 4 longitudinal grooves are made on one of them, which are necessary to remove the gas that accumulates in the pipe when the sand filling it is heated.
• The section of the pipe that you plan to bend must first be annealed.
• As a filler for the pipe, sand of medium grain size should be used. If there is no purified building sand, you can take any, even from a children's sandbox, but it should be prepared accordingly. Thus, the sand is first sieved through a sieve with a mesh size of 2–2.5 mm to remove gravel and small stones from it, and the final sifting is performed on a sieve with a mesh size of 0.7 mm. The final sifting is necessary in order to remove dust inclusions from the sand, which can sinter when heated.
• Prepared sand must be calcined at a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius.
• Before filling with sand, one end of the pipe is closed with a plug, on which there are no gas outlet channels. A funnel is inserted into the second end, through which prepared sand is poured in portions. In order for the sand to evenly and densely fill the entire internal cavity of the pipe, when falling asleep, it is necessary to tap on the walls of the product, using a wooden or rubber mallet for this.
• After the pipe is completely filled with sand, its second end is also closed with a plug.
• The area that will be heated for further bending should be marked with chalk.
• The pipe must be fixed in a vise with a template or in a pipe clamp. It is important that the weld, if it is on the surface of the product, is on the side. It is necessary to adhere to this requirement because it is undesirable to subject the weld to compression or tension.
• A section of the pipe, previously marked with chalk, is heated red-hot with a gas burner. After complete warming up, the pipe is carefully, without making sudden movements, bent in one step, applying efforts strictly in a vertical or horizontal plane.
• After cooling bent pipe the result obtained is compared with the template. If everything is fine, then corks are removed from the ends of the product and sand is poured out.

This method, which is easy to implement at home, is best used in cases where a single corner bend must be formed on a professional pipe. Repeated heating of the metal can lead to a loss of its strength, and this cannot be avoided if you bend the pipe to use it as an element of the arched structure.

How to bend a pipe without preheating

It is possible to bend the profile pipe yourself, without preheating it, both with and without filler. Do not require filling with sand or rosin pipes, the profile height of which does not exceed 10 mm.

There is another technique that involves the use of a spring with a dense coil of coils instead of a filler, which is inserted into the internal cavity of the professional pipe and protects the product walls from deformation, as well as from excessive changes in their thickness during the bending process.

For those who need to bend profile pipes with their own hands, without first heating them, you can use the training video and the following simple recommendations.

1. It is possible to obtain the required bend on profile pipes using the simplest devices - a vice, mandrels, bending plates.
2. Can be used for products with a round profile. In this device, it is necessary to redo the working rollers, the shape of the recess in which must correspond to the pipe profile.
3. You can bend pipes most efficiently and accurately with the help of which you can purchase or make yourself.

Pipe bending tools

The question of how to bend a pipe without a pipe bender will not cause difficulties if you use the simplest devices to perform this operation. You can perform cold bending of pipes using the following devices.

• In cases where it is necessary to bend soft (aluminum) or steel pipe with a profile height of not more than 10 mm, a horizontal plate with holes is used, into which stops are inserted - metal pins. With the help of these pins, products are bent according to the required parameters. This method has two serious drawbacks: the low accuracy of bending, as well as the fact that when using it, it is necessary to apply significant physical effort.
• Products with a profile height of 25 mm are best bent using roller fixtures. The pipe is securely fixed in a vice, and a force is applied to that part of it that needs to be bent using a special roller. This device allows you to get a better bend, but also requires the application of physical effort.

Variant, as they say, on hastily. The long lever of this extremely simple device allows you to cope with rather thick pipes.

To form a bend with a large radius of curvature on steel or aluminum corrugated pipes, fixed rounded templates are used, on which special clamps are mounted to fix the product. On such a device, the pipe is also bent manually, with force laying it in the groove of the template, the shape of which exactly corresponds to the required bending radius.

Plywood and metal staples are all you need to make a bending template

bending plate

To efficiently bend steel or aluminum pipes at home, you can make a modernized bending plate using the following recommendations.

1. The role of such a plate is played by a panel that is cut out of sheet metal great thickness.
2. The panel, made in this way, is welded to the rack, which is installed on a special pedestal.
3. Two holes are drilled in the panel, necessary for installing bolts that serve as stops for the profile pipe.
4. On one of the stop bolts is installed special nozzle, with which the bending radius is adjusted.
5. To ensure the alignment of the pipe sections adjacent to the bend, a metal plate is placed above the workpiece, fixed with bolts.

When you are not using this upgraded pipe bender, its pedestal can be adapted to perform various plumbing tasks.

Mandrel bending

For bending profile pipe products at home, the wall height of which does not exceed 25 mm, a special mandrel can be made. For these purposes, it is better to use an overall workbench, on the surface of which there will be enough space for such a device. To select the optimal location of the element that fixes the bendable pipe, often located holes are made at one end of the workbench. A special template is responsible for ensuring the required bending radius of the corrugated pipe, which can be made from thick plywood or a metal corner if you are going to use it often.

Profile bending application

Of course, if you have a significant amount of work on bending profile pipes, it is better to make a special machine for this, the drawings of which are easy to find on the Internet. We will not analyze this issue here, since it is considered in more than detail in the articles on the links below.

You can not do without such a machine even if you need to bend pipes with a large profile section. The main working bodies of such a machine, which is characterized by wide versatility, are three rolls, two of which are fixed motionless, and by changing the position of the third, the bending radius of the product is adjusted. As a drive for such a device, a chain drive and a handle that is rotated by the operator are used.