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1" dia SS pipe bends - how/where to buy

GregSY

Diamond
Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Location
Houston
I have a friend I've been making some 'custom' handles for some equipment he has. These are pretty simple handles that you grab with your hand to help move the equipment around. I've made a dozen but he wants 'more' and I'm not that interested unless it gets easier.

Part of the handle - the part you grab - is a J shaped piece of 1" OD SS. I've tried a few different types of SS and the stuff they use for brewery/beverage equipment seems best. It has a 1.5MM wall.

I've been buying 1" OD SS elbows then welding a 1" piece of SS tube on one end and a 4-3/8" piece on the other end. The shape of these handles is pretty much 'non-negotiable' for a variety of reasons. This works well but is a pain....the alignment, welding, and grinding smooth is not difficult but it's a lot of time and trouble that could be avoided if I could buy these pieces already bent.

So....where do I look or who do I talk to for this sort of thing? In fact, the pipes could be carbon steel if they had a fairly smooth OD; they don't need to be SS. They could also be thicker wall though not thinner wall.

1 inch bend.jpg
 
Cant you order the elbows with tangents on them? Tangent is a short section of straight tube off of the bend.
Otherwise Wagner company can bend or have what you need.
Looks like part #7840 is 1" ss tube elbow with 2 tangents 2" each.
7840: Elbow | Wagner Companies
Call them to what it takes to get the tangent lengths you need.

I would think you could find sanitary fittings like you have but with tangents also, I have used them in the past and are way easier to align with the tube its welded to.
Like these:
Unpolished 90deg Weld Elbow with Tangent | Dixon Valve US
Tangent looks shorter than wagners....
 
Thanks, the Wagner part is too short on one side (would help on the other) but at $30 really too expensive...especially after the shipping and tax soaking.
 
If the tight radius in your photo is a requirement you are going to pay for that one way or the other

Vendor (Wagner) as noticed can fix you right up - but the price will be a no go

Woolf can fix you up with a 20 buck elbow - which you have to work on to add tangents - or they will charge you several times that for exactly what you want from their tube bending department

McMaster will sell you a nice manual bender for $375, but its radius is way less "tight" ( at 3 1/2") than your photos
 
I would call wagner and get a quote for exactly what you want. In decent quantity, 50 or 100 pieces, I bet they will beat the catalog price.
They have all kinds of benders, and can do this with the legs whatever length you want. They also get a much better price on the material than you will.


but if you are selling these for less than 30 bucks, you are losing money on every one.

I have been doing primarily stainless for 25 years now, and shop rate is a hundred bucks an hour minimum. And hopefully, there are jobs where I make well over that.
A buddy of mine who welds food grade stainless pipe all the time, for breweries, figures a hundred bucks per weld, with fitup and cleanup.

30 bucks is a mass produced price, with thousands being made at a time.
 
I like the Woolf place, I'll give them a call. Their site (sadly) shows a bend that looks good for $12 but gives no dimensions of the legs....

It's not just the $30 for the bend....there is the rest of the handle as well, plus all my time, powdercoating, etc. Each machine uses 4 handles and it's a tough sell to tell someone they gotta cough up $150 each for them. It's a no-sell, in fact. The price needs to be 'affordable' or people will just revert to using the 'swear and shove' or some other half-ass method.
 
The bends I am using are bought locally in Houston, not hard to get, and are $6 each. I can buy 4 bends and straight pipe to make the legs for $32. But again, it's the labor/welding/grinding that I don't like.
 
The bends I am using are bought locally in Houston, not hard to get, and are $6 each. I can buy 4 bends and straight pipe to make the legs for $32. But again, it's the labor/welding/grinding that I don't like.
See if the place you are getting them from can order you ones with tangents. That way maybe the short side of your handle will not need a weld, depending on its length. Tangent, or long elbows are common in sanitary fittings, they should be in the catalog your supplier orders from.
 
Just another recommendation for Woolf Aircraft if you really need the radius that tight. They seem to have a lot of things other places don't. I've gotten aluminum mandrel bends from them for several projects and been really happy with them.

If you don't need the radius to be that tight, have you considered bending them yourself? I have a 2-1/4" centerline radius die for 1" OD for my Hossfeld and could crank those out in either 14 or 16 gauge mild steel without any trouble.
 
Would the bend on the Hossfeld be fairly consistent? In other words, would the diameter be maintained through the bend or get 'oval-ized'?

I did ask the place I order them from about 'custom' bends and they are not that hi-tech. They pretty much source the elbows by the box and that's all the work with. They make brewery plant systems and mostly seem to work with pieces they can buy. They will cut me straight pipe from stock but that's it.
 
I did ask the place I order them from about 'custom' bends and they are not that hi-tech. They pretty much source the elbows by the box and that's all the work with. They make brewery plant systems and mostly seem to work with pieces they can buy. They will cut me straight pipe from stock but that's it.

Tangent elbows are not a custom bend. They should be able to get them at a price close to the short elbows you are now using.
 
Would the bend on the Hossfeld be fairly consistent? In other words, would the diameter be maintained through the bend or get 'oval-ized'?

It does get distorted a bit at the 2-1/4" CLR, but it's not terrible. I work with mandrel bends to build exhaust headers and they do as well...just not as much. If it's for a handle, I guess it's a matter of whether the amount of distortion would be acceptable to your customer or not.

I've attached a couple photos of bends with that tooling. These are 14 gauge ERW tube.
 

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Why is there grinding involved? Aren't the ends of the ell square? The add-on parts can be cut in a lathe to be square...
+1 for the Hossfeld. I do 180's in .065 1" Moly for driveshaft loops, and there is very little distortion on those. The Baileigh bender does almost as nice.
 
Thanks, that is another good source.

The radius is not critical but it can't be super-big as that adds undesired length to the whole affair. With these handles, the goal is to allow the person to lift but every inch their hand moves away from the attaching point is that much more stress on the joint. With a .065" wall I don't want to push that. I don't know the math; I'm using my gut feel and also the 'field proven' results.

The Woolf pieces are the best so far....they have a 6" leg which is plenty (I can trim it to suit) and a 1" CLR. At $12 each they are about the same price as my welded pieces but of course less work.

Making progress...!
 








 
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