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Does anyone make a small CNC tubing bender?

teemfan93

Cast Iron
Joined
Dec 5, 2015
I make a product for a customer that has a lot of thin/small diameter bent tubing, usually stainless in the 1/4-1/2" range for the most part. I have been thinking it would really help me scale if I was able to find a small/desktop cnc bender to help automate some of the process. I have done a quick search but haven't really been able to come up with anything. Does anyone know if there are any small machines like this on the market?

Thanks y'all and have a Merry Christmas!
 
250 views and no response - is this something that really doesn't exist?

It doesn't take much force to bend thin walled tubing this small, so I am surprised something like this isn't on the market? Everything I have seen marketed towards smaller diameter tubing is just way too big for my space available (around a 2 car garage sized shop)

Small Diameter CNC Tube Bender
 
If you search Youtube for "CNC wire bending machine tutorial" (no quotes), you'll find some DIY CNC wire benders. That tech might be usable for small tubing if you're willing to upscale where needed, and maybe filling the tubing with sand or low-temp metal first.
 
If you search Youtube for "CNC wire bending machine tutorial" (no quotes), you'll find some DIY CNC wire benders. That tech might be usable for small tubing if you're willing to upscale where needed, and maybe filling the tubing with sand or low-temp metal first.

I will take a look, thank you! I didn't think to check out wire benders, might be something there... I'm not against designing and building a machine but definitely not my preference if I can avoid it
 
There isnt really a commercial application that would pay for small footprint benders- it costs virtually the same amount to build a bender that can bend a ten foot piece as one that will only bend 24"- so no manufacturer that I am aware of would sacrifice capacity and flexibility for small scale. The garage market is pretty small.
There are some relatively small CNC rolls, but of course they are only capable of doing pretty large radius bends, like these from Carell- The BA20 is in the size range and capacity you are talking about.
BA CNC Series | Carell Corporation | United States
I own a bigger roll bender from the Italian manufacturer that makes these- good quality for the money.

In terms of mandrel bending, though, they are all pretty big, physically.

There are small benders like these ercolinas- but they are not mandrel benders, so are not suitable for thin wall materials.
Ercolina SB48-TC Super Bender Tube Bending Machine | CML USA, Inc.

The japanese do make some amazing cnc benders, but they are very expensive, and have no distribution to speak of in the USA. And, again, for flexibility reasons, they are long. CNCフリーフォームパイプベンダー | 日進精機

Tauring, an Italian company, was making an amazing CNC bender called the Slalom, which wasnt too huge, and could do compound bending in tubing.But I am not sure if they are still in business.
Slalom 60 CNC 8 Roll, Tauring Roll Bender Successful Test Bends at Customers Facility - August 2016 - YouTube
 
Tubing comes in 20-24 foot pieces so even a small bender is still 20 feet long.

At one time I was making a bunch of bent tubes in 5/8 6063. I used an imperial 700F bench bender to get the tight radius's I needed.

I was trying to figure out a solution and what I had considered, but never went forward with was using a VMC with an indexer to feed, rotate and bend the tubing. I figured I could clamp the tube with an air cylinder and use a formed block in the spindle to follow the tubing against a formed mandrel.

It would be a lot to implement, but so is any kind of CNC bender.
 
Tubing comes in 20-24 foot pieces so even a small bender is still 20 feet long.

At one time I was making a bunch of bent tubes in 5/8 6063. I used an imperial 700F bench bender to get the tight radius's I needed.

I was trying to figure out a solution and what I had considered, but never went forward with was using a VMC with an indexer to feed, rotate and bend the tubing. I figured I could clamp the tube with an air cylinder and use a formed block in the spindle to follow the tubing against a formed mandrel.

It would be a lot to implement, but so is any kind of CNC bender.

That is how these were made, I have a video but am unable to post it, If someone knows how I think I can email it. I lied, seems I cant do that either

IMG_3963.jpg
 
I have watched quite a few sma cnc benders on youtube.

Look up brake line benders and such. Lots of videos but I doubt a huge industry in who makes them.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I saw a cool one at a hydraulic shop in Tulsa. The work head was relatively small as it was just instrument tubing, don't recall how the tube was fed.

Depending on accuracy required, I bet it could be fed in with some tires on a stepper or servo.

Programmed via Mazatrol
 








 
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