Pipe or tube bending

G

girldadxmas

Member
Hello all. I was wondering what everyone used to bend their pipes or tubes for their displays? I was thinking about buying something like this. Please let me know if this would work for bending a frame for an arch ECT...
 

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I use pex formy arches. It bends naturally. I just added a rigid cross member at the base and I have a nice arch. I would do sililar things to get a circle
 
Ok, now I am interested. I have a roll of ShakrBite PEX, PEX A from HD, and Apollo PEX A. They are all rolled up with a diameter of maybe 2.5 feet or so. I am trying to straighten them up so I can have arches that first to straight up on the sides and then round on top. I purchased one of those long "tube warmers" that you insert into the tube and then let the tube heat up for an hour or more. But they don't seem to help getting the bent out (or in your case trying to get a bent). I also tried to straighten them out with plain mechanical pressure but that didn't work either. Maybe I need to overbend them so they snap into a straight position. Or maybe I need to use something a lot hotter than those "tube warmers"....
 
I did not do anything that fancy. PEX gets attached to a 3/4" tee using a through bolt (not glue or compression fit). Crossbar is 3/4" pvc attached to the tee using cross bolts. Feet are attached with a press fit that makes them adjustable. As for keeping the shape, the cross bar takes care of it. I did lay them out on a hot driveway to get the bend into the pipe and that seems to work well. I repeat the driveway process every summer to keep the arch from flattening out. On year 7 with the arches and very happy with the way they look
 
Trying to straighten a PEX that has been coiled is one of those things that will test your abilities. Practically impossible. (Not quite, but I don't have that much patience.)

We ended up purchasing Shark-Bite PEX in 20 foot long straight pipes.
The PEX that was coiled got used for arches, following a method very similar to what MartinMueller2003 described.
 
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