What you will need:
- wooden handle or block;
- forge or gas stove;
- dry sand.
Pipe bending technology
From any dry wooden blanks you need to make 2 plugs for the pipe.
They are made long and cone-shaped so that enough wood remains outside the pipe for subsequent removal of the plugs.
One plug is pressed tightly into the pipe.
Then dry sand is poured through the second free end.
If this is not available, then you can use bentonite clay, sold in regular supermarkets as cat litter. Sand needs to be pressed tightly into the entire cavity of the pipe. Ideally, it should be compacted with a rod of suitable length and diameter.
After this, the second plug is clogged. A little empty space is left for her in the pipe without sand, since it will not allow her to enter. It needs to be driven as deep as possible so that it compresses the filler even more.Then a mark is made on the pipe along which the bend should pass.
After this, you need to warm up the section of the pipe near the mark. You can use a regular gas stove. Due to the wide torch, it will be able to capture and effectively heat a sufficient area of the pipe, unlike a hand torch. You should handle the pipe with gloves, even by the edges that are far from the point of contact with the flame. Due to the sand inside, the workpiece is heated to a temperature that burns the skin along its entire length.
The heated pipe is placed against the bending support. This could be a tree trunk, a buried pole, or simply a round piece of the required diameter clamped in a vice. Thanks to heating, it bends relatively easily. At the same time, the sand pressed inside will prevent its walls from folding inward. The bending will occur due to sufficient stretching of the metal along the outer radius, and not deformation of the inner one. You may not be able to do everything right the first time. If a crease does form, this indicates poor sand distribution.
This method can be used not only to work with pipes made of aluminum, but also of other metals. If you need to bend a steel tube, then it must be heated red-hot, otherwise the walls may not only fold from the inside, but also tear. In addition, hot steel bends easily like plasticine.
