How to Choose Proper Copper Tube Bender?
Copper tubes have a hard texture, are resistant to corrosion, and withstand high temperatures and pressures, making them suitable for long-term use in various environments. Compared to other metal piping materials, copper pipes have excellent thermal conductivity and high low-temperature strength. Their mechanical properties remain unchanged in hot water environments, and they do not lose pressure resistance capability or undergo aging. This is why copper pipes are widely used in plumbing and water supply systems.
Copper tubes and pipes used in these fields cannot be directly utilized, they need to be formed into various sizes and shapes to meet the needs of specific use. When it comes to copper tube bending, there are a few ways to make it come true. But which bending method fits your needs, depends on specific requirements.
Application of Bent Copper Pipe
Different applications have different requirements for tube bends. Copper tubes have a wide range of applications. Let us first take a look at where they are mainly used.
- Copper heating coils
- Heating and cooling system
- Plumbing
- Refrigeration lines
- Laboratory equipment
- Medical equipment
- Water supply pipeline
- Home Renovation
- Craftsmanship
And more……
Types of Copper Tube Bender
As you can see, bent copper tubes can be used in various applications, and each of them has a different request. Let us take a look at the commonly used copper tuber bender in the market.
Copper Pipe Bending Tool
The copper pipe bending tool is operated manually, this is a very easy tool to bend copper tubes, suitable for bending thin wall thickness, and soft copper tubes in small quantities. The manual Cooper pipe bending tool can be used for home renovation, plumbing repair, craft making, and other small projects. They are not required for consistent tube bending with precise results.
Advantages of Copper Pipe Bending Tool
- Cheap
- Easy to use
- Easy to carry
Limitations of Copper Pipe Bending Tool
- No consistent bending
- Low bending accuracy
- Easy to break
- Bending strength depends on the operator
- Bending size limitation, only for small copper tubes.
Copper Tube Ram Bending Machine
Copper tube ram bending is another simple tube bending method, using a hydraulic ram to ram the tube to the blocks or bending dies at the top of the machine till it forms the desired shape.
Advantages of Copper Tube Ram Bending Machine
- Suitable for simple copper tube bending
- Lighter than the industrial tube bender
- Small size
- High bending strength than manual bending tool
Disadvantages of Copper Tube Ram Bending Machine
- Bending accuracy is not high
- Low bending consistency
- Bending may cause deformation
- Low bending speed
Automatic Copper Tube Benders
The automatic copper tube bender is what we say the industrial tube bender, it is a programmable machinery that can bend copper tubing with complex bends in tight tolerance.
Advantages of Automatic Copper Tube Benders
- High precision
- Fast speed
- Programmable to bend multiple angles on one piece tube
- High efficiency
- High bending consistency
- No bending deformation
- Complex bending
Disadvantages of Automatic Copper Tube Benders
- Expensive than other simple methods
- Need more professional operator
Key Considerations When Choosing the Proper Copper Tube Bender
Before purchasing the copper tube bender, you need to clarify some details with your machine supplier, so that you can get the one that fits your bending needs.
Max. Copper Tube Size
Providing the information of your maximum copper tube size to the manufacturer of copper tube bender, they can decide the machine bending capacity to allow all the tubes you want to bend on their machine to be workable.
Copper Tube Hardness
Copper tube hardness can decide which type of bending machine or tool can bend your copper material.
Bending Accuracy
Different types of copper tubing benders have different bending accuracy, the bending equipment you choose for your production should meet production needs.
Bending Complexity
Under some projects, the copper tubing bending is more complex which means a single pipe with varying bending angles and radii. You can not use the simple bending method, because they can not achieve this result. This time you will need a CNC tube bender which can be bent on different materials of metal tubes and pipes to create the complex bends.
Bending Efficiency
For some small projects, you may only need the manual bending tool to bend just a few pipes. However, for large-scale production needs, you will need the tube bending machine to bend copper tubes to meet the bending efficiency request.
Bending Radius
Know the copper pipe bending radius is used for making the tube bending die. If you have multiple bending radii, you will need to create multiple bending dies.
Challenges of Bending Copper Pipe
Copper pipe, as a highly formable and strong metal, is widely used in various piping systems. When some users use the copper pipe bender to bend copper pipe, they face the below challenges.
Copper Pipe Wrinkling and Deformation
In fact, not only bending the copper pipe but also bending other metal pipes and tubes, it is easy to causes pipe wrinkling & deformation. There is one method to solve this problem, that is using the mandrel pipe bender. The mandrel inside the pipe plus the wiper die can effectively prevent the tube from wrinkling and deformation.
Machine Can’t Handle Complex Bends
This is what we mentioned before, we recommend thorough consideration before making a purchase of the machinery, you should carefully consider the features your pipe bending machine needs to have before purchasing. We even suggest buying a machine that is one tier higher than what you currently need. This way, you’ll be well-equipped to handle complex copper pipe bending tasks with ease when the need arises.
TubeBenderN is a professional manufacturer of copper tube benders in China. Both copper tube and copper pipe can be bent on our machinery, we also offer customization services to meet your specific bending needs!
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All you need to know about mandrel tube bender
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Things you must know about aluminum tube bending
Denis Lau
Denis Lau has 20 years of work experience in the metal processing industry. His major in university was mechanical engineering, and after graduation, he started from the bottom of the workshop, gaining extensive hands-on professional experience and the ability to tackle challenges from various industries.
