How to bend a large cross-section profile pipe. How to bend a profile pipe: secrets and little tricks. Methods used for bending

The creation of a bend in a profile pipe by a professional builder or an ordinary owner can often occur during the construction or repair of any country house and a cottage. Deciding to bend a profile pipe with my own hands V living conditions, the owner is always puzzled about how to properly and reliably set up a greenhouse structure, covered terrace or smoking room.

When creating such structures, these products are used, since they are much more popular in comparison to pipes with a traditional round shape.

Pipes with an ordinary cross-section in the form of a circle are bent using a conventional hydraulic pipe bender with special shoes and rollers for round workpieces. At the same time, it is not possible to bend profile parts on such a machine, since it actuators For round shapes They will simply ruin the profile - the workpiece will crack, break, or be completely crushed.

Methods for bending profile elements

You can bend a profile pipe without any defects with your own hands. There are many techniques for producing such bent profile parts. One of the common options is to bend a profile workpiece using special devices - so-called profile benders. However, the price of such equipment is quite high, which calls into question the purchase of such a special machine from an ordinary owner.

how to bend profile pipe without pipe bender

In case of a rare need to manufacture bent profiles at home, it is suggested to purchase special pipe benders on the market for self made, used both for pipes with round, and for profile workpieces. The cost of this home equipment approximately equals 100 dollars. It is worth noting that when using hand tools for creating bent parts The owner needs to have appropriate physical and moral preparation - the work requires endurance and patience, but sparingly.

If there is a one-time need to make bends on workpieces, even buy manual mechanisms irrational. In this case, it is recommended to purchase an already manufactured element on the market, or you can place an order in a workshop or at an appropriate enterprise, where for a relatively low fee they can produce any part from their own profile material.

With this solution to the problem, you can not only reduce the cost of work and not waste personal time and effort, but also achieve the desired result - get a part with a high-quality and correct bend of a certain diameter or shape.

In every construction and other business there are always traditional methods. Bending profile blanks with your own hands is no exception. Only in this case is it possible to produce bends of small-sized copper or polymer pipe blanks.

Bending profile products using a pipe bender

Process specifics

When self-made When bending a profile workpiece, you must first determine the size of its cross-section, the thickness of the walls, the material from which the part is made, as well as the diameter or shape of the bend.

At the same time, it is also necessary to take into account the conditions of the existing production, which can ensure maximum bending accuracy and high quality of the parts produced.

Bending of profile pipes occurs within certain technical tolerances for wall thickness and cross-sectional configuration. An important task is to prevent such defective phenomena as fractures of the internal part of the bent profile workpiece and crushing of the transverse part of the workpiece.

Making a bend

In order to make a bend, it is necessary to have a special pipe bender designed for cold bending with stretching. The tension created by such a machine will shift the neutral axis of the workpiece towards bending. This effect when stretching the profile part will make it possible to reduce the formation of a corrugated zone on the bending surface.

Once located in the unit, the workpiece is clamped at the edges and at the same time stretched. At the same time, when the bending template is moved, the pipe begins to bend.

For bending a workpiece from of stainless steel without defects, deterioration in quality and reduction in the durability of the walls of the part in the bending zone, this process must be carried out under internal hydrostatic pressure. To do this, it is necessary to plug the ends of the pipe with plugs, inside of which there is filled liquid. Next, you need to move the bendable template to the center of the product, through which the bend is made a certain shape or diameter.

DIY bending process

You can bend a profile blank with your own hands without any professional equipment And special tools. In this way, most often it is possible to achieve a bend that is actually relatively good quality.

Forming a bend using a regular grinder and welding

To bend a profile pipe, the first thing you need to do is have an ordinary grinder and a welding machine.

In order to bend the workpiece, you must go through the following steps:

Determine the bending radius of the workpiece.
Along the bending line of the profile part, you need to make transverse cuts of three planes with the same interval between each other.
Further, without special labor you can bend the part.
Then you need to weld the cut areas.
Welding seams must be processed and ground.

Bending with internal countermeasures

To implement this technology, it is necessary to use a means such as a specially prepared spring. In this case, it is necessary to insert a rectangular spring made of metal wire with a thickness of 1 to 4 mm inside the profile pipe, depending on the size of the pipe being bent. Next, you can begin to bend the element.

The size of the spring segment segments should be smaller internal dimensions pipe cross-section by 1.5–2 mm, to allow the spring to penetrate inside the pipe without special effort.

After inserting the spring to the place of planned bending of the workpiece, before bending it is necessary to heat the bending area blowtorch. After this, you can bend the product using a special blank with a radius that must coincide with the required internal radius of the part to be bent.

For the purpose of bending a profile part for heating or water supply from copper, there is one relatively extraordinary method, feasible only in winter.

It is as follows unique option in the following:

First thing you need is one edge copper pipe seal with a stopper and fill it with water.
Then place the workpiece with water outside in frosty weather until the water completely freezes.
Next, bend the pipe in accordance with a bending template of a certain radius. In this case, the pipe will bend without much effort and without distorting its cross-section.

Using the same scheme, it will be possible to bend pipes of the duralumin type, as well as from a material such as brass.

Bend without a pipe bender

You can also bend a rectangular piece without a pipe bender using well-dried and carefully sifted sand. Before bending, it is necessary to hammer a wooden wedge into one of the ends of the pipe to a depth of 10 to 20 cm. After this, fill the opposite open hole of the pipe to the edge with cleaned and dried sand and hammer a similar wedge there. Then you can begin bending the workpiece using a blank of a certain diameter, which must coincide with the planned size of the product.

In case of too sharp bends - when the radius is small, it is recommended to heat the bending area using a burner device. Thanks to the sand filled to the brim in the pipe, the cross-sectional shape of the product will be preserved.

After bending, you need to burn out one of the plugs, pour out sand from the inside and tear out the second plug.

A profile pipe is a pipe that has a square or rectangular section. Therefore, you may think that it is almost impossible to bend it. Although in fact, knowing how to bend a profile pipe, this process will seem almost trivial to you.

However, when starting work, you need to know exactly what you want to get as a result. To bend a pipe, as they say, “by eye” is extra waste both your time and physical strength.

Carelessly applied forces can destroy the profile pipe, even though it is made of metal.

Pipe bending machine

Since the profile pipe must be bent very carefully so that, if possible, its cross-section and, of course, the associated properties (rigidity and strength) do not change, it is best to use a special machine for these purposes, which is called a profile bender. It is not financially profitable to buy such a machine for one-time work, so you can simply contact a company that already has this equipment and its employees will fulfill your order quickly and efficiently. The cost of such work may vary, but in any case it will be much cheaper than buying a pipe bender for personal use.

When using a machine, the pipe is usually bent evenly along its entire length.

You should act gradually so that kinks do not appear and the profile does not flatten, which can no longer be eliminated.

With the right effort, you will also be able to avoid such defects as the appearance of corrugated areas. The pipe will remain smooth, since the pipe bender simultaneously stretches and bends it, while the compressive force also arises gradually and acts constantly, and not jerkily.

However, to achieve improved quality of work, it is worth using the bending method using the advantages of hydrostatic pressure. To do this, the profile pipe must be completely filled with liquid, then closing both ends with special plugs. When bending such a pipe on a machine, you should start from its center, and not from the edge, gradually reducing the bending radius until the desired shape is achieved.

Bend by hand

Another option is to use manual pipe bender, suitable for the pipe section you have chosen. Unfortunately, the use of this device requires significant physical effort, which not every one of us can handle, since bending a profile pipe, the walls of which are several millimeters thick, is quite difficult.

In addition, if the profile pipe has a large cross-section, then you will not be able to bend it manually, since a manual pipe bender is designed only for strictly defined pipe sizes.

Home option

If you don’t have one of the above pipe benders (either manual or machine-made), you can use another method - bend the pipe at home using a grinder and welding.

In this case, the process will look like this and will take quite a lot of time:

First of all, you need to calculate the bending radius of the profile pipe that you need.
Mark the pipe with marks along which you will cut it so that you can bend it to the desired shape. Remember that the more often the cuts are made, the smoother the final bend of the profile pipe will be.
Using a grinder, make cuts on three sides, always leaving the fourth side of the section untouched.
Carefully bend the pipe to the desired shape. To facilitate the process, you can use a kind of pattern cut from wood, the outer edge of which will repeat the desired shape of the bend. Attach the edge (the whole fourth side) of the profile pipe to it, secure it and begin bending it to the desired curvature.
Use a welding machine to weld the cuts. The seams must be fairly neat and durable.
Sand the weld areas so that you end up with a smooth surface.

Since you won’t be able to quickly bend a profile pipe in this way, it is better to use a grinder and welding only for single jobs or for bending large cross-section pipes. If you need to perform quite a large number of curved profile pipes, it is better to first make a homemade pipe bender.

DIY pipe bender

Creating a pipe bender with your own hands is not very difficult, if, of course, you know the principle of its operation and the main design elements. You can use this video as a guide:

Pipe bending spring

Masters know another way to bend a profile pipe. To do this, they use a specially made square spring made of steel wire 2-4 mm thick. The external size of the spring should be 1-2 mm smaller than the internal section of the profile pipe.

The finished spring is placed in the pipe. Then, using a blowtorch, heat the section of the pipe that needs to be bent (not forgetting about special protective gloves and pliers), apply it to a blank having required radius, secure and press until the required bend is obtained.

You can bend a profile pipe yourself, without using expensive and bulky machines. If all the rules are followed, the work will turn out to be of no less quality. Let's consider several options that allow you to bend pipes yourself.

Bending a pipe using a grinder

To perform this procedure you will need an angle grinder Grinder) and a welding machine. Let's move on to the work process:

Before bending, it is recommended to fix the pipe (for example, in a vice). This will keep it in one plane. If there is a weld on the pipe, it must be placed on outside bend so that the metal does not come apart.
Calculate the bend radius and mark the bend location. Take a grinder and make transverse cuts along the length of the mark (on 3 sides). After this, you can bend the product without difficulty.
The resulting cracks must be welded and cleaned. Try to do the work slowly and carefully - this will allow you to achieve good quality and not damage the pipe.

Bending a pipe using a spring and a blowtorch

You will need steel wire with a diameter of 2 mm. Make a spring out of it so that it can fit inside the pipe without dangling. You can also purchase a ready-made spring for bending pipes. Insert it into the pipe, mark the bend and heat it with a blowtorch. After this, you can easily bend the pipe using a rounded blank. If the resulting result does not suit you, you can redo the work, but it is preferable to immediately carefully perform all the steps.

Bending a pipe using sand and a gas torch

This method will allow you to give the pipe a suitable bend without the risk of cracks and flattening. You will need quartz or purified sand, a gas welder (torch), two wood plugs and a drill. Let's consider the process in order:

Instead of quartz sand you can use regular one too. But it must be cleaned first. Sift the sand and dry it thoroughly by heating it over a fire or burner. The sand should be heated until it stops smoking. When everything is ready, pour the cooled sand into a clean container.
Insert a wooden plug into one end of the profile pipe (to a depth of no more than 10-20 cm). Completely fill the pipe with quartz (or purified) sand and close the other end with a plug. This filling will avoid destruction during the bending process. If there is no sand, the material will simply deteriorate.
Make a small hole in one of the plugs. During heating, air will escape from it.
Mark the area that needs to be folded and heat it with a torch. Then give the pipe the desired shape. Try not to overheat the metal - this can lead to the formation of scale and loss of quality of the material.
When the pipe takes the desired shape, remove the wooden plugs and pour out the sand. It is recommended to heat the ends of the profile pipe - this will make the plugs easier to pull out.

Additional bending methods

There are methods designed for pipes made of specific materials that you can also use:

To bend a copper pipe (as well as brass and duralumin) you will need water and negative temperature. Plug one end of the pipe, then fill the pipe with water and cap the other end. Place the product in the cold and leave it there until ice forms. After this, the product can easily take the desired shape. You can also use melted paraffin, rosin or lead as a filling.
For bending metal-plastic pipe You can use table salt. It must first be heated in a frying pan (until the salt crystals begin to explode) and poured into the pipe. When the hot raw material is inside, the pipe can be bent without much effort.

The variety of ways to bend profile pipes allows you to perform this procedure at home, without resorting to the help of specialists and expensive equipment. Try to follow the algorithm for creating bends and act slowly. In this case, the chances of creating a high-quality product are greatly increased.

Independent arrangement of a private plot may sometimes require bending a profile pipe to build a greenhouse or gazebo. Some people think that this cannot be done without a special device, but there are several methods that can cope with the task.

Nuances of pipe bending

The term “profile pipe” refers to hollow products of square, oval and rectangular shape. Their round analogues are also included in this definition, but they are used less frequently (more about the types of pipes -). Give the profile pipe curved configurations and at the same time preserve it specifications difficult, but doable if you do it on special device hot or cold method.

In this process, the profile is affected by two forces: c inside- tension, and from the inside - compression. To balance these efforts, several nuances are used:

When bending a pipe, you need to watch its outer wall. When heated, it expands greatly and may not withstand the load, which leads to its crack.
It is necessary to carry out the bending slowly, then the risk of breaking will be reduced.
After completing the process, you need to check the edges of the pipe, and if they lie in different planes, repeat the bending process to align them.
When choosing bending machine you need to focus on the thickness of the pipe walls and its cross-section.
The inner wall of the pipe after the process may resemble an accordion; this is a normal phenomenon, as contraction occurs.
Bending the pipe must begin from the end, and not from the middle, otherwise it will be more difficult to change the profile.

Before bending, you need to practice on unnecessary pipes to prevent defects.

How to bend profile pipes by welding?

You can bend the profile pipe in a semicircle using a grinder. It is used to make several cuts along the entire pipe profile. This method is as follows:

Secure the pipe in a clamping vice.
Make thin cuts in the places where the pipe will bend.
Clean the cuts from shavings and carefully bend the profile along them.
Weld the holes formed during bending using welding machine. If the pipe diameter is small, a soldering iron can be used for this purpose.
Clean and sand the formed areas of the profile bend and process them protective composition, it will protect them from corrosion.

Using it you can get a pipe of the desired radius. When choosing this method, you do not need to use a vice; the work progress is as follows:

Fix one end of the pipe in the ground and close it with any plug.
Fill the profile pipe with sand.
Heat up the blowtorch. Move it near the intended bend.
Bend the pipe, but this must be done quickly so that the metal does not have time to cool, otherwise you will not be able to bend it.

This “hot” method allows the use of water instead of sand.

Spring method of pipe bending

This method preserves the integrity of the walls of the profile pipe. Before using the method, preparatory work is carried out:

Spring preparation . It is made of steel wire. The diameter of the latter depends on the thickness of the pipe walls. To wind the spring, a square blank is used, and wire is laid around it. The outer diameter of the spring must be smaller than the inner dimension of the pipe.
Preparing the template . Pipe bending will be carried out according to a pre-made reference workpiece.

The deformation of the profile pipe is carried out by inserting a spring into it, which will protect the material from breaking. The part is heated with a blowtorch, and when hot it is deformed to the desired diameter.

Bending profile pipes on a manual pipe bender (video)

The video below shows how to bend profile pipes with a cross-section of 25×25 mm and 20×40 mm in order to make a frame for a greenhouse from them.

The pipes come with a wall thickness of 2 mm. A homemade pipe bender is a welded structure. It consists of a base of two small rollers sandwiched between posts. In the middle of the structure rises a carriage made of corners. On their upper part there is a square platform welded into which a screw with a nut from the jack is inserted, and a removable handle is inserted onto it. A handle is also attached to the first roller, with the help of which the pipe is fed to the machine. There is a third roller inside the carriage; the deflection arrow will pass through its center.

Pipe bending process:

Place the pipe on the two lower rollers and stretch it to the required distance, turning the first roller.
Lower the middle roller by turning the handle.
Pass the entire pipe to the marked mark in one direction. After rolling it will become slightly arched.
Perform the previous step only in the other direction, lowering the middle roller lower. The pipe remains in the device and you need to return it to its original position by turning the handle on the lower roller in the opposite direction.
Run the pipe through the pipe bender a third time. The arc of its bend will increase sharply.
Repeat all steps for the 4th time.

As a result, you will get a rather impressive radius of deflection of the pipe, in this way you can prepare required amount profiles.

In the next video you can clearly see how you can make and use a pipe bender with your own hands:

The described methods using sand, welding and springs are used to special occasions V household. If you need to bend pipes often or plan to build a large building using them, then it is better to purchase a profile bender or make it yourself. When using a pipe bender, the process goes faster, the profile is correct without unnecessary kinks.

When owning and independently furnishing a private house or cottage, almost every developer is once faced with the need to bend pipes. Many people think about how to bend a profile pipe at home when erecting greenhouses, gazebos and other buildings of a similar type on a site.

And this is not surprising if you consider that profile pipes look noticeably more advantageous in comparison with products of ordinary round cross-section.

However, if a pipe with a round cross-section can be bent with an ordinary pipe bender, then it will not be possible to bend a profile pipe with it, since in ordinary hydraulic pipe benders the rollers and shoes have a round bend, which, when trying to bend a profile pipe, will lead to the appearance of cracks, kinks on it, or simply the pipe will flatten.

Methods for bending profile pipes

How to bend the profile pipe yourself in this case, avoiding its damage? For this purpose, several methods are used, one of which is bending using special machines that are designed specifically for profile pipes.

Machines of this type are called profile benders. However, the cost of such machines is quite decent, and why does the average homeowner need professional equipment?

If you do not need to bend a corrugated pipe all the time, but from time to time, you can find manual pipe benders on sale that are suitable for both profile and “round” pipes, which are also not so expensive - up to about $100. It should be borne in mind that the process of using a manual pipe bender will require significant physical effort.

If there is a single need to bend a profile pipe, it is not advisable to purchase a tool and it is better to contact a workshop or workshop of the appropriate profile, which will provide required service for reasonable money, or he will sell a ready-made bent product.

This option will save both time and money, and the result of solving the issue will be exactly what is needed - bending the profile pipe to the desired radius.

Another method that is often practiced in such cases is to bend the profile pipe with your own hands using, so to speak, folk remedies. However, in this way it is possible to bend pipes of small sections - steel, copper, polymer.

Bending profile pipes using pipe benders

Bending Features

How to bend a profile pipe yourself? This should be done based on the size of its cross-section, the thickness of the walls, the material from which it is made, as well as the bending radius.

In addition, the production conditions, the required bending accuracy and the quality of the resulting product must be taken into account.

Bending of profile pipes is carried out within technical tolerances for wall thickness and cross-sectional size. In this case, the task is to avoid such undesirable phenomena as kinks on the inside of the bent pipe and flattening of its cross section.

Before bending square pipe for a small radius, you need to remember that bending should be done closer to the ends, since in the middle part the pipe will be more difficult to give in to this.

Bend a pipe

To perform the bend, you will need a pipe bender specially designed for cold bending with stretching. The tension generated by such a tool will lead to a displacement of the neutral axis of the pipe in the direction of the bend, which reduces the likelihood of obtaining a corrugated surface at the bend.

While in the machine, the pipe is grasped at the edges and stretched, and at the same time it bends when the bending template moves.

How to bend a stainless steel pipe without losing the quality of the pipe? To prevent the loss of stability of the pipe walls on a bend, bending is carried out under internal hydrostatic pressure: plugs are put on the ends of the pipe and liquid is supplied inside it, after which a bending template is brought to the middle of the pipe, with the help of which the bend is performed, giving the pipe the desired shape.

Pipe bending at home

You can bend a profile pipe with your own hands without the help of special machines and tools. Moreover, in most cases you can achieve a bend of really good quality.

Performing bending using a grinder and welding

Before bending a profile pipe, you will need to arm yourself with a grinder and a conventional welding machine.

Bending is performed in the following sequence:

The radius of curvature of the pipe is calculated.
Along the length of the bent section, uniform transverse cuts are made on three sides.
After this, bending the pipe is easy.
Weld the sawn areas.
Process and grind the welding area.

In this way you can achieve impressive external result at the required bend radius of the pipe.

Bending using internal countermeasures

One such means could be a specially manufactured spring. Before bending the profile pipe, a square spring is wound from steel wire 1-4 mm thick (depending on the thickness of the pipe being bent).

The size of each side of the spring segment should be 1.5-2 mm less than the internal values of the pipe cross-section so that the spring can penetrate inside the pipe without any effort.

After installing the pipe at the intended bend, immediately before bending the profile pipe, the bent section is heated with a blowtorch. Next, the pipe is bent on a blank, the radius of which is equal to the required internal radius of the bending pipe.

If necessary, bend to winter period, a somewhat original method can be applied.

So, how to bend a profile pipe:

The copper pipe is filled with water, having first closed one of its ends with a stopper.
Leave the pipe in the cold until the liquid freezes completely.
Bending of the copper pipe can then be done according to a template of the appropriate radius with virtually no loss of cross-section and without effort.

Aluminum and brass pipes can be bent in the same way.

How to bend a corrugated pipe without a pipe bender? Prepare several buckets of dry and clean sand. If you couldn’t get clean sand, regular sand that’s been lying around in the yard will do.

It will need to be sifted and dried properly by calcining it over a fire or using gas burner until the sand stops steaming and smoking. After processing and cooling, the sand is poured into a dry and clean container.

Before bending a square pipe, a wooden wedge is driven into it from one side to a depth of 10-20 cm, and then prepared clean and dry sand is poured into the free hole of the pipe until the pipe is completely filled. Next, a similar wedge is driven in on the other side of the pipe and the bending process begins directly.

The operation, as in previous cases, is carried out using a blank with a diameter corresponding to the required internal bending radius. If the bend is too steep (small radius), the bend can be heated with a torch. Sand tightly packed into the pipe will prevent it from losing its integrity or being severely deformed.

At the end of bending, one of the plugs is burned out over a fire, the sand is removed from the pipe and the second plug is knocked out or burned out of the pipe. Bending this way will not take much more time than bending a profile pipe using a pipe bender.

The methods presented in the article for bending profile pipes will be effective when all of the above conditions are met, however, truly high quality bending in every sense of the word can only be achieved with the help of professionals who will perform the work on equipment specially designed for this. Approach your work with skill, only thanks to this you will be able to achieve the desired result, while spending a minimum of money and effort.