How to bend copper pipe to form a traditional worm

[cole22]

I have been using this site for a long time now and have seen people talk about bending pipe to make a worm. But I have never heard on how you actually bend the copper pipe to form it. In the past I have used refrigeration coiled copper to form my worms but really want to move on from that. Any help would be much appreciated!

[Kareltje]

I bent copper pipe with a bending iron. A 15 mm pipe became a spiral with a diameter of 14 cm, a 22 mm pipe became 20.5 cm. The spiral had a rather great speed, but with some caution it was possible to make this smaller.

[fizzix]

I've not made a worm myself, but a helpful tip I've read here is to fill the copper with salt to prevent collapse and make smoother coils.

[morethenaname]

I bought a 25 foot coil of 3/8 copper for mine and all i did was take the coil out of the box and slowly work it until it fit inside my drum approx 1 inch from walls then used garden wire and fish hooks to keep the coils seperated. Was only going to be a temp deal but it works great so i havent messed with it..if its not broke dont fix it lol

[Yummyrum]

It may be stateing the obvious .... but for those that don’t know , straight copper that you buy n lengths needs to be annealed ( heated up until cherry red hot) before attempting to bend it .
The stuff you buy in a coil pack has already been annealed .

[amdamgraham]

We took three evenly cut lengths of light-duty shelving truss and stood them on end vertically such that it formed three pillars that if you drew an imaginary line from point to point would form a triangle if you were looking down on it. The truss has gaps evenly spaced all along it (for inserting the shelf hangers) and as you wrap the coil around the outside or inside of your triangle frame you wire the coil to the holes down throughout the truss in perfectly even steps so that you know you won;t have any flat spots in the coil. I can't upload a photo right now but if I manage it I will. We then inserted the coil down into a 60 gallon water barrel, the output pokes out the hole already there for the water tap, it just needed sealing-up.

[acfixer69]

I bought a 25 foot coil of 3/8 copper for mine and all i did was take the coil out of the box and slowly work it until it fit inside my drum approx 1 inch from walls then used garden wire and fish hooks to keep the coils seperated. Was only going to be a temp deal but it works great so i havent messed with it..if its not broke dont fix it lol

FYI If you bought a roll of soft 3/8" copper that is only 1/4"ID not a safe worm. Refrigeration tubing is called out in OD, PLUMBING is in ID.

[Kareltje]

It may be stateing the obvious .... but for those that don’t know , straight copper that you buy n lengths needs to be annealed ( heated up until cherry red hot) before attempting to bend it .
The stuff you buy in a coil pack has already been annealed .

Yes, I know. But I found bending a hard, straight pipe easier, although it took more strength. For it was easier to get a grip on the straight end with the bending iron. The roll of soft copper I bended later just stayed in place because it was not round, but a bit oval, so it got stuck. Which in turn made it harder to get it loose and take the next step.

There are tricks with sand or salt and annealing certainly will help too. It seems to be difficult to get the sand or salt out of the worm afterwards. Some people do know how to roll an annealed pipe around a slowly rotating pole by keeping the copper in hand (with gloves).

[corene1]

When I bend a copper coil I always use the annealed copper tube, much easier to work with. I crimp one end and fill the tube completely full with water , no air anywhere, and crimp the other end closed. I then freeze it solid and bend around the jig of choice. For big coils I will use a steel bucket or drum. Then let the ice melt and there you have it, it stays nice and round and no problems cleaning the inside.

[Skipper1953]

I have had success using the method corene1 described above. Especially in January when you can really take your time with it.

[acfixer69]

The first time I read about filling a copper tube with water and freezing it prior to bending I went Huh!! I can't count how many late night service calls I have done on rooftops in New England to repair busted frozen pipes. It just sounds wrong to me. A little flatten of the soft copper don't hurt nothing IMO. Bending hard copper is rarely done and only as last resort.

AC

[acfixer69]

I could see filling it up in water and mechanically sealing the tube then bending across a chosen mold working. But with larger stuff.

[corene1]

You don't crimp and seal just crimp the end. As the water freezes it expands and pushes the excess out the end of the tube.

[Skipper1953]

… It just sounds wrong to me.

Well ... It still works. And I had a lot less flattening than I had without the frozen water.
I must admit that I only had occasion to do it with 1/4" copper. I didn't close the ends at all. I just left them pointing up in the air. When the water froze, there was a little perfectly round icicle sticking out both ends. I flattened both ends with a pair of dykes before winding on my mandrel.

There are obviously several ways to skin that critter.

Cole22, what is wrong with refrigeration tubing? It comes in different sizes and would be easier to work with than pipe.

[cole22]

Skipper, refrigeration coils are fine and really easy to work with. They just aren’t as sturdy as the normal copper pipe. Plus I kind of want a challenge!

[Truckinbutch]

Trust Corene . She is correct in her approach . Trust her in all fabrication projects . She does this for a living .
My question is ? why would you fuck around twisting a worm when a liebig is so much mere efficient and so easy to build ?

[Kareltje]

I guess a Liebig needs much more cooling water than a worm.
Recently I stripped about 60 l wash of about 10 % with a Liebig, but I recycled the cooling water directly. This meant it slowly heated up until it cooled no more, so then I added new, cold water. All in all it took me about 200 L fresh water and I recycled 600 L.

In the end I also had about 60 L of nice, lukewarm water. Next time I fill a bath with it and take a bath and a drink when I am finished.

And what is more: when you bend a long enough pipe, you can make a riser of 3 m long in only 50 cm or an air cooler of 9 m in 50 cm. I do not need water at all for stilling! (Just time!)

[amdamgraham]

I have a flake stand for my large rig and a leibig for my small one. As I mentioned in my earlier post the flake stand is made with a 60 gallon rain barrel and I distill in a basement. There is an identical rain barrel outside that fills from my roof and is above basement level. When I need to fill the flake stand I just drop the rain barrel hose in through a hole in the siding and into the flake stand and it fills up. When I'm done, a pond pump pumps it back up and out. Free coolant. With the leibig I have to watch the water flow and I'm paying for both water and sewer for all the water I use. It's kind of annoying. I also once over-pressurized the leibig from the tap and a hose disconnected and was shooting water all over the place and knocking things over. That was quite a terrifying few seconds until I got the water turned off and the burner shut off - fortunately nothing flammable got broken or knocked over. That's also another lesson in never leaving your equipment unattended. If I had been somewhere else that would have been a real huge mess and possible disaster.

[corene1]

Just something to think about. When I use my liebeg I will save the warm water in a barrel and use it to water the garden or as a water source for the next ferment. In truth the most efficient condenser I have used is a Graham style condenser I built for my first little still. It had 10 feet of 3/8 inch ID copper tube in a 5 inch by 18 inch tube housing with water in the bottom and out the top it would use maybe 10 gallons of water to run 7 gallon boiler charge. As soon as I heal up and get back to work I am going to build a new one for my big still. It will have 10 feet of 1/2 inch ID tube in it. I have done a practice coil already and was able to get the copper tube down to a 4-1/2 inch outside diameter coil using the frozen water method and it looks pretty good right now.

[corene1]

Trust Corene . She is correct in her approach . Trust her in all fabrication projects . She does this for a living .
My question is ? why would you fuck around twisting a worm when a liebig is so much mere efficient and so easy to build ?

Thanks for the vote of confidence TB . Yes I have been doing this a while and still learn things everyday.

[Budapest8485]

I just made my bokabob reflux condenser coil last night from 1/4 inch ID copper. It turned out very good filling the tubing with salt. I've read and watched youtube videos with people using a vibrating sander to get salt all the way through the tubing...that didn't work for me. What worked better was straightening the tubing out, crimping one end, hanging the straightened tubing from 20 feet up, inserting a funnel in the end, and pouring in the salt. It filled up properly right away on the first try...no vibrating needed. I just poured it in and it traveled the length of the tubing all the way to the crimp.

So for most people, I'd say skip the vibrating sander and instead go to your rooftop and hang the tubing down to fill...much easier. Maybe some can pull it off hanging it out the window. Where ever you can get high enough to hang the tubing and let gravity do the work.

[The Baker]

Well you start off with a coil of annealed (I think that is right, Corene) copper pipe.

Geoff

[corene1]

Well you start off with a coil of annealed (I think that is right, Corene) copper pipe.

Geoff

Absolutely! I always use annealed copper coils as a base for forming condenser coils.

[October]

For those who freeze the water, when you get the pipe out from refrigerator, do you think it's better to wait 30 minutes before bending, to avoid cracks, or you can start bending it immediately?

[shadylane]

For those who freeze the water, when you get the pipe out from refrigerator, do you think it's better to wait 30 minutes before bending, to avoid cracks, or you can start bending it immediately?

Don't start with hard copper pipe, If planning to coil a worm.
It's much easier and better to use 1 size bigger soft tubing.  

[Bushman]

I used to make a lot of coils for members. For me I found silica sand (fine sandblasting sand) worked great for filling the copper and was much easier than salt for cleaning out.

[Yonder]

Well, I made very good friends with a plumber and asked for a favor. Perfect fit coil, no charge. Friends are great things have.

[October]

1st attempt has been a disaster, I used a 15mm pipe, it came straight, which means no annealed, it was rigid like a rock, I filled it with salt, and now I'm planning on using freezed water, using something softer, normally advertised as microbore copper, but they sell it only for tubes no bigger than 10mm, well, maybe I will be fine with 8mm...

[Yummyrum]

For those who freeze the water, when you get the pipe out from refrigerator, do you think it's better to wait 30 minutes before bending, to avoid cracks, or you can start bending it immediately?

Don't start with hard copper pipe, If planning to coil a worm.
It's much easier and better to use 1 size bigger soft tubing.  

Unless its coiled to begin with , not sure how you fit 10-15’ of hard copper pipe in a fridge/freezer

Well ar least the one in my kitchen ain’t big enough

[October]

For those who freeze the water, when you get the pipe out from refrigerator, do you think it's better to wait 30 minutes before bending, to avoid cracks, or you can start bending it immediately?

Don't start with hard copper pipe, If planning to coil a worm.
It's much easier and better to use 1 size bigger soft tubing.  

Unless its coiled to begin with , not sure how you fit 10-15’ of hard copper pipe in a fridge/freezer

Well ar least the one in my kitchen ain’t big enough

Yes, thankfully it's coiled already this microbore. Well, at least now I have some copper to use as a guinea pig for my welding extravaganza