Copper Fittings versus Bending

[bluenose]

I've been doing some thinking about how I want to build my first still, and I was trying to do it with as little fittings as possible and wanted to use as much material that I already have that I can. So I'm wondering if I could bend some copper pipe instead of using fittings.

After some research I came across a site that said most copper pipe can be bent as long as the radius is not smaller than 2x it's diameter, but 2.5x or 3x is better. This tells me that I should be able to safely bend a 3/4" copper pipe as long as the radius of the curve is 1.5" or greater, I'd most likely use a 2" radius for simplicity. I was going to cut a 2" radius circle, put some slat where the curve with be and a pipe in each end to keep the straight parts straight. Then I'd bend the copper around the circle until I got the angle I was looking for.

I haven't seen an example of anyone going this way, other than some alembics. If anyone has experience betting 3/4" or 1" copper pipe without

[beelah]

what exactly do you want to build or achieve...maybe a picture or two may help us advise you..as for bending, you can get soft 3/4 copper, which has been annealed...making it easier to bend...you can do the same with rigid copper by heating it first before you start to bend it.... I will see if I can find something on it for you.

[beelah]

check this out.... http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... ing+copper

[jholmz]

youll have to be real carefull not to kink it or flatten it too much

[bluenose]

here's what I had in mind for a pot still column. I'll have a 1.5" threaded adapter coming out of a 15.5 gal keg which will be common to all configurations. For this version, it reduces down to .75". There's about 4' of .75" that is bent in the middle around a 2" radius. I was thinking this would be used for stripping and full flavoured runs. I was going to use salt in the curved section and .75" rods in the straight sections for bending to avoid kinking. Then it reduces down to a threaded connection to a .5" inside .75" liebeg.

This version would be used for runs that I wanted a little more reflux on.

[jholmz]

ive been told that at our level the extra bend really doesnt do anything as far as extra reflux. it does when you get into larger commercial sizes but not hobby scale

[bluenose]

do you mean the inclined lyne arm has no impact? that would mean less work

[jholmz]

thats what i was told when i first started . i was goin to do a gooseneck like your second pic and was told at the hobby level it doesnt make any difference

[acfixer69]

Cheap as those small fittings are why would anyone bend those short radius and flatten the turns
AC

[bluenose]

since this will be my first attempt, I wanted to use what I have available... which is mostly pipe and not many fittings... flattening the pipe was not my goal, so I could go with a larger radius to avoid that since I will just use the version with one bend for now

[Richard7]

If you know any electricians a conduit bender would help you out. The salt is a good help too. Both should make a really nice bend.

[Angel_Kefka]

One thing I would worry about is if a piece on relatively thin tubingthat is flexible enough to bend like you want won't have much strength so you will want to support the Lyne arm and condenser somehow.

[Hyko]

If you know any electricians a conduit bender would help you out. The salt is a good help too. Both should make a really nice bend.

Really? I've used them but I would think that copper would be more prone to kinking. But I guess with enough packing it could work. Also has anyone ever bent 2" pipe? Would it need to be heated up?

[bellybuster]

I don't think you could successfully bend 2" without machinery.

[Black Eye]

If you anneal 2" pipe you can bend it, but you my need an Oxy / Acetylene set up to do it. That's how I do all my flanges to mount to my Kegs.

For the hassle you're going to go thru, trying to bend tube, you should just get fittings, They can't be much more than $1.50 each for some 45's and 90's. From my experience, it's not going to be easy at all to achieve 2x or 2.5x your pipe diameter, especially if you haven't done much bending. Even at 3x it's pretty easy to flatten out the tube and annealing makes it that much more easy to kink and flatten. When you bend the material needs to stretch. As your outside Radius stretches, the Inside radius is going to want to compress material. If you're using thin walled tubing its pretty hard to control.

For all the hassle, I'd spend the few bucks to just buy the elbows and solder them in.

[Gaztops]

I used a pair of heavy duty pipe benders with two, 2.5 feet handles and managed to bend a 22mm pipe beyond 90 degrees without squashing the pipe. It took two people to do it.

[heartcut]

Reasonably priced tubing benders are available in auto parts stores and cheap tool outlets like Northern Tools. Get a couple practice pieces and if the tubing starts to wrinkle, move the bender up the tube a little at a time during the bend. The bent part will anneal stronger than the straight tubing.

[bluenose]

Sounds like mixed reviews... I agree with everyone who says it's more work than it's worth to bend it... but I'm pretty thickheaded and have some pipe laying around that is coated with paint, so I'll give it a whirl. I'll be shooting for a 6" radius though due to the stretching and crimping issues previously mentioned. That's 8x the radius of 3/4" pipe for youse without a calculator...