Tube bender die question

[echo8287]

I was wondering on these tube bender dies,is it better to have a smaller "clr" or a larger one? What are the benefits of one over the other? I noticed that the tube wall thickness is smaller on some than others and the clr is different for a given tube diameter. Is it better to get a die for a thinner tube or a thicker tube. I realize if you were building something that required more strength you'd want thicker tube walls,but is it advantageous? to have one die over the other for a given size. Is it just a radius type issue for whatever you are building or what?Thanks for your opinion!

[BillC]

I can't help with the answer, but I have a question so I can learn more from this thread... What is "clr" please?

Thanks!

[morpheus]

Originally posted by BillC
What is "clr" please?

clr = center line radius

basically it's the radius of the die, ie. how tight will the bend be.

I bought my dies based on what I wanted to build with it. I've been told that it's best to get the tightest radius you can for the diameter and size tube you're wanting to bend because a tighter bend looks bend than a larger bend ....

- jack

[Maxwell]

Center line radius size in manual bending makes a difference in two ways. First is the power (strength of the bender and the bendor!). A tube with a wall thickness of say .065 wall will be easier to bend than a wall thickness of .083 wall on the same radius. Second the larger the bend radius the less need there will be for things such as mandrels, follower dies and wiper dies for maintaining a wrinkle free bend. I have found that most manual benders won't bend much tighter than 3-3.5x (centerline radius value) the tube OD. For example on a 1" OD tube you'll find a 3-3.5" CLR bend tooling common. Not to say the you can't bend tighter than that, it just becomes more difficult.

You will hear people talk about filling the tube with sand or freezing it full of water. This is intended to maintain the tube integrity during bending.

Lastly is CLR and design requirements. More space is required to have a larger CLR.

Hope this helps

Maxwell