|
Bending aluminum AC lines
Vintage Air lines which pass through the rad support, and go past the battery tray...
Instead of straight line through the support, I would like to make a 90* bend in the smaller line, and run it under/behind, or through the battery tray itself. (Just to hide the line) I have bent thousands of feet of stainless steel in my life, from 1/8”, to 3/4”...using roller benders, and regular pull/slide benders. I’m terrified of trying to bend this aluminum line with regular benders, as I have a fear it is just going to kink it. Any advice from anyone who has bent these AC lines? |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
1 Attachment(s)
It won't kink if you bend it slowly, be sure to keep pressure against both sides of the bender, you can also heat it with a propane torch to help it flow more smoothly.
I bent several lines for my trans cooler out of aluminum tubing. Attachment 2301452 |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
Excellent job! Did you use a roller bender? |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
I used a standard store-bought bender for most of the bends.
For the tighter bends, I made a bender that is a roller type. they both work equally well but I needed a smaller bend radius than the standard bender had. |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
I used a bender and heat, but you need to do it carefully. If you get it too hot the aluminum will melt. Heat it gently, moving the torch on and off the point you want to bend, until it just softens up a bit.
|
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
3 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Here's a bender I made for doing 5/8" AC hard lines...the Rigid bender makes a 5" diameter....mine makes a much tighter 3" The bend in the last picture is a cold bend..... BTW: the hole in the base serves no purpose, it was just already in the scrap piece I used....:lol: Attachment 2301616 Attachment 2301617 Attachment 2301618 |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
I bent my lines with no heat. They are already soft and bend fine.
|
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
1 Attachment(s)
Quote:
All I have for the smaller line are these Imperial Eastman. I will use some lube...:lol: |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
|
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
When we have a contract job with a similar set-up it's easy to just run some fun stuff in with it....and the scrap is paid for by the customer....even better..!:metal: |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
:chevy::chevy::chevy: |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
Every project makes another Project:uhmk: I just enjoy it so much ;) That what I keep telling myself .:lol: |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
3 Attachment(s)
Quote:
I had to buy a piece of 4x4 square bar to make it Milled it on the CNC and had it black anodized Engraved the bowtie pierced with the lightning bolt into it... All the wires will go neatly inside the fender... This is truly one-of-a-kind :metal: Attachment 2301631 Attachment 2301632 Attachment 2301633 |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
1 Attachment(s)
I found another pic of my hard lines after I painted them black
all that plumbing should disappear behind the grille Attachment 2301640 |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
^ Too cool! I had access to a machine shop, but it was Defense work, and that kind of stuff would get one fired in a hot second.
|
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
That took a Couple of Set-Up's.;) Great job on the part And the engraving. :chevy: |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
You could sell a ton of these! Especially if you already had the CNC program to do it! |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
I worked at a DOE facility for 20 years…we could occasionally sneak in a “government” job but it had to be done with the greatest of discretion. I had a classified security clearance and worked on a lot of classified projects mostly military stuff…it was a fun job. The last 10 years I was there was on a 5” G&L horizontal CNC mill…we made several parts for the Seawolf submarine prototype. |
Re: Bending aluminum AC lines
Quote:
There’s about 8 hours of run time just to contour the outside surface alone. If I run short of contract work I might consider it. |
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:38 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright 1997-2025 67-72chevytrucks.com