Where to bend the profile pipe. How to bend a profile pipe for a greenhouse: the simplest methods and rules for making blanks

During the construction of many structures, there is a need for a frame erected from shaped pipes. For assembly arched structures for greenhouses, greenhouses, canopies, sheds and other objects, profile pipes are pre-bent using pipe benders or profile bends. However, you can do without this expensive tool, armed with a conventional grinder and a welding machine. Learning more about how to bend shaped tube without using a profile bender, you can decide whether to purchase it. Perhaps, alternative ways bending pipes will be much more difficult to complete the required amount of work. It is important when bending shaped pipes to avoid the appearance of kinks and cracks, as well as their flattening.

This video shows how simple and relatively fast it is possible to bend a profile pipe with a manual pipe bender. The achievement of the required radius is checked by measuring the distance between the ends of the profile pipe.

What aggregates can facilitate the operation?

Option # 1 - compact manual tube benders

The purchase of manual pipe benders is advisable only if you intend to bend a small amount of material. These models cannot be used as a professional tool due to low productivity and the need to roughly adjust the bending radius of each product. The set with this machine usually comes with several replaceable rollers, through the installation of which the profile pipe is flexible, depending on the size of its section.

To achieve the desired bending angle, it is necessary to run the pipe through the machine several times. In this case, each time you have to manually twist the central roller, lowering it lower and lower. The side rollers remain stationary, so the metal profile bends under the pressure of the central roller.

One of the models of manual profile bending, which allows you to bend a profile pipe on your own in several passes of a metal product between the side and central rollers

When working with a manual pipe bender, a person will have to use physical effort. The equipment cannot be used to bend profile pipes with a cross-section of more than 40 mm.

Option # 2 - electric pipe benders for the pros

Unlike manual pipe benders electrical models provide high-precision pipe bending. The fact is that the bending radius is set with an accuracy of 1 degree mechanically or electronically. The use of this expensive productive equipment allows processing a large number of shaped pipes per shift. Usually, the owners of electromechanical pipe benders provide services to the public, which should be used if you are satisfied with their cost.

An electromechanical profile bending machine installed permanently in the workshop ensures precise bending of profile pipes different section along a strictly specified radius

The disadvantages of electric profile benders include their high weight and high cost, which is inaccessible to an ordinary buyer.

Alternative ways of bending shaped pipes

Method # 1 - grinder + welding machine

How to bend a profile pipe at the desired angle with your own hands without using factory machines? If you have a grinder and a welding machine, then you can make a bend according to the following algorithm:

the radius of curvature is calculated according to the previously drawn scheme;
in the place of the expected bend of the pipe circular saw(grinder) several cross cuts are made;
holding the pipe in a vise, they begin to bend it in the right direction, applying a little physical effort for this;
then the cuts are welded with a welding machine, not forgetting to comply with safety requirements;

welds are ground.

A circular saw or grinder, fixed on a special sole, is necessary to make several cuts at the bend of the profile pipe

Method # 2 - blank and sand

You can bend the profile pipe along the required radius using one more easy way... For this, sand is prepared, which must be sieved and dried, if necessary. Then one end of the profile pipe is closed by hammering in a wooden wedge. Sifted sand is poured into the profile, blocking the entrance to the pipe on the other side. Thereafter, the product begins to be bent around a metal blank having a suitable diameter. One end of the profile is fixed securely between the pins, and the other is pulled.

Important! To facilitate the process of bending the profile along a small radius, it is necessary to warm up the place of deformation gas burner... The poured sand ensures the integrity of the walls of the metal product during mechanical stress on the pipe.

Having finished the bending process, they begin to remove the clogged wedges by burning them out or knocking them out. Sand is also completely removed from the pipe cavity. As you can see, handicraft methods are more troublesome, so they can be used in practice for one-time bending of pipes.

V winter time sand can be replaced with water, which is poured into a profile pipe and the product is exposed to frost. It is clear that the ends of the profile are plugged with plugs. After the liquid in the pipe freezes, they begin to bend it according to a previously prepared blank template.

A metal blank used by craftsmen to bend profile pipes with their own hands without the use of special equipment in the form of pipe benders

Method # 3 - Bending Square Spring Tube

The spring, which has a section of the same shape, but of a smaller size, does not allow the walls of the profile pipe to deform during bending. The spring is made from steel wire, the diameter of which is selected based on the wall thickness. The spring should fit easily into the pipe. The planned bend is warming up blowtorch or a gas burner. The heated profile walls are easier to bend. To prevent burns, work must be done in special protective gloves, and the product must be held with pliers. To achieve the desired bending radius, a blank or metal pins driven into the ground around the circumference helps.

Brief summary

As you can see, all the handicraft methods invented by the craftsmen for bending shaped pipes take time and effort. At the same time, it is not 100 percent guaranteed to obtain an even bend. Quality metal frame directly affects the strength and beauty of the structure being erected. Therefore, you should not neglect the services of professionals who have special equipment for bending pipes. Buying a manual machine for bending shaped pipes will save you money on paying for third-party services. The purchase will quickly pay off if you start to produce custom-made pipe bending yourself.

How to bend a profile pipe yourself? Each cottage owner or country house I have repeatedly encountered the problem of bending profile pipes, which are indispensable for the installation of greenhouses, carports, gazebos and other similar structures. Tetrahedral metal bases, in contrast to round ones, have a wide range of applications and look more aesthetically pleasing.

Methods and features of bending square pipes

In order to bend a professional pipe at a certain angle, you can use several methods:

The pipe bender is designed for cold bending with stretching. This method significantly reduces the possibility of a corrugated surface at the pipe bend.

Application of a special machine - reliable, proven modern way, requiring the availability of such professional equipment, which may not always be at hand. Profile bending - this is the name of this machine, it will bend metal elements any section, but find it in the right moment does not seem possible.
If the bending of a professional pipe is a one-time job, you can use pipe benders for round pipes... The pipe bender has a small, but significant drawback: for work, it will take enormous efforts to bend a professional pipe, even a not very large section, therefore this option has to be discounted.
If you do not have heroic strength and big amount financial means for the purchase of professional equipment, you can contact one of the many workshops, where you will be quickly and inexpensively provided with services for bending any metal, including profile. This option is optimal and will allow you to bend the pipe to the desired radius or angle the first time and not spoil additional pipes during training.

Back to the table of contents

Working with a pipe bender

Profile bending machine is a special machine designed for professional bending of profile pipes.

The lack of professional workshops within walking distance leaves no choice but to bend the pipe using a pipe bender. The quality of the result depends on the diameter and size of the section, wall thickness, desired radius, rigidity and hardness of the material being bent, etc.

During operation, it is very difficult to avoid pipe deformations and small cracks walls. It is especially difficult to bend the professional pipe in the center, closer to the edges, the bend is much easier and less deformed.

Back to the table of contents

Bending a pipe

If you have a regular pipe bender at hand, then you can try to bend the professional pipe with it.

Better if it is a tool designed to bend while stretching. Stretching the pipe will avoid collapses on the inside of the bend and unnecessary deformation of the pipe.

If it is necessary to change the shape of the stainless steel, which is fragile, due to which a crack may form, water is allowed into the pipe. Water creates hydrostatic pressure in an enclosed space.

The flexible hose is applied to the place where the fold will be, and set in motion. A profile pipe filled with water lends itself to change more easily, it can be bent at your discretion.

Back to the table of contents

Using a grinder to bend a pipe

Another easy way to work with a pipe is to use a grinder, which many have among household tools. In addition to the grinder, you will need a welding machine of any type.

Stages of work:

The radius of the billet, on which the bending is made, must be equal to the inner radius of the bending profile pipe.

Before starting work, the required radius of curvature is calculated.
At the place of the fold, with the help of a grinder and a disc, cuts are made across the pipe for metal, leaving one fourth of the perimeter intact. The number of cuts can vary from two or more, depending on the desired result.
A cut-out pipe can be easily folded into any bend and can be given the desired angle or circle.
After the trumpet has taken the desired shape, the holes from the grinder are welded and carefully processed with a grinder.

This method is one of the most popular for folding elements at home.

Many home craftsmen do not know how to bend a profile pipe on their own, without contacting specialists in workshops. In fact, such an operation is not so difficult to perform if you acquire the necessary equipment.

1 Bending a profile pipe with your own hands - practical advice

Thousands of owners of land plots outside the city and private housing construction literally put their souls into their real estate. They try in every way to give it an original appearance. Moreover, such people strive to perform many improvement operations with their own hands, being truly proud of their work.

Very often, when arranging a suburban "estate", a person needs to bend a profile pipe, which is now very actively used for various purposes, ranging from the construction of fences and ending with the installation of an unusual visor over the entrance to the house. Bend the pipe manually without using special devices designed for such purposes is difficult, and sometimes downright unrealistic.

This statement is especially true for shaped tubular products. If a circular pipe can still be warmed up, wrapped around a special template, securely fastened to one of the ends of the structure, and then try to bend it at the required angle, then this method is absolutely not suitable for shaped products.

There is only one way out: to adopt a device for bending the profile, to study well the principle of performing the operation with its help, and to solve the problem of giving the pipe the desired configuration. Note that even with the help of special equipment, it will not be easy to carry out such a procedure - there is a high probability that under the hands of an inexperienced a person will happen flattening of the pipe or deformation of its section.

To minimize the risk of such unfavorable development of events, it is recommended to pre-freeze the pipe by placing it in a large industrial refrigeration unit. If there is no large refrigerator, it is recommended to perform the bending operation in winter, when the outside temperature is freezing.

Before freezing, one edge of the profile product should be reliably plugged, then the pipe should be filled plain water and close the other end of the structure. After that, we place the workpiece in the chamber or take it out into the cold, wait until the liquid in it completely freezes. The frozen water will prevent the product from deforming as it bends. And the process itself, believe me, will go much easier.

An alternative to the described method is a technology in which sand is poured into the pipe, plugs are placed at both ends of the structure, then 2-3 small-diameter holes are made in it. They are necessary so that subsequently, when the workpiece is heated, the gases formed in the pipe have an outlet. If the holes are not made, there is a risk of deformation of the structure.

After completing all the indicated operations, you can start bending. To do this, using a blowtorch, you need to heat the selected area along which the bend will be carried out, and then boldly bend the pipe. Described preliminary stages(freezing, filling with sand, heating the profile product) does not have to be done when you use modern pipe benders designed specifically for working with pipes.

2 How to bend a profile pipe using a pipe bender?

Such a device is understood as special devices of several types, which make it possible, with a minimum of manual efforts, to bend structures made of round or shaped steel (for example, for home greenhouses and greenhouses, sheds, and so on). All pipe benders are usually divided into two large groups:

Roller (they are also often called profile bending): used for bending along smooth radii of shaped pipe products. In this case, bending is carried out according to the principle of pipe expansion.
Hydraulic levers: they are usually used to bend metal constructions at the required angle, applying a certain force in a given place. The ease of the procedure is ensured by the fact that the force is set by the lever.

The advantages of using pipe benders are as follows:

reduction of human efforts to perform bending (manual labor when using a device with an electric drive is completely reduced to zero);
refusal to install additional fittings and conduct welding works when installing pipelines);
no flattening and creases (metal retains all its technical characteristics);
guarantee of obtaining bent pipes with the most accurate dimensions.

In addition, the benders provide a truly elegant appearance structures that are made from one-piece tubular products. From point of view decorative appeal such designs can be considered flawless. Try to achieve similar results if you do not know how to bend a profile pipe using a pipe bender. It is unlikely that you will succeed.

The choice of a specific machine for bending pipes depends on the material of the products, as well as on the type of work that you will carry out using steel or (as you yourself understand, plastic structures there is no need to bend with a pipe bender). For example, copper pipes for installing a heating system or water supply are bent simple pipe bender manual type, which is designed specifically for this material.

But already hardware for plumbing work, it is bent with a device that can handle more durable and harder material. With profile pipes, of course, they work exclusively with a roller device, which was created specifically for carrying out such activities. By the way, it makes it possible to bend round seamless pipes with thick walls.

3 Popular models of domestic hand rolls

In hardware stores, you can easily find different types pipe benders of foreign production. But their price often does not suit Russians, who prefer to buy proven domestic mechanisms. Fortunately, in terms of their capabilities, they are no worse than imported products.

The most popular devices for bending profile products are recognized manual machines"PG-1" and "PG-2". The first of them costs no more than $ 500, it is made in a compact form, being a mobile (portable) equipment. Due to this, the mechanism can be used directly at the place of execution. installation works for bending copper, metal and with dimensions not exceeding 40 by 40 millimeters.

Structurally, the device is a frame with three rollers fixed on it. The pressure roller (it is central) allows you to pull the pipe. The ease of rotation of this roller is due to the presence of a comfortable handle. The width of the rotating parts of the machine can be changed to work with different tube sizes.

The profile-bending "PG-2" differs from its brother in a more powerful design. It easily bends pipes made of the above materials with dimensions of 30 by 60 millimeters. With its help, it is even allowed to bend pipes into rings. It is clear that the cost of such a model is higher. You can buy it for $ 750-800.

We hope that you now have no questions about how to bend a profile pipe.

Many people think about how to bend profile pipes on their own at home when it becomes necessary to build a gazebo, a greenhouse and other structures of this type on a site. And this is no coincidence, since shaped pipes look much more advantageous in comparison with products made from pipes of ordinary circular sections.

But an ordinary pipe, which has a circular cross-section, can be bent with an ordinary pipe bender, and a profile pipe with a pipe bender cannot be bent, because in hydraulic conventional pipe benders, the shoes and rollers have a round shape. If you try to bend a profile pipe, then kinks and cracks will appear on the pipe, or the pipe will flatten.

For this purpose, several methods are used. These include bending using special machines designed specifically for profile pipes. This type of machine is called profile bending machine. However, these machines have a very decent cost. In addition, the average homeowner does not need professional equipment. If the pipe needs to be bent only once, then you can find hand benders on sale that are suitable for both shaped and round pipes. They are relatively inexpensive (under $ 100). Bending pipes with a manual tube bender will require considerable physical effort.

Another method that is often used in such cases is to bend the pipe with your own hands using folk methods... But in a similar way, you can bend pipes that have either a small cross section, or they are made of a fairly soft metal, for example, copper.

With a pipe bender

In order to bend the profile pipe yourself, it is necessary to proceed from the bending radius, the material from which the pipe is made, the wall thickness, as well as the section of the pipe. In addition, the bending accuracy required, the resulting product quality and the manufacturing conditions must be considered.

The bending of profile pipes is carried out in acceptable limits the dimensions of their cross-section, as well as the thickness of the walls. In this case, it is necessary to avoid that transverse section the pipe was flattened, and the inner part of the pipe broke.

When the pipe is in the machine, it is wrapped around the edges and stretched. At the same time, the pipe is bent during the movement of the bending template.

Note! In order to maintain the durability of the pipe walls at the bend, bending is performed under internal hydrostatic pressure. To do this, plugs are put on the ends of the pipe, and liquid is supplied to the inside of the pipe. After that, a bending template is brought to the middle of the pipe. With the help of this template, bending is performed, while giving the pipe the required shape.

Using welding and grinder

You can also bend the profile pipe without using special tools and machine tools.

Moreover, in most cases, bending of really good quality can be achieved.

In order to bend the profile pipe with welding machine and grinders, you must do the following:

calculate the radius of bending (rounding) of the pipe;
along the length of the bent section, make cuts evenly from 3 sides;
after that, the pipe bends with ease;
sawn spots are welded;
welding places are processed and polished.

A good external result can be achieved in this way at the required bending radius of the pipe.

Using the means of internal counteraction

A specially made spring can serve as such a means. Before bending the pipe, a square spring is wound from a steel wire. Each side of the spring segment should have a value that is 1.5-2 mm less than the internal value of the pipe section. This is necessary so that the spring can easily penetrate the pipe without any effort. After the place of bending of the pipe is established, before starting to bend it, the bent section is heated by a blowtorch. Then the pipe is bent on the blank. The radius of this blank is equal to the required radius of the bending pipe.

Copper profile pipe (for heating or water supply) in winter period if necessary, it can be bent in a slightly original way. This requires: copper pipe fill with water, after closing one of the ends with a stopper. The pipe is exposed to frost until the liquid completely freezes. The bending of the copper pipe is then carried out according to the template of the corresponding radius. In this case, no effort is applied, and the section is not lost.

Video

Here is such a manual profile bender you can assemble yourself: