welding and bending stainless tubing

[flashback]

Ive noticed several folks here have a good knowledge of welding and i was wondering how hard it is to weld and bend stainless tubing. The stern rail on my old sailboat got into a fight with the dock and lost...So I was thinking of designing another one and then try my hand at welding.. I can by a welder for less than a replacement rail..

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Check around for rentals on what we call "crank" benders.If your bend radius is not too small they work fine.At my job we have 8 CNC Tube Benders and we fabricate tubing from 1/8th inch OD to 4 inch OD.

GOOD LUCK

 

[tommays]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Your going to need a TIG setup and learn how to drive it which is going to take a LOT of time and there is nothing cheep about it

And bending it kink free is a whole deal in it self

I weld sanitary SS tube and on a so so day I have to polish a lot longer

Tommays

 

[bassboy1]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Can stainless be cut and welded w/ an oxy/aceteline torch. I was thinking it can but wasn't sure.

 

[ob]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Stainless is standardly cut with metal saws,cutoff wheels ,or flamewise using plasma cutters.And,no,oxy/acetylene rig is not suitable for braising stainless steel.As mentioned above a tig or mig welder is required depending on the quality of weld desired.

 

[Bondo]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Ayuh,...... Oxy/Ac is Useless with SSteel..........

It Can be Tigged, Migged, Or Stick Welded......

But as noted,..... Tig is the Best Way to go, Especially for a Railing........

The Clean-up,+ Polishing will be the Big Labor Eater.....

Large Radis Bends,... Such as down the side of the Boat are relatively Easy,......
Anything Sharper than That, would be Easier to Cut,+ Weld the Angle needed........

Sounds like a Pretty Ambitious Project for a Non-Welding Guy.......

I can by a welder for less than a replacement rail..

That may Not be True,........ A Complete Tig outfit Doesn't come Cheap,.............
Especially after you add in the Accessories you'll Want,+The Cleaning,+ Polishing Equipment you'll also Need.........

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

[colour=blue]One method to avoid a kink when doing a tight bend is to fill the tube with sand before bending - not always 100% successful, depends on the bender, do a test on a piece of scrap first.

 

[flashback]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

I thank you all for the responses. Bart, is the crank bender the same thing I see electrical guys using to bend conduit? That's what I planned on trying to use..the bends would all have a radius of about 6" or so and no more than 90 degrees...instead of welding I guess I could use those fittings with set screws in them...If I have to buy a new rail it will cost about 7 or 8 hundred bucks. I figured I always wanted to learn weld and although a tig unit would cost considerably more than that, I think I could get a pretty good mig welder for around 5 or 6 hundred..I have had limited experience in polishing stainless and realize the labor and time involved. but as Ive found with most of my adventures, I work for about 10 cents an hour.. d Well I have all winter to mess with it and I'm open to any aternative ideas you all may have, so if something pops into your head please let me know.. Thanks....

 

[KRS]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Let's see pics of the bent tubing that hit the dock... it might bring up some ideas.

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Those things the electricians use are "conduit benders" and the OD of tubing is different.

A crank bender would be on a stand with a clamping setup and pressure die to hold the tube against the bend die. The crank would rotate the bend die on a central post.

What is the OD you plan to use?I would also suggest getting nothing thinner than .065 wall.

 

[flashback]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

KRS, my budget dosen't allow a digital camera, as a matter of fact,, I still use an old gateway computer with windows 95 and a dialup connection. I'm really what you would call boat poor... but I love my boats.... all I can tell you is, the starboard side of the stern rail got jammed thru the deck and in the process was badly bent.. I can fix the glass as I have a lot of experience at that.. o actually I really don't want an exact replacement.. I would rather have a small corner piece on both quarters with a short life line going across the transom.. this boat has an outboard motor on it and also the swim ladder which is on the stern.. the rail always got in the way trying to start the motor or board the boat after swimming.. I have thought about just doing away with it and running the life lines diagonally down to the transom, fastening them to a well secured u-bolt , and let the stern be open. but like I said, any idea you may have is more than welcome....thanks, Flash

 

[flashback]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Bart, the old one is so light weight I can pick it up with one finger. the tubing is very thin.. the tubing I have seen in marine catalogs is .048 with a 7/8 inch OD. I would guess that is about the same as the original.. heck I don't know. I do know it is too thin to measure with a tape measure. in other words, less than a 32nd of an inch... d

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

If you are bending 7/8 OD X .049 wall on a 6" radius you would have very minimal collapse as long as you don't try to bend it too fast.I still recommend .065 wall.A conduit bender would probably work.


I just spent some time googling manual tube benders and found the cranks are now "ratchet" benders.There were some cool videos at "Horn Machine Tools".

 

[bassboy1]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Ayuh,...... Oxy/Ac is Useless with SSteel..........

Then how come the oxy/acet is always sittin' in the stainless section? I thought it could be cut but not welded.

 

[Bondo]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

I don't Know Why it's there, BB1,.....

But I Do know that SSteel can NOT be Cut with an Ox/Ac Flame...........

However,...... It can be Welded with a Big Flame if you use 99% Nickel Rod,.......
But,.. Stick welding it is Much Easier,+ causes Much Less Distortion to the Base Metal......

 

[Scaaty]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Can't cut Stainless with a torch. And you need a AC/DC stick welder with SS rods or Tig it.. Trust me. Take it to welder, SS is a SOB to weld when you don't know what your doing. But you can do the bending.

 

[flashback]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

Scaaty, sounds like a plan. after all the advice here, I think I'll try the bending myself and if successful, then leave the welding to the pros... but I still want to learn how one of these days.. it has always interested me..Thanks folks........

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

I'll disagree with the guys that say ya can't cut ss with oxy/acet. It can be done. It'll look like poo-poo but you can cut it. You can cut it with a stick welding machine and a regular rod also, but you'll get the same result.

 

[Bondo]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

I Guess it depends on What you call Cutting,.......

If you just want to make 1 piece of SSteel into 2 or more,.....
Ayuh,.. It Can be done as you say.......

But,... What I call Cutting is separating the 2 pieces about Where I want,+ with reasonably Clean edges,... Atleast cleanable with a Grinder,+ with an 1/8th" or less loss.......

The way you're talking about,... You end up with a Severely Spalded cut that's up to 1/2" wide........

Personally,......
When I need to cut SSteel,...
I go borrow my Bud's Plasma Cutter, or just use an Abrasive Cut-off Wheel.........
It depends mostly on how Straight the Cut is,......
Abrasives for Straight cuts,+ the Plasma for more intricate cuts.........

 

[xtraham]

Re: welding and bending stainless tubing

I have a exhaust pipe bender, but it only bends from 1.5" to 3" I can buy other attachments to do smaller and square but never had the need to, the boat yard where I keep my big boat bends them with sand in then around a pole, comes out looking good, but I think it's aluminum.......
found this on ebay thinking about getting one for myself
PIPE BENDER it's for cold rolled but it might work if the pipe is filled so it wont collasp
as far as welding like everyone says you need a tig for a clean job