Bending 1/8" wall tube, Build Update

[Kandace]

:confused: Hi all, The Gyrobee is coming along, I got all of the holes drilled in the keel mast and tailboom. I was pretty happy about that. I have a good friend who owns a machine shop. I also have the cluster plates, nose block, nose block plates, and a few other parts made up.

I received the parts I ordered from Star Bee Gyros. Very Nice items!!

I have a question for the builders, How in the world do you get the bend in the landing gear (axle) tubes. Even my friend at the machine shop doesn't have the bending equipment for this material. Any ideas would be helpful.

Thank you,

Kandace

[gyroblackwell]

I opted for the angled/offset axles, and left the main tubes straight. You can also change it to fiberglass rods like the gyrotech design.
Check with starbee ... they may have the angled axles.

[Ralph]

The very first fabrication note for Phase 2 describes how we did it with the prototype. It is not difficult and, as I remember, we did both axles over one of Don's lunch breaks.

Ralph

[gyropilot]

I bent mine using a hydraulic pipe bender like this one:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/32800-32899/32888.gif

12 ton Hydraulic Pipe Bender (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=32888)

When they go on sale at the local Harbor Freight Tools store, they're usually around $79.00.

Works quite well I might add.

Also works on thinner wall tubing if you *tightly* pack the tubing with sand before attempting to bend.

Regards,

John L.

[gyroman]

John,

Do you have a picture or make/model of your milling machine? All your mods are cool. My dad just retired and may be in the market to buy one. I'm looking for a good model for him.

[Mike Hook]

What is the outside dimenson of the tubing?? would a emt hand bender do the job? They bend 1/2" , 3/4", 1" thin wall steel with no problem and they don't cost over 35 each and you could get a used on on ebay for 10 bucks.

The reason you have to pack the tubing with sand for the harbor freight bender is because it is for rigid steel pipe or conduit. The hand benders are for the thinwall tubing.
Mike

[gyropilot]

John,

Do you have a picture or make/model of your milling machine? All your mods are cool. My dad just retired and may be in the market to buy one. I'm looking for a good model for him.I have an older version of a Shoptask (http://www.shoptask.com/) mill/drill/lathe. Mine looks something like this, but without the CNC setup:

http://www.shoptask.com/images/f6.jpg

While a mill/drill/lathe is adequate, it's a compromise all around. To save on space, it doesn't do anything particularly well, and it's a challenge to setup and work with. Thankfully for me I like challenges. :)

Anyway, If you have the money and space, I would recommend you get a medium sized stand alone lathe, a medium size vertical milling machine, and a good free standing drill press. Alternatively, a large quality combo mill/drill could be a substitute for the separate vertical mill and drill press.

My little home machine shop consists of the aforementioned mill/drill/lathe, a Burke horizontal milling machine:

http://home.usaa.net/~gyropilot/Burke/VerticalHead2.jpg

and a Porter-Cable metal shaper (looks similar to this Atlas metal shaper):

http://www.jamesriser.com/Machinery/AtlasShaper/NewerAtlas06.jpg

Regards,

John L.

[ben]

kandacs,
take the tubing to a good muffler shop they bend pipe all day long . good luck

john real nice shop

[Kandace]

I tried the bending process, not fun, How would someone like to bend up my axles for me? I would be more than grateful.

I might add that the muffler shop told me know.

I had a setup rigged using a jack and jackstands but it made the tube eggshaped. it worked but I'm not sure I want to use these axles.

Thank you.

Kandace

[Mike Hook]

Kandance

Your tubing will flatten as you have seen without a bender form to hold them in shape. Do you know any electricians around were your at. They have hand benders and could do the job for you in a minute and then off you gooooooo as long as the dia. of the tubing is acceptable to the hand benders. I have over 12,000 ft of 3/4 emt laying here for a job that has to be done by Sept 28 so you see we bend a lot here.

Mike

[Kandace]

Hi I appreciate your response, however this tubing is 1.25" 1/8th" wall 6061T6. this tubing is not easily bent. I asked a muffler shop and they said their hydraulic machine could not bend it.
I'm at a loss as to what to do. I already have to buy new tubing. I am now at a standstill in the build process, this is what I need to do next.

Kandace

[Ralph]

Kandace,

It really is a pretty modest bend. From your description, it sounds like you are bending it too far.

Ralph

[Brian Jackson]

Doesn't StarBee Gyros (http://www.starbeegyros.com/pricesheet.asp) carry the pre-bent axles for the GyroBee? I don't see them listed individually on the linked page, but I'm sure you could purchase them there if you don't wish to bend them yourself.

[Dean_Dolph]

Kandace, something is not right here! Dragster builders use to have dragster roll bars bent, (I assume they still do)and I mean bent, on on a regular basis without any problems. And this was 4130 chrome moly not aluminum!

The muffler shop probably just didn't want to deal with it. Since it is a modest bend as Ralph as stated then they shouldn't have a problem unless that size mandrel isn't available to them. Living in the Milwaukee area means that there should be a speed shop or two around. I would check with them or a local race car builder and see if they can direct you to some one that can handle this. Since you are going to need new tubing anyhow, the suggestion to contact Star Bee is a good one.

[Kandace]

Hi all the tubing bending problem is getting solved. I went to a race and custom car shop here in town, not to far from my house actually! They will bend the tube for me. I've gotten one tube bent just to see if they could do it. They can and they will.

Thank you for the race car shop suggestion!

The rest of the build is coming along nicely. I'll post some photos after I get back from Mentone.

Kandace :)