Old timer at the fab shop taught me about tube bending in 10 minutes

I was working at a shop in Cleveland two years ago, struggling with a 2 inch stainless tube bend that kept kinking no matter what I did. This guy named Walt, must have been pushing 70 with hands like catcher's mitts, just walked over and watched me for a minute. He said "you're fighting the material instead of reading it" and then showed me how to mark the neutral axis with a soapstone. He had this trick where he'd put a little heat on the outer wall with a rosebud torch, just enough to take the spring out of it. I tried it on the next piece and it came out perfect with no wrinkles at all. Walt retired about a month later and I never got to thank him properly. Has anyone else had an old hand show them a trick that totally changed how they work?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_max15h ago

Walt sounds like he had decades of hard knocks packed into that 10 minute lesson. That neutral axis trick is pure gold, most guys never think to mark it and just wing it until they scrap a bunch of material.

ray_campbell4613h ago

Preachin' to the choir there @the_max... that trick saves so much grief.

young.nora11h ago

Nah sorry @the_max but torch heat on thin wall tube is asking for warpage, that's a hack fix not a real trick.