Tubing or Not Tubing

We're bending tubes now, by golly. We got the first one done at open shop on Tuesday night with only one minor setback. The very first bend on the back hoop I managed to line up on the wrong line. I was going to bend that one first because it was the easiest. Oops! Fortunately, the piece was long enough to make the front hoop and all's well. I don't bend enough tubing to stay sharp. If a guy did this every day, it would be a whole bunch easier - especially pieces that have several bends on them.

Other than doing a little math, the next thing in the difficulty department is coping the tube ends so they fit together nicely. I bought a PipeMaster from A.E.D Motorsports Products in Indy to help with the layout. It's actually a little bit of a luxury item. I've done quite a bit of tube bending on motorcycles over the years and I can usually fit things up pretty well just on the grinder with a little file touch-up. The 1-1/2" tube I can make a wrap around pattern for the 90 degree on paper easy enough. I also learned an old trick on marking them from the auto shop teacher where I used to work. Once you've got the pipe coped just like you want it, wrap a piece of paper around it. Then go around the paper with a couple of layers of masking tape. Take a razor blade and cut the paper and tape section to the outline of the cope. Slide the newly made template off the pipe, slide it on the next one to be cut at the same angle and mark around it. It works real slick and only takes a couple of minutes. The PipeMaster should expedite things and allow the students to cut the tubes with plenty of accuracy.