Straghtening copper tubing.

S

Sword and Shield

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Apr 3, 2004
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I'm working on my first from-scratch fixed blade, and like the idea of having three hollow "pins" from copper tubing. Unfortunately, said copper tubing is from a roll and has a persistent bend in it. It's 1/4" OD nominal tubing, and I've drilled the holes with an F bit.

Is there any way to straighten this without damaging it? Should I be content with straight sections that are only a few inches long?
 
You shouldn't need more than an inch or so for each tube, so I would cut them down and run a rod through to get them straight.
 
Yeah, I'd think that for such a short length you could get it straight enough by hand. Or use hard pipe.

But, to answer your question, tubing, wire and sheet are straightened by stretching. Put one end in a vice and the other in a vice grip and pull on it. The non crushed stuff in the middle will be straight. Stop once you feel it yield, don't over do it because you will reduce the diameter.

You can do this by hand for the smaller stuff, it takes equipment for the larger stuff. Your size might be kinda borderline.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Yeah, I'd think that for such a short length you could get it straight enough by hand. Or use hard pipe.

But, to answer your question, tubing, wire and sheet are straightened by stretching. Put one end in a vice and the other in a vice grip and pull on it. The non crushed stuff in the middle will be straight. Stop once you feel it yield, don't over do it because you will reduce the diameter.

You can do this by hand for the smaller stuff, it takes equipment for the larger stuff. Your size might be kinda borderline.
Click to expand...

I've got shoulders like a linebacker, so I'll see if I can yank it straight. Check with a drill bit for straightness, install.

Should look pretty cool when it's done. :D
 
When I worked at a coppersmiths we would take 1/4" by about 10-12' put one end in a vice and chuck the other end up in a drill...spin one way then the other a couple of times till it looked right. This will straighten and harden the copper a bit. Lets see a pic when your done.
Mace
 
I've laid it out on a board, and rolled it with another board on top before.

Worked pretty good for shorter pieces.
 
We capped a 50" roll at work and pressured it up to over 600psi. It got very straight before we got worried about the cap blowing off and becoming a bullet. So we shut down our "experiment" Might have gained some OD to. LOL. We routinely test piping and vessels, some over 2000psi. Some of the methods above may be safer and more practical for you.
 
hey i've heard of people taking a spring that's just about 6 inches long and just large enough to fit over the copper tubing, sliding it over and using that to be able to flex and work with the copper and not just kink it.... not sure if that help. good luck
 
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