How The Heck Do You Bend Copper Heatpipes?

[iamdarkyoshi]

How on earth do you bend heatpipes without them pinching or folding? Normally with copper pipe you would fill it with sand or whatever and bend it, but obviously you cannot do that very easily with sealed tubes. I salvaged a dozen heatpipes or so from CPU heatsinks, and I plan to use them, but the stupid tubes keep collapsing.

[Wouterrinos]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

How on earth do you bend heatpipes without them pinching or folding? Normally with copper pipe you would fill it with sand or whatever and bend it, but obviously you cannot do that very easily with sealed tubes. I salvaged a dozen heatpipes or so from CPU heatsinks, and I plan to use them, but the stupid tubes keep collapsing.

maybe heat them first?

[Nicko_barbeque]

have you tried using a special pipe bending tool?

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 minute ago, Wouterrinos said:

maybe heat them first?

Not sure how that would help the copper...

1 minute ago, Nicko_barbeque said:

have you tried using a special pipe bending tool?

No, I would need to make one

[Orangeator]

I would say do it the same way Iron Smiths do it with solid iron bars. Heat the spot up you want to bend and bend it...

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, Orangeator said:

I would say do it the same way Iron Smiths do it with solid iron bars. Heat the spot up you want to bend and bend it...

They explode. My ears are still ringing.

[0ld_Chicken]

it can help a lot to bend it around something OR bending springs are usually pretty cheap 

 

http://www.essentialhardware.com/do-it-best-453455-tube-bending-spring-130676.html?fee=58&fep=27670&CID=8&utm_source=pricegrabber&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pricegrabber

probably not the right size but you get the idea 

[Wouterrinos]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

They explode. My ears are still ringing.

awesome, not really a suprise now I think about it, but well...

[VTF5252]

Just now, iamdarkyoshi said:

They explode. My ears are still ringing.

Aw do it again I wasn't looking.

I dont think you can do to there's accually stuff in it.(as im sure you just found out)

[iamdarkyoshi]

Just now, 0ld_Chicken said:

it can help a lot to bend it around something OR bending springs are usually pretty cheap 

 

http://www.essentialhardware.com/do-it-best-453455-tube-bending-spring-130676.html?fee=58&fep=27670&CID=8&utm_source=pricegrabber&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pricegrabber

probably not the right size but you get the idea 

Now THATS an idea I never thought of

[Wouterrinos]

maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't want to bend them.

But the only option I see is cutting them out and bending them.

[Tenelia]

Am curious how this'll turn out!

[0ld_Chicken]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Now THATS an idea I never thought of

I dunno if you can get them heatpipe sized, but you may be able to just use any spring you can tightly fit around it

[colinreay]

Nvidia garage has a video on it! (here) I don't know how applicable it is to cpu copper pipes though.

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

Yeah many water coolers use bending springs for copper pipes Walmart carries some mini ones online maybe they will fit. Not 100% it will work sense the tubes are sealed at the ends.

[givingtnt]

14 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

How on earth do you bend heatpipes without them pinching or folding? Normally with copper pipe you would fill it with sand or whatever and bend it, but obviously you cannot do that very easily with sealed tubes. I salvaged a dozen heatpipes or so from CPU heatsinks, and I plan to use them, but the stupid tubes keep collapsing.

the same way they bend trumpets n all

salt water + freeze

[W-L]

Don't heat them! They are basically a pressure vessel at that point if you do since they are fully sealed. If the copper is annealed it would be somewhat soft so you can bend them with a pipe bender or flex bender as linked but I would assume they were work hardened to give it extra toughness, at that point it would not be possible to bend or reshape them without breaking the pipes. They would need to be annealed again but can't be done because it needs to be heated. 

[Wouterrinos]

5 minutes ago, LeapFrogMasterRace said:

Yeah many water coolers use bending springs for copper pipes Walmart carries some mini ones online maybe they will fit. Not 100% it will work sense the tubes are sealed at the ends.

The problem is indeed that the are closed at each end I think, so presure will be a problem.

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

1 minute ago, Wouterrinos said:

The problem is indeed that the are closed at each end I think, so presure will be a problem.

Yeah judging that his ears are still ringing the pressure will probably be to much to make a big of a bend without creating a tear at a weak point.

[GoZone]

If you can't find an alternative way, try running sugar in the pipes, it better then a bad bend plus, I remember it was in part of Scarp Yard Wars.

[VTF5252]

1 minute ago, GoZone said:

If you can't find an alternative way, try running sugar in the pipes, it better then a bad bend plus, I remember it was in part of Scarp Yard Wars.

Its not copper tubing its HEAT PIPE which means there is stuff in it that is rigid.

 

[GoZone]

6 hours ago, NTF5252 said:

Its not copper tubing its HEAT PIPE which means there is stuff in it that is rigid.

 

Oh okay sorry my bad.

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 hour ago, W-L said:

Don't heat them! They are basically a pressure vessel at that point if you do since they are fully sealed. If the copper is annealed it would be somewhat soft so you can bend them with a pipe bender or flex bender as linked but I would assume they were work hardened to give it extra toughness, at that point it would not be possible to bend or reshape them without breaking the pipes. They would need to be annealed again but can't be done because it needs to be heated. 

Ya I had one blow up earlier today, damn that was loud. They are soldered into the heatsinks' fins. I got a whole pile of them now.

[W-L]

4 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Ya I had one blow up earlier today, damn that was loud. They are soldered into the heatsinks' fins. I got a whole pile of them now.

Yeah.... not recommended, I woudl try to see if they are hand/tool bendable as is.

If you do need custom heatpipes there are places that make them if you need some made up. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

5 minutes ago, W-L said:

Yeah.... not recommended, I woudl try to see if they are hand/tool bendable as is.

If you do need custom heatpipes there are places that make them if you need some made up. 

Ya, I tried bending one using a spring (didnt collapse, it simply popped open) bending the existing 90 degree to point the other direction is not possible...