Swages in small pipes

[Rich H]

Hello all,

I have some 10mm OD ali tube I want to use as water pipes on my car to replace the rusted steel. It's about 1mm wall so the ID is quite small.

I was thinking about modding some mole grips but would I be better off doign something else?

I have a lathe if that would help...

Thanks
Rich

 

[pickupminimad]

I'd flare it the same way you would a copper brake pipe, gives a nice lip to stop hose sliding off. Done some fuel lines in 3/8 ali tube the same way.

 

[Rich H]

I tried that first but the walls are too thick and the clamp just slips up the tube, it's impossible to clamp it tight enough

Suppose I could put a 9mm drill down it to thin the walls a bit at each end...

 

[rtbcomp]

Would it feasible to anneal the aluminium first, just where you want the swage?

 

[Rick]

As we'r on the welding forum... Can't you run a bead around it?

 

[candygt]

As we'r on the welding forum... Can't you run a bead around it?

The mans a genius

 

[Kafer_meister]

I tried that first but the walls are too thick and the clamp just slips up the tube, it's impossible to clamp it tight enough

Suppose I could put a 9mm drill down it to thin the walls a bit at each end...

You need a better brake flaring tool .

Take it to a decent garage and see if they'll do it for a drink.

 

[awemawson]

On your lathe make a bar that slides into the end of the tube. Axially drill and tap a hole in the end of the rod, and fit a bolt that you have pointed the end of. Now drill a radial hole in the bar and put a ball bearing into this hole so it rests on the taper of the bolt. Adjust bolt so that ball bearing is flush, put into tube, tighten bolt so ball bearing is forced outward and makes a dimple in the tube wall. Rotate the bar relative to the tube and you end up with a neat outward swage that will retain the hose and make a good seal.

AWEM

 

[Windy Miller]

I had to replace the oil cooler pipes on my Blackbird recently and after trying steel pipes and then cunifer, I settled on 10mm microbore copper. I just sweated olives on where the originals were swaged. It just seemed the easiest way to go....

 

[langy]

You can buy small machines, I use this one

 

[Rich H]

Thanks all!

I thought about annealing - probably would work.
Welding no good as I can't weld ali for toffee - tried and it jsut made a huge mess!
Bead roller would be great if it weren't so flipping expensive!
I like the mini bead roller made on the lathe

In the end I chopped up some cheapo molies. They make neat dents in the pipe I reckon 5 or 6 of them will be sufficient to keep the pipe on, it's only coolant after all!

Cheers all!

Rich

 

[scott0031]

If you have a lathe why don't you do this?

Kind regards



Scott

 

[Rich H]

Pipes are 1.25M long!

I'd have to put a hole in the side of the shed and the fence! (Still might do though...)
TBH I'm not sure it'll go through the spindle, it's only got a small bore through the headstock.

 

[tux]

Hello all,

I have some 10mm OD ali tube I want to use as water pipes on my car to replace the rusted steel.

Can't help with the tech question, but I'm intrigued, the Porka or the Lotus?

 

[Rich H]

Any excuse for a pic - the new (Older) Lotus:

The mild steel chargecooler pipes run directly uinder the car and are very rotten.

 

[RichardM]

Will the alloy tube be up to the job - ie fatigue cracks?

Personally I like the ballbearing idea as I was looking to do this on a catch tank I made.

 

[eil]

I had to replace the oil cooler pipes on my Blackbird recently and after trying steel pipes and then cunifer, I settled on 10mm microbore copper. I just sweated olives on where the originals were swaged. It just seemed the easiest way to go....

Like that one.

 

[graffian]

Will the alloy tube be up to the job - ie fatigue cracks?

Personally I like the ballbearing idea as I was looking to do this on a catch tank I made.

It's what the Parker tools are like, I keep meaning to make a couple.
I have a bead roller, but I doubt it would be stiff enough it it had 8 or 9 mm diam roller.

 

[Rich H]

Will the alloy tube be up to the job - ie fatigue cracks?

Personally I like the ballbearing idea as I was looking to do this on a catch tank I made.

It's the chargecooler pipes running under the car.
The ali pipe wall thickness is 1mm and it's supported every 300mm or so, should be fine.

The current pipework is very rotten and looks very thin where it turns the corner up at the front (Totally exposed) my plan is to make the bends in the ali and cover it in rad hose for protection as I think rubber hose would probably kink and ali alone would be a bit vulnerable to road debris.

The 1.2m is not quite long enough so I'll make the bends seperately and use hose to join. It's only coolant after all.

I like the ballbearing idea but the mole grips work so I'll go with them.

Cheers
Rich

 

[rtbcomp]

...... and cover it in rad hose for protection .........Rich

Might not work, the LPG pipes on cars are copper with a rubber outer bonded to it, the fear being there could be movement due to vibration between the copper & rubber which could chafe the copper.