Bending SS tubing coil

Anyone have a proven method to share? Search's have turned up very little and I've already jacked up the first five feet of tubing trying to bend it by hand. I have a Rigid bender but its for "conduit" type tubes not the coil I have now. I tried doing it by hand as was suggested on the electric brewing website, didn't go so well. I'm thinking tonight I will try to wrap it around a steel cylinder I have here at the office that's mounted to the floor and very rigid. Before I screw it up even more, anyone offer up an alternative?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/50-foot-1-2-inch-ss-coil-300138/

Jump to V-Twin's post 118
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/50-foot-1-2-inch-ss-coil-300138/index12.html#post3851144

Here is a direct link to the PDF
http://home.comcast.net/~bkerby/DIYTubingBender.pdf

Another question along the same lines, I have swagelok couplings here also, can I just cut out the kinked up places an splice them back together with a coupling so I can keep it as close as I can to 50'? Will that make it even harder to keep clean and sanitized?

I would literally just cut the losses and not mess with it. You won't miss a few feet.

you are correct, splices will be much more likely to trap dirt and bacteria. if the kinks are near the ends, just cut them out and dont worry that its not exactly 50.0 feet

Get a swagelok tube bender, makes clean bends and it is super easy and fast. That is, if you are willing to spend $100-$250 for it on eBay. Another option is to see if you can borrow one from someone local (a dealer, plumber, etc). I was able to bend all my stainless 1/2" in no time at all with one. (I borrowed one)

TriangleIL said:

Get a swagelok tube bender, makes clean bends and it is super easy and fast. That is, if you are willing to spend $100-$250 for it on eBay. Another option is to see if you can borrow one from someone local (a dealer, plumber, etc). I was able to bend all my stainless 1/2" in no time at all with one. (I borrowed one)

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Yeah, I have one already. Great for bending 90's and dip tubes, not the best for tubing (coiled) though.

Hand benders, swagelok or otherwise are not going to make consistent diameter bends in tubing with wall thickness below .035". The gentle three roller benders with 1/2" dies are the only way.

Well, last night I used a 10" 75lb Co2 cylinder that was locked into a tank vise. If only I had one extra set of hands it would have worked perfectly. What happened was while I was fighting to put on the plastic tie wraps the coil would loosen and when I went to make my next two wraps the tube would bend slightly if it was not snug against the cylinder. So, what I ended up with is a 11" coil with a dozen very small kinks. Not enough to restrict flow that much, but I'm curious if these imperfections will give me any other problems. Sanitation, turbulence, something else? The only other problem I'm having right now is when I used the tubing cutter, it made the ends ever so slightly out of round, so I'm having the devil of a time getting the swagelok fitting on over it. Its always something eh?

For the out of round if you use a punch or needle nose pliers with a reducing cone shape grips, you can shape the tube ends round again by spinning it inside the tube with just a bit of pressure.

Not enough to restrict flow that much, but I'm curious if these imperfections will give me any other problems. Sanitation, turbulence, something else

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i doubt sanitation, but definately increased turbulence and restriction. much more than if it was unkinked, but probably not enough to throw it out and start over. you would probably only notice the difference if you directly compared a slightly kinked coil to a perfectly bent coil.

and +1 to bobbys suggestion. you can also take a 2-piece tubing flare tool and clamp it down on the end of the tube to make it round again.

But as far as you can tell, no real issues with the small dents as long as its not impacting flow?

audger said:

i doubt sanitation, but definately increased turbulence and restriction. much more than if it was unkinked, but probably not enough to throw it out and start over. you would probably only notice the difference if you directly compared a slightly kinked coil to a perfectly bent coil.

and +1 to bobbys suggestion. you can also take a 2-piece tubing flare tool and clamp it down on the end of the tube to make it round again.

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Thats what I was thinking also, but need to be sure. Not only that but that SS coil jumped up and took a bite out of my hand last night so now that its got blood, sweat, and tears, I don't want to toss it out. lol

Well here it is, did a leak test tonight. Will run PBW through her tomorrow to give her a good rinse. Took the 3 pc ball valves apart and they were full of oil inside so they got a detergent wash and PBW soak tonight. As you can see, there are a few dings in the coil, I'm curious to see if it affects flow too much, I'm able to blow through it very easily.

Heres some pics