We often speak with operators who want to know economical ways to work with larger tubing … 3.5 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch etc. They’ve seen the price of a large mandrel bender (wow!), or purchased pre-bent components, and would love a cost efficient way to do things themselves.
Well, you might be surprised how much work can be accomplished and how much you can save with an expander making large size expansions to connect your large OD systems.
So how do you do it? Well, you can buy the large diameter elbows from many fine sources, and then use the expander to create the connection to whatever size tubing you are working with. It is just that easy.
Our 1674 dual head expander comes with 2 standard cylinders, one that can handle up to 6 inch expansions. We also have a cylinder upgrade for our benders that allows you to get this expander cylinder added to your bender.
If you really need to “go big”, we are now introducing a new 1674V version which mounts the cylinders vertically. We have made this as a custom machine for years. This orientation has two sets of benefits. One, many fabricators like working this way, in essence using gravity to hold the part against the expander head. The second benefit is that you can use larger segment sets, and get wider expansions. We have customers expanding to 12 inches this way!
We know there is a lot of demand for working on larger diameter tubing. We will keep working to make useful tools and methods to help fabricators and shops doing this work. If you have any thoughts on this, please call us at 800-558-7808!
We hope to see you at one or more of the upcoming 2016 Fall and Winter Trade shows:
SEMA
November 1 - 4, 2016
Booth # 15722 (Westgate booth area)
Las Vegas Convention Center - Las Vegas, NV
FABTECH
November 16 - 18, 2016
Booth # 7308
Las Vegas Convention Center - Las Vegas, NV
PRI
December 8 - 10, 2016
Booth # 5313
Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN
