Welcome to the industry’s only comprehensive guide for tube and tube bending terminology used in the rotary-draw tube-bending industry. The primary objective of the Bend Tooling Encyclopedia® is to define the various words and phrases in use in the tube-bending community in order to ensure that even if we are not speaking the exact same language, we do understand each other.
The Bend Tooling Encyclopedia® is a tube bending handbook and terminology guide that builds upon the glossary John Gillanders authored in his widely-circulated guide to tube-bending, Pipe and Tube Bending Manual — and then some. More than a dictionary, our pipe and tube bending guide contains extensive articles on key subjects which not only provide definitions but also the concepts, applications, practices, and relationships to other subjects behind the term in question.
An abridged form of the Bend Tooling Encyclopedia® appeared as a series of articles in “The Tube & Pipe Journal”. It is also the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ official guide for pipe- and tube-bending terminology.
As always, we ask members of the tube-bending community to advise us on corrections, additions, and new terms. Your input is especially helpful in identifying local variations in terminology and keeping our tube bending guide up to date.
- aero-cut, aerospace cut, aircraft cut
- aircraft quality
- alloy steel
- aluminum-bronze
- arc
- Assist, assist pressure
- axial pressure
- B-axis
- back tangent
- ball
- ball sub-assembly
- barrel
- bead
- bend data
- bend die
- bend form
- bend radius
- bend specifications
- Birmingham Wire Gauge, BWG
- boost, boost pressure
- bore-mount
- brass
- bronze
- brute link
- C-axis
- cable mandrel
- camber
- carbide impregnation
- carbon steel
- carburizing
- case-hardening
- cavity
- center link
- centerline height
- centerline radius
- clamp die
- clamp insert
- close pitch
- CLR
- cold drawing
- cold rolled steel tube
- commercial grade tooling
- complex clamp
- compound clamp
- compression
- compression bending
- compressive
- crown
- crush bending
- crush knob
- cutback
- D
- degree of bend
- depth, depth of bend
- detent
- detent ball
- detent pocket
- detent spring
- direct pressure
- DOB
- double-wall tubing
- drag
- draw bending
- drive key
- drive pin
- ductility
- easy way
- eccentricity
- elastic limit
- elasticity
- elongation
- empty bending
- EMT
- end link
- end tangent
- extrados
- feathered edge
- flash
- flattening
- flexure
- follower die
- forward mandrel set-up
- forward tangent
- gauge, gage
- geometry
- grip
- H-type link
- half-round
- hanger bracket
- hard chrome
- hard way
- head
- heart-shaped cavity
- holder
- hot bending
- hot rolled steel tube
- hydroforming
- ID
- induction bending
- industrial grade tooling
- insert link
- inserted bend die
- inserted mandrel assembly
- inserted wiper die
- inside diameter
- inside radius
- interlock (bend die)
- interlock (wiper)
- intrados
- IPS
- ISR
- key
- keyway
- knurling
- laminated tubing
- length
- line of tangency
- link
- lip
- mandrel
- mandrel assembly
- mandrel ball, mandrel (ball) segment
- mandrel body
- mandrel flats
- mandrel insert
- mandrel link
- mandrel nose
- mandrel nose insert
- mandrel overall length
- mandrel shank
- mandrel sub-assembly
- mandrel thread
- mechanical tubing
- mid-tangent
- mild steel
- minimum wall thickness
- mounting bracket
- mounting pattern
- mounting pin
- neutral axis
- nitriding
- no-lip
- nominal diameter
- non-mandrel bending
- nose radius
- OD
- offset geometry
- orientation
- OSR
- outside diameter
- outside radius
- ovality
- pilot
- pilot counterbore
- pipe
- pitch
- plane of bend
- platform bend die
- point of bend
- poppet link
- post
- post hole
- pre-bending
- press bending
- pressure die
- pressure tubing
- Pythagorean theorem
- quick-change tooling
- radial draw bending
- radial growth
- radial pressure
- radius block
- radius face
- rake
- ram die
- reach
- rectangular coordinates
- reduction
- region
- regular pitch
- retaining ring
- reverse interlock
- reverse-mount
- roll bending
- rotary-draw bending
- schedule
- seam
- serpentine bend
- serrations
- shank
- shank link
- shoulder
- simple-sweep geometry
- snap ring
- socket
- solid mandrel assembly
- solid wiper die
- split link
- springback
- square-back
- stackable tooling, stacked tooling
- static die
- steel
- strain
- stress
- T-key
- tangency
- tangent
- tangent length
- tapered leaf cavity
- teardrop bend die
- tensile
- terminal hump
- terminal wrinkle
- thinning
- through-hardening
- through-keyway
- TiN
- TOD
- toughness
- true cavity
- tube fabricating
- tube forming
- tube outside diameter
- tube, tubing
- two-piece link
- Type K copper tubing and Type L copper tubing
- vertical bending
- wall
- wall factor
- wall thickness
- wall thinning
- width
- wing die
- wiper
- wiper die
- wiper holder
- wiper insert
- wiper overall length
- wiper shoe
- wiper tip, wiper tip insert
- wrinkle control cavity
- WT
- X-axis
- Y-axis
- yield point
- yield strength
- Z-axis
- zero-rake
