by Bill Tingley, Vice President & General Manager, Bend Tooling Inc. Over the past half-century a lot of ideas have come and gone as to the best materials for rotary-draw tube-bending tools. This is not surprising because of the great advances in materials, heat...

Rigidity, aesthetics, and weight are at the top of the list of factors that engineers at the OEM level must consider when deciding between round or nonround tubing for design projects. Conversely, formability, weldability, and repeatability are the primary concerns of...

The perception that aluminum is typically tougher to weld or paint than most other metals used for fabrication is pervasive, so it’s not surprising to learn that that bending aluminum tubing requires a bit more consideration than most other tubular materials. Material...

Precisely positioning the tooling can result in repeatable and quality bends Even though we are in the age of CNC machinery, the old phrase “the tools make the bend” is as relevant today as ever. As tube bending applications have become more extreme (see Figure 1),...

Excess bender force cannot overcome a poor setup or worn tools Programmability, speed, accuracy, and of course power are just some of the many advancements in modern CNC and NC rotary draw, mandrel-capable tube bending machines over the last few decades. However, even...