Flaring copper tubes with your own hands: ways, tool
Flaring of copper tubes, also called rolling, Is a technological operation, the essence of which is to deform their walls in the right direction. The need for such an operation arises in those cases, when it is necessary to make tight and reliable connection of copper tubes with various devices and devices or to connect them among themselves.
Rolling of a copper tube by the manual device
Tubes, made of copper, today quite common, and in those cases, when their connection must be detachable, without flaring can not do. For flaring tubes, made of copper, can be used as special equipment, which is available in series, and a set of simple tools, which in compliance with all technological recommendations also allows you to perform this process efficiently.
features of execution
Execution of flaring of tubes, made of copper, may be needed, if:
- the trimmed end of the tube must be provided with the required configuration;
- the end of the product must be prepared for its connection by means of a coupling (in this case, applying flaring, perform adjustment of such geometric parameters of the tube, as the inner diameter, bending angle, etc.);
- it is necessary to prepare the ends of copper tubes for their connection by soldering.
Pipe cutting along the length is a special tool - a pipe cutter for copper or aluminum pipes
To qualitatively razvaltsevat a tube from copper, using special tools and devices, the following steps must be performed.
- The end of the tube, connection to be made, thoroughly cleaned.
- A special coupling is put on the cleaned end.
- With the help of a special tool or device, the end of the tube is flared, until the angle of its expansion is 45 °.
- After the procedure, the end of the product is removed from the device. You can then start the connection immediately.
If you have never performed such a technological operation before and for the first time you are going to do flaring with your own hands, then you should cut the tube with some margin of length (2-2,5 cm), which will allow you in case of failure to flip it again, cutting off the defective area.
Reamer - a device for stripping the ends of copper tubes
If you flip a copper tube is necessary for that, to connect it by soldering, then the sequence of actions for the implementation of such a procedure will be as follows.
- The surface of the end of the tube, which must be flared, thoroughly cleaned (it is best to use a special brush).
- With the help of a special device, the end of the copper tube expands to such an extent, so that you can insert the end of the other tube and withstand the gap between the connecting elements, equal 0,124 mm. Naturally, for this purpose it is necessary to use the measuring tool.
- On the inner surface of the pipe section, which is already flared, a uniform layer of flux is applied, necessary for that, to ensure a secure and tight connection.
- In the flared part to a depth, equal to the diameter of the pipe, the end of the second connection element is inserted.
- Using a gas burner, electric soldering iron or blowtorch the place of the future connection is heated up to that moment, when the solder begins to melt.
- Molten solder fills all the gaps between the edges of the connected copper pipes, resulting in a reliable and tight connection.
Once the connection of the two copper tubes is formed, they must be placed on a horizontal surface and allowed to cool completely. Only after the joint has cooled down completely, the resulting structure can be operated.
Tools and accessories
In order to flip the tube with your hands, made of copper, use special devices. Such devices can be as manual, and electric drive. They are used for installation of air conditioning systems, water supply and heating. Tools, equipped with electric drive, often combine several functions: with their help it is possible not only to flip a copper tube, but also bend it at the right angle.
Any device, by means of which flaring of tubes is carried out, made of copper, works on the principle of plastic deformation, so it is very important, that it coped with such a process as carefully as possible, without violating the homogeneity of the structure of the material, maintaining uniformity of wall thickness of products, as well as the smoothness of their inner surface.
The scheme of the correct flaring and examples of incorrect operation
To qualitatively perform flaring of copper tubes (even if you are doing it with your own hands for the first time), you can use one of the following devices.
sample
It is a cone-shaped billet, made ??of a harder metal alloy, than copper. The advantages of such a device are low cost and ease of use. Meanwhile, its use may be accompanied by ruptures of the walls of the copper product, which gives low quality flaring.
With this simplest device you can flip one tube, but we do not have to talk about any quality of work
mechanical flaring machine
The main working body of this device is a roller made of hard alloy, which, rolling along the edge of a copper tube, gives the latter the required configuration. Use of the mechanical expander allows to carry out uniform deformation of the processed site of a tube, to form at its end walls of the same thickness with high quality of their internal surface.
The hand tool is capable to provide high quality of flaring and good speed of work
Expander with electric drive
This device with a set of interchangeable nozzles, having all the advantages of mechanical tools, allows to carry out flaring of copper tubes with higher productivity and with lower expenses. Apparently, The only downside to an electric flipper is its fairly high price.
The battery of this flare is enough for about 100 operations
expander
Such a handheld device, operating on the principle of the lever mechanism, allows to unfold the end of a tube in one movement. Possessing simplicity of a design, such a device has a number of significant disadvantages, the most significant of which is the inability to control the wall thickness of the product. So, use of an expander, which is often chosen by those, who performs flaring with his own hands, does not guarantee a quality result.
Tips for choosing a tool
Fold the copper tube, due to the high ductility of its material, easy. However, to achieve high quality performance of such technological operation, use only specialized tools. Execution of flaring with the help of the simplest devices, which include ingots and expanders, may be accompanied by a number of negative consequences.
- Tube walls, if they are small in thickness, will get stuck.
- In the walls of the tubes, which will be affected by such a tool, gaps may occur.
- It is almost impossible to achieve uniform wall thickness of the tube, which will ultimately affect the reliability of the connection being formed.
In a special device, the copper tube is fixed strictly perpendicularly, and the deformation occurs exactly along the cone
Meanwhile, use gadgets, specially designed for flaring, has the following advantages.
- Due to the gradual (carried out step by step for each pass of the tool rollers) deformation of the walls of the pipe occurrence of ruptures in it is virtually excluded.
- Uniformity of thickness of walls of a copper tube is reached, even if at first this parameter did not differ in uniformity.
- The inner surface of the tube after flaring becomes perfectly smooth and even.
Using a special device, in addition, allows you to quickly and efficiently flaring the end of the tube, even those, who has never performed such a procedure with their own hands.
The set for flaring can be included: eccentric rolling, rimer, pipe cutter, pipe expander and springs for bending pipes
That flaring was executed qualitatively, ??special attention should be paid to the choice of tool. The following parameters must be taken into account, as:
- material characteristics, of which it is made ??a tube, in particular the degree of its plasticity;
- inner diameter of the product;
- its outer diameter;
- depth of flaring;
- distance, on which the product will protrude above the working part of the tool;
- the distance between the centers of the inner holes of the copper tubes (if the chosen device allows to carry out flaring of several products at once);
- wall thickness of processed products;
- the need to form grooves on the machined part of the copper tube;
- the presence of connecting seams on the surface of the product.
Most special devices for flaring, presented in the modern market, differ in versatility and allow to carry out processing of copper tubes in rather wide range of their internal and external diameters. Usually, such a tool is equipped with a set of replaceable nozzles, which determine its broad universality.
