My Big Fat Redneck Boat Canopy

[tcmtech]

A few times I have had to do muffler pipe and I just pack the tube with sand and tape both ends shut. It seems to work fine most of the time.
The bend usually comes out looking like what a normal heavy wall pipe looks like. Just make sure you orientate the seam to the inside of the bend. Otherwise it may split if its low grade pipe.

 

[HiTech]

HFT is a great place for hobby people to get tools. MY mill and lathe are from there. With a little work and modifications, you can have a good quality tool. With a little Google search on the machine you purchase, you can find many website that list mods for your tool that will make it a viable tool -- Mikebits

Seen many of those mods to the HF tools. Powertool forums are filled with threads on how to mod some of their tools to good performers. The HF 14" bandsaw is a good deal and mods to a very good performer when done right. Still, my Delta has better castings over the HF and the link-belt really smooths out the vibrations.

If you're talking about the one that uses a bottle jack, that's what I used. I'm not completely satisfied with the results. It probably works better on thicker-wall tube. For my 16 ga tube, it tended to put kinks in the material, especially on the OD side. I see structures made out of the same material with near perfect bends. Wish I knew what they are using.

I think that's why my bud filled his tubing with water... to eliminate that proble,. All I know is those tubes are bent as if they were heat formed that way from a manufacturer--- no pinched elbows and such... just nice rounded bends.

 

[tcmtech]

If you need pieces of thin wall tubing bent just stop by your local muffler shop. They are happy to do it and typicaly very cheap too.
They have spacial bending dies on their machines that keep the tubing from getting dented or kinking and can do any angle you need accurately and repeatedly.