pipe end forming tool

[Frank S]

I don't think we have one of these.
I needed to round the ends of several dozen 1 1/2" 16 ga pipes SO I made a tool to spin form the ends on the lathe.
It uses a heavy duty cam follower bearing mounted on a pivot with a long handle to swing it back and forth
the rotational pivot center is directly under the center of the center of the face of the bearing shell.
First I cut the pipes to 14.1" long on the lathe using a pipe cutter then formed the ends Cutting the pipes this way is faster than on a band saw and leaves the end nice and smooth.


I removed the compound and mounted the tool base in its stead.

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Pipe End Forming Tool to our Metalworking category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Pipe End Forming Tool by Frank S

tags: pipe

[Toolmaker51]

No Frank S, I don't think there are any of these...I don't recall anything along the line of metal spinning at all.

[Frank S]

No Frank S, I don't think there are any of these...I don't recall anything along the line of metal spinning at all.

Well now we have one. Additionally to simply radiusing the ends of the tubes I tried my hand at actually swedging the diameter down slightly I managed to reduce a drop piece down to 1.25" OD for about half an inch the tubing or pipe that I was using for the project is 1 1/2" OD 16 ga welded mild steel pipe or to put it another way bare non anodized exhaust tubing.When I reduced the diameter further the metal had work hardened to the point that the weld failed I find from past experiences that this occurs with this grade of pipe even when swedging with dies in a hydraulic press as well. If I have nothing else pressing tomorrow I may try to down size another drop but only reducing the OD to that of the ID for a couple of inches One problem I have is My lathe RPM these older LaBlonds do not have a 2000 RPM gear like newer machines. I think mine spins somewhere around 1450 Also annealed brass copper and aluminum or well annealed mild steel and soft stainless like 302,materials would be the among the first choices for spinning. Some day I need to make several spinners wands and demonstrate the art of true spinning from what little I know about it

[Frank S]

Here are some views of the ends some rolled more than the other as a test