Copper Expanders and their use

[karrotbear]

Hey all,

Scored a 4" Ridgid Tube expander from a second hand store in Brissy, only about $120 :laughing-rolling:

Anyways, does anyone else have similar expanders, if so how do you use your expander. Obviously I bought it to expand some 4", however it's pretty hard to even expand the 2" variety, do you guys heat up the copper before expanding? Do you try and anneal it (if possible) to increase the ductility or workability? How do you anneal your copper and for how long?

My thinking is that you obviously cold work it when expanding, so as you expand it will be getting harder and harder. So obviously expanding and anealing and expanding again would be one of the better options, but maybe I'm missing something here?

[Sam.]

Heat the shit out of it with and oxy set, quench with water then expand :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Dominator]

Heat the shit out of it with and oxy set, quench with water then expand :handgestures-thumbupleft:

X 2. You will need to anneal it first, then it should not be to hard to expand.

[karrotbear]

Sigh, how much do oxy sets set you back>?

[Rumdrinker]

You can anneal the copper with a simple butane burner like this


Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional

[Sam.]

I dont want to know how long it would take to get the first few inches of a four inch piece of copper glowing with anything but a oxy :think:

I'm sure it can be done with something else ......but......

[Dominator]

If you preheated it with a 2 or 3 ring burner than yeah, maybe your could anneal it with one of those butane torches.

[Yummyrum]

You have to get it to red hot to anneal it.It takes a lot of heat and time on bigger pipes.Its easier to anneal small sections of pipe as longer ones just keep sucking the heat out as you put it in

[bt1]

karrot,

If you have the kit shove it on top of your three ring burner or gas barbie burner for 5 mins then finish with a MAPP gun ...preferred.

bt1