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RE: First light, and a poor performance
From: "Gregory R. Hunter" <ghunter-at-enterprise-dot-net>
Another trick for bending copper tube: Get a long, skinny coil spring of
the type used to pull screen doors shut. Slip the copper tube inside it
and bend it. The long spring prevents kinking and slips off easy
afterward. (my father showed me this one during a plumbing repair lesson
when I was a kid)
Greg
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From: Tesla List[SMTP:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 1998 2:05 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: First light, and a poor performance
X-Envelope-From: Esondrmn-at-aol-dot-com Wed Aug 26 14:35:30 1998
In a message dated 98-08-26 10:44:46 EDT, you write:
<< >
> Thanks for the comment, I do have some 8mm tube which I will make into a
>primary as soon as I have time, what is the smallest bend radius that can
>reasonably be made with this sort of pipe?
You can get down to about 6" dia. with some effort. A handy technique
I heard about *AFTER* I'd done mine is to fill the pipe with sand to
stop it collapsing. If I were doing it again, I'd use 6mm tube - 8mm
is a bit of a pain to work with.
>>
Buy soft refrigeration tubing. It usually comes in a coil in a box in about
50 foot lengths. Slide a tubing bender over one end, place the coil of tubing
above the primary form and just start fixing it into place about one
revolution at a time. Spot tie or use plastic wire ties to hold it in place
on the form. It sounds harder than it really is. It just takes some time and
usually hurts your back for bending over the table for a few hours.
Ed Sonderman