Bending soft copper

[dresselbrew]

I want to make a HERMS coil with 5/8 OD soft copper and am having a hard time coiling it tight enough. Ideally I would like to make as small of a coil as possible then coil back around that coil to fit in a 5 gallon cooler and have both ends at the top. Does anyone have any trick to help out or am I crazy to try a bend this tight?

[codewritinfool]

I've built tight copper bends by filling with very fine "ashtray" sand first. It keeps the copper from kinking.

Works great and it is easy to get out since it wants to flow out like water.

[dresselbrew]

Thanks Code. I'll pick some up next time I'm at Lowes or somewhere similar. Do you think I can get 5/8 OD 1/2 ID tube to bend around a wine bottle?

[codewritinfool]

I'd bet you could with the sand in it.

[pretzel]

The best luck I have had is making sure that you do not uncoil it before you begin. Just keep it coiled and tighten from the bottom up

[Mylo]

I've built tight copper bends by filling with very fine "ashtray" sand first. It keeps the copper from kinking.

Works great and it is easy to get out since it wants to flow out like water.

That is a great tip, code! I think I had heard about that at one time, and it musta been stored on a bad sector in my brain. Is it really easy to get the sand out of a tightly bent coil?


Mylo

[codewritinfool]

Yes. It has to be fine sand. Course sand will hang up. Think about an hourglass - only a tiny tiny hole for the sand to flow through but it never gets hung up.

[buffburgo]

I wish I knew about this sand trick 6 months ago when I managed to make my "Kink-merssion" chiller. Dammit....