Supporting > Additive Machining

Tube Bender dies

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ddmckee54:
Just had a brain fart.

With a 70% infill, or greater, do you think a 3D printed part would make a viable die for a small tubing bender?  It almost feels like it's a silly enough idea that it should work.  Interchangable dies for different sized tubing and different bend radii would be a snap.  The biggest problem that I can foresee would be delamination of the dies due to the stresses involved, but if the infill percentage is big enough that might not be an issue?

I'm not saying these would be suitable for heavy walled SS hydraulic tubing, but for the thin walled tubing we normally use it just might work.


Don

b.lindsey:
For a one off job on thin walled tubing it might work, but I don't see it lasting long. In the time it takes to print, you could probably make a permanent steel die. Just my 2 cents.

Bill

crueby:
I don't know much about 3d printing, what is the infill you mention?

b.lindsey:
Chris, it's common to use honeycombing on the interior areas of printed parts to save weight, material, and build time. This can be varied depending on requirements, even up to 100% ( a solid part).

Bill

zeeprogrammer:
Go for it. Find out when you try it.
Make them large enough to have sufficient surface between layers.

I 3D printed a spindle stop for my mill. I don't know if the stresses compare...but I'm happy with it.

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