Making a flat swarf tube, the easy way!

[EpicenterBryan]

Hi guys,
Long time no post...

Like everyone, I have struggled with making a swarf tube that's really flat, and without kinks inside that catch the swarf. Then I remembered about repairing a leaking radiator in one of my crazy British cars when I was a broke collage student. Duh! Flat copper pipes are in those! I found flat copper tubing on the web but have only found it in bulk or by custom orders. Several sources are listed on Alibaba.

I went to my local radiator shop, and while I was waiting for the crazy lady with AC problems in her car to finally S.T.F.U. and leave, I was looking at a sample radiator chunk (or could have been a heater core) that was sitting on a desk. I showed it to the guy and explained that I needed some tubing exactly like in the cutaway. He said they don't have any tubes, and just order a complete inner core saving only the top and bottom tank headers when a customer need a radiator rebuilt. He showed me some nasty cores in the back that he said I could cut sections out of for free.

Then I said, "hey, how about you sell me this cutaway demo section"? I flashed some cash and I took it home.
I was able to remove one tube with a whole bunch or messing around. Then I discovered the trick. I used a special blade for cutting aluminum, brass, copper on my radial arm saw, and cut the header off. Then I ended up using a very sharp kitchen knife and cut through the fins to free some tubes. After that, I heated with a torch as I slid the fin remnants off (they are all soldered to these tubes).

Swarf Tube 1.jpg

I then rigged up an attachment bar on the lathe, made some measurements on the angle I needed to mount it and soldered an attachment point on the tube using a short segment of the same tube.

In these shots, you see one end is flat, and the other end is flared so some latex tubing can attach and seal. It worked great, and really sucks at the same time!

Swarf Tube 2.jpg

So there you have it! Check with your local radiator shop and quit messing around trying to make a flat tube!
BTW: I now have a life time supply. Drop me a PM if you need some. I'll have to charge you because there is still time involved in getting the fins off and the tubes cleaned up...

Oh, and the fact that it was a demo unit means fluid never passed inside the tubes. There is zero debris in the tubes! Man, I love it when things work out well.


Bryan

[grooveguy]

A veritable stroke of genius, Bryan! (Or should I say, 'this idea sucks!'?) Do you consider the 'aspect ratio' or dimensions of this about right? Capital idea.

[dubcutter89]

Nice idea!
But honestly I never had problems making brass tubes flat on one side by pressing them together in a vice with the aid of 1-2 wooden wedges... One side round for the hose, the other flat to position near stylus.
BTW, nice rocking bridge head you have there!

Cheers
Lukas

[EpicenterBryan]

Do you consider the 'aspect ratio' or dimensions of this about right?

It seams to flow really well with a "huff and puff" test. This weekend I'll lay out some swarf I have saved in a bag and see how it does using my vacuum pump. Not ready to cut for real right now since I need to get some styli on order.

Bryan

[EpicenterBryan]

BTW, nice rocking bridge head you have there!

Hi Lukas.
Yes, you spotted that. I recently purchased it from a fellow troll. Right now I'm finishing up mounting details and a suspension addition to add a counter weight on the 8D. So far I've plotted the transfer functions for the feedback outputs and it's looking great! I'll post some stuff on it when I make a bit more progress.

Bryan

[TheCrates]

EASY???

Well done mate, i love that overklill

[EpicenterBryan]

Well done mate, i love that overklill

I know, I know... I resorted to over kill after way too many attempts at curving, bending, flattening, routing, mounting... And fighting with kinks, tubing diameter adapters, air leaks, and swarf dams building up inside a dinged tube.

I've dealt with it until now, but I really want to start using a heated stylus. As I understand, I need a constant flow of vacuum which also cools the heated stylus. It's one thing to sweep swarf when needed, but another issue with a heater active when hot swarf starts flying.

I could be totally over thinking it. That's why I have never used a heated stylus.

Bryan

[grooveguy]

Try it, Bryan; you'll never go back.