The bends I've bought came with the ends already beaded, but some don't, so Mark makes a good point.

I think you can achieve the same desired result with modified dimple dies in a rivet squeezer. The bead is just there to keep the hose from sliding off, & a series of 'bumps' around the tube in the same place as a bead will achieve the same effect. It's ugly, but it will be under makeup (the hose end), so who cares?

Charlie

On 10/21/2014 2:06 PM, Mark Steitle wrote:

Jeff,

This probably goes without saying, but I have to ask anyway.  I'm assuming you put beads on all of the radiator connections? Commercial radiators normally come with beaded fittings.  I'm more curious about the sweep L's and other pieces of tubing in your system. I am aware of at least one rotary a/c that made an emergency landing after having a hose blow off in flight.  If not, Earl's Supply sells beading tools that do a pretty fair job for the price.

 

Mark  

On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 1:23 PM, Richard Sohn <flyrotary@lancaironline.net> wrote:

I did all my odd-angle bends with cut and weld using mandrel bent 90 and 180 degrees.

 

Richard Sohn
N2071U

http://www.fairpoint.net/~res12/home.html

 

From: Charlie England

Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 10:12 AM

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Getting There, New Exhaust and Radiator Setup

 

This one shows the rad returning to the engine. There's a 1 1/4" to 1" silicone transition on the block (same as output on top), a 180 degree mandrel bend (that I stretched out to ~135 degrees), and that connects to the hose coming from the rad bottom fitting (previous pic). I'm not happy with the stretched 180; it didn't stay round when I stretched it. Unfortunately, it's hard to find 135 degree mandrel bends in 1" diameter. There are a couple of ebay vendors, but they're in the UK & no longer ship to the USA (I guess we are the new 3rd world).

On 10/21/2014 10:05 AM, Charlie England wrote:

This shows 1" ID hose waiting to be hooked up to the 1 1/8" rad bottom fitting.

On 10/21/2014 10:03 AM, Charlie England wrote:

Forgot to mention: in previous pic, the rad top fitting is 1 1/8"; tube is ~1" OD. The silicone coupler is just a piece of 1" silicone hose. It will stretch quite a bit.

This shows a transition fitting from the pump outlet 1 1/4" to 1".

On 10/21/2014 9:56 AM, Charlie England wrote:

Pics to follow in multiple emails, due to list size limits.

I bought most of my stuff from
http://www.siliconeintakes.com/
and
http://www.verociousmotorsports.com/

Also, check ebay for both mandrel bends and silicone bends. There are several sites with pretty good prices.

Silicone Intakes' mandrel bends are much cheaper than their silicone bends. For same-size couplers, you can just buy a length of hose & cut it into couplers (see radiator input pic).

I had no luck bending thinwall AL tubing myself, even if I packed the tubing with sand prior to bending & used a Harbor Freight hydraulic pipe bender. However, if you can stand the loss of flow area, AL electrical conduit is relatively easy to bend without collapsing it (thicker walls).

Silicone hose seems to cost anywhere from $5 (1") to $20 per foot.  Tubing looks prettier, but a continuous run of silicone hose isn't that much more expensive and it can get done in minutes instead of weeks. Ask me how I know....

Charlie

On 10/21/2014 7:28 AM, Jeff Whaley wrote:

Hello Doug:

The radiator is 100% stock; I did not weld any fittings onto it.  My method may not save you any money though, as I bought expensive $30 blue silicone hose (HPS) couplers to mate with the stock 1.5 inch water pump inlet/outlet connectors on my engine.  One elbow is 1.5” to 1.5”, 90 degree and the other is 1.75” to 1.5”, 45 degree to match the radiator.  In between is 1.5” aluminum straight or elbow tubing.   Jeff

 

From: mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net Subject: FW: Getting There, New Exhaust and Radiator Setup Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:07:28 -0400 To: flyrotary@lancaironline.net

Jeff: Do you have any shots of the fittings you had welded onto your Griffin radiator, etc.  I am thinking of doing something similar for my 9A w/13B since I really don't want to spend $1K on a bunch of $35-40 a piece AN fittings, hose, etc. Thanks. Doug Lomheim RV-9A 13B FWF

 

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