Delahenty Machinery Leads the Way in Australian Tooling Design and Manufacturing.

Tube Bending Tooling

Delahenty Machinery, a trusted name in Australian manufacturing, has become a key player in designing, producing, and supplying high-quality bending tooling solutions for a variety of industries. With decades of experience, the company specialises in producing precision tooling components for tube bending and end forming applications.

Need a tool set built quickly? Our engineers and design team are ready to help.
So, why wait? Call (03) 9800-1544 and take your tube bending processes to new heights of precision.

Tooling Bending Dies

High-Quality Tooling Solutions

At the core of every forming application, tooling plays a vital role, and Delahenty Machinery has dedicated itself to providing only the best. The company designs and manufactures complete tube bending and end forming tool sets, ensuring customers receive top-notch tools and rapid turnaround times. Their product offerings include:

 Bend Tooling

  • End Form Tooling

  • Mandrel Links and Balls

  • One piece and Tip Type Wiper Die

  • Ball & Plug Mandrels

Advanced Mandrel Options

Delahenty Machinery offers an extensive selection of mandrels for various applications, made from both tool steel and aluminium bronze. Some of the available types include:

  • Close Pitch Mandrels for thin-wall and tight-radius bends

  • Chain Style Mandrels

  • Plug and Spoon Mandrels

  • Square, Rectangle, and Oval Mandrels

  • Plastic, Tool Steel, and Aluminium Bronze Mandrels

  • Mandrels for Extrusion Bending

  • Custom Body Lengths and Thread Options

 

Tube Bending Tooling

Wiper Dies and Re-Cut Services

The company also manufactures a wide range of solid wiper dies, including both tool steel and aluminium bronze variants, with mounting options suitable for all manufacturers. Their re-cut service offers fast turnaround times for:

  • Solid wiper dies

  • Tip type wiper dies

  • Re-boring and re-cutting of wiper dies

Comprehensive Tooling Sets

Delahenty Machinery excels in designing and manufacturing complete bending tooling sets, tailored to customer needs. These include:

  • Full Bend Tooling Sets

  • Interlock Tooling

  • Square, Rectangle, and Oval Tooling

  • Extrusion Tooling

  • Empty Bend Tooling

  • Controlled Wrinkle Tooling

  • Split Tooling Designs

  • Collets

  • Twin Head and Press Bend Tooling

  • Solid and Flat Bar Tooling

  • Quick Change Tooling Designs

COMAC - SERIE 3000 - MODEL 304HV - Section and Profile Rolling Machine

Section Roll Tooling

Delahenty Machinery also offers specialised roller solutions for profile roll forming, available in both steel and nylon. These rollers are designed and hardened to handle materials such as steel, aluminium, and stainless steel.

Expert Tooling Design & Development

All tooling is designed in-house in Australia using 3D CAD software, ensuring precise and efficient production. Delahenty Machinery is committed to meeting both production and budget requirements, offering a range of design services, such as:

  • 3D CAD Tooling Design
  • Tooling Prints and Quick Replacement Manufacturing
  • Ongoing Tool R&D and Bent Part Simulation
  • Tool Steel Selection and Price Estimation
  • Reverse Engineering of Tooling

With an unwavering focus on quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction, Delahenty Machinery remains a leader in the Australian tooling industry, offering customised solutions for even the most complex forming and bending applications

Full Set Tooling

The Different Types of Tube Bend Tooling

Tube Bending Tools

Tube and Pipe bending tools allow you to bend tube and pipe to your desired bend angle without causing any damage to the pipe’s structure. There are many types of bending tools available that can be used for different applications.

Tube and Pipe bending tools are available in different types and sizes for various applications. They can be used to bend tubes and pipes made of many different materials including copper, aluminium, stainless, or steel. If you want to bend the tube and pipe in tight radii, then choosing the right tool is very important.

Tube Bending Tooling:

There are several different types of  tube bending tools that can be used to prevent the tube from flattening or wrinkling and ensure that the bend is formed correctly. Each tooling set is designed specifically depending on the application and production requirements.

The standard tooling components are bend dies, wiper dies, clamp dies, collets and pressure dies which are essential for mandrel bending tubes and pipes. They are used to simplify the tube bending process, support the tube and help form the radius of the bend.

  • A bend die is the tool which the tubes are bend around giving the centre line radius of the bend
  • A clamp die applies pressure to the tube during the bending process and works in conjunction with the bend die clamp section
  • A pressure die maintains pressure on the tube during the bending phase
  • A wiper die is introduced for tighter radius bends and thin wall applications to stop the wrinkling from occurring on the inside of the tube
  • A collet is used when tooling is being placed on a CNC bending machine to feed and rotate the tube

Mandrels:

Mandrels are used to support the internal diameter of the Tube and Pipe during the bending phase and depending on the material and Radii different types of mandrels are used

  • Plug and Spoon Mandrels– suitable for thick wall pipe and tube and large Radii
  • Standard Ball Mandre – The most common mandrel for standard application
  • Close Pitch Ball Mandrel – For thin wall and tight radius bending
  • Ultra-Close Pitch Ball Mandrel – For ultra-thin wall and bend radii

Lubrication:

Don’t forget to apply high-pressure bending lubrication designed for mandrel tube and pipe bending applications. Delahenty has developed and range heavy duty bending oils and bending pastes called Macbend that will significantly increase tooling life, reduce machine load and improve the accuracy of bent components. 

Final Note

Tube and Pipe bending tools are an essential investment to make working with tube and pipes easier and using the incorrect tooling can not only damages and wastes your raw materials but affect machine performance and your production output.

We offer a full range of tube and pipe bending tools designed and manufactured by us in Australia. To complement our bend tooling, we also offer a full range of NC and CNC bending machines for every application Australia-wide.

Call us today or visit our website to learn more!

How to use a Ball Mandrel and Wiper Die to Bend Tubing

Bend tubing

Are you planning to use a Ball mandrel and Wiper die to bend the pipe but do not know the process?

Here is the guide to bending tubes with ball mandrel and wiper die.

Why Use a Ball Mandrel and Wiper Die to Bend Tubing?

One of the oldest methods for bending tubing is using a ball-mandrel and Wiper die. A wiper die has a stationary wiper that wipes the ball as it rolls against it, making a near-perfect radius every time. This will ultimately help improve the bend quality of your bends.

Why Use a Ball Mandrel and Wiper Die to Bend Tubing?

A ball mandrel supports the tube throughout the tube bending process and is used to produce flares, tees, and reducers. The ball-end reduces friction and oxidation during bending, allowing the workpiece to be held in a tight radius while not marring the surface or allowing distortion. The result is precise bending that produces better flare control and dimensional consistency.

How to Bend Tubing with a Ball Mandrel and Wiper Die

Firstly, you must make a successful plan to bend the tube with a ball mandrel and wiper die. You need to consider the material you are going to bend. Try to source the entire material from one supplier. It will help in maintaining the consistency of the tubing dimensions and characteristics.

Start considering the machines you are going to use. The bending machine should be in the right condition and should have good quality because poor quality tooling leads to longer set-up times, more scrap, poorly bent tubes, and unacceptable bends. You need an experienced one to operate that machine.

When performing this type of bend, the piece of tooling, the Wiper Die should be accurate. The groove must be slightly larger than the O.D. of the tube ñ 10% of wall thickness as being minimum. It must be of high polish lubricated with thin oil. Too much fat or too heavy oil in this area will cause wrinkles. Wiper Dies fit to bend die groove must be 85% contact from 12:00 o’clock to 6:00 and for at least 15-20 degrees back from tangent. When the bend die does not support the Wiper Die. It will spring away from the mandrel. It can cause the tube to wrinkle.

How to Bend Tubing with a Ball Mandrel and Wiper Die

Wrapping Up

These tools are excellent aids for bending tubing. It allows you to make consistent tapers on tubing, whether you want a tight or loose fit. The mandrels and dies will enable you to make different-sized bends and give you those custom curves that your other tools do not allow.

Delahenty Machinery is a leading manufacturer of tube bending machinery, Wiper dies, and ball mandrels. Many industries use our machines to process tubes and pipes, from ultra-pure copper and brass to hardened steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium. Contact us for more details.

A Beginner’s Guide to Bending Tooling 

Bending Tooling

Each component plays a vital role in the bending tooling successful operation. Yet there are some essential components like bend die, clamp die, pressure die, wiper dies, and mandrel. 

So, before diving into each bending tooling component, let us understand what tube and pipe bending is. 

What is Tube and Pipe Bending 

Tube and pipe bending is a manufacturing process. In this process we use a machine for bending pipes, tubes. And try to get a perfect bending shape. It allows the production of shapes that are not achievable by other processes such as roll forming, plate rolling, press brakes, or tube cutting. 

We use Tube and pipe bending processes in several applications in almost every industry, such as exhaust systems, headrests, etc. 

Each component plays a vital role in perfect bending in the bending tooling process, which we will discuss later in the same article. 

How Tube and Pipe get bent 

Bending tubes and pipes can be a daunting process for someone unfamiliar with the equipment, techniques, and safety requirements. The process requires specialized machinery, a trained, experienced operator, plenty of time, and attention to detail. 

Either manually or with automated machines you can finish Tube and pipe bending process. It depends upon the type of manufacturing product. Tube bending machines are best suited for short-radius turns, while more sophisticated pipe benders make longer radius bends. With tube bender you can make fittings such as tees and crosses, but you’ll need a pipe bender for elbows and other complicated shapes. 

Calculations often determine the success or failure of any bending tooling, which needs to be done before the tooling is set. Some of these calculations decide things like the ideal bend radius and others whether or not your specific equipment can even complete the bend. 

Moreover, the material you are using must not be bent cold in the bending tooling process. Cold bend dies only work for materials like iron and aluminum. If your material exceeds a hardness of 101 BHN, it cannot be produced with a cold die on a press brake. The more complex your material is, the more likely you will need an induction heater to heat the bar to make a bend. 

Perishable and Non-Perishable Components Of Bending Tooling sets 

Tube bending components consist of both perishable and non-perishable components. Perishable components will eventually have to replace, and non-perishable components are those you won’t have to replace. 

The two big pieces of perishable tooling are the wipers and the mandrel (Shank, body, nose, and ball mandrels all included). The non-perishable components include: 

Bend Dies 

It is a quick, cheap and easy way to produce extreme bends in thin-walled, low conductivity metals. From the reverse side of the bend die, a blank is pushed through a groove. And then the metal’s composition is rolled into a thin sheet over the die surface and compressed. The blank is then made through the die with enough pressure to bend it and finally falls off upon reaching the exit hole of the die. 

Clamp Dies 

It is one of the most common hydraulic tools. There are various types and sizes of clamp dies available. 

In CNC machines it is the common tool. A clamp die can create pressure and hold stationary any part that goes through the machine when machining it. 

Ratcheting dies, snap-action dies, and clamping dies are synonyms of clamp die. The clamp die is essential in your bending tool kit, no matter what name it goes by. A clamp die can clamp together two die flanges to accommodate various sheet metal thicknesses without you having to resize the dies for each new material thickness. 

Pressure Dies 

We use pressure dies in high volume, tight tolerances, or highly high output production applications. Only High-pressure machines can create these dies. They only work if they are at the correct pressure level. Otherwise, they could cause damage to the products. 

There are many pressure dies in bending tooling, each designed for a particular application or material type. Pressure dies are usually the last step in this process after a forming operation. And finally it imparts the final bend profile on the formed metal blank or part. 

Wiper Die 

Wiper dies are bending die inserts and mainly use for bending and forming operations. These dies most commonly used in standard shapes and sizes, and made from high-quality tool steel. While their usage can vary within the industry, their function is consistent — to remove the smaller amount of material found on the top side of a sheet. Because wiper dies to remove only the excess sheeting that presents an issue during bending, they act as a sacrificial die and will wear out quickly. 

Mandrels 

The mandrels in bending tooling allow a continuous bend of the pipe or tube to any desired radius. A hydraulic system operates it. In this process, you put a stack of mandrels inside the machine. Mandrel rotation arrangement work with the stack of mandrels according to the diameter and length of the products. 

Mandrel Bending Tooling

Final Note 

This is certainly not a comprehensive guide to bending tooling, but it should help you determine if it’s the right option for your business. And as mentioned above, there are many more considerations than what we discussed here. Whether you end up opting for these tools or going with a different approach, keep in mind that the best decision is often the one that suits your specific business needs and budget. 

Delahenty Machinery 

At Delahenty Machinery, we make the highest quality bending tooling. Our bending tooling creates a better product faster, lowering your manufacturing costs without sacrificing quality. We’ve made it easy to find what you’re looking for with a simple call or click with a wide range of products and an exclusive package design philosophy. Contact us for more details.