Brake Flairing Guide
 

I found this while trying to learn how to do it, looks pretty good & easy following this, can anyone else comment or provide a link to a better guide?

http://www.stu-offroad.com/suspensio...etool/ft-1.htm

There are loads of videos on you tube that's how I learned to do it.

Its worth noteing that the three types of material used in brake lines all behave differently when forming flares. With steel, copper or the kunifer type pipe its best to have a play with a random piece of pipe and form both types of end and see how the turn out. On our machine when we use copper we have to have a couple of mm of extra pipe out of the end of the machine to form the ends properly.

bob

Good to know thanks guys, I'm gonna have a practice on a few bits once my brake kit from saturn shows up. Any other tips will be appreciated :)

usefull info BUT be sure that your Flaring Tool is not crap. The one in the video is a 'good one'
Cheap ass ones are typically off centre and will ruin your flares and attempts at flares. NOT the place to economise.

sealey do a cheap one that works fine for me on softer pipes like copper
can be used to do the ends of your fuel pipe too.

top tip is to make sure the end is square and the amount of pipe your flairing is right:D

On the subject of brake pipe tools, every now and then decent gear pops up on fleabay. I got a rothenberger pipe bender for £25 http://www.rothenberger-tool-uk-sale...ges/R24112.jpg Makes a really neat job of bends in small diameter pipes and can be used in position as you go. Never knew I needed it till I owned it for a few years and now dont know what i would do without it.

Also picked up one of these for about £50 http://www.aircraftspruce.co/catalog...parkerbead.jpg , same thing again has proved bloody handy .

Bob

I echo previous comments, a decent flaring tool will pay dividends. I borrowed one once and did a great job.

I then tried another job with a shoddy tool and was a nightmare!My solution was the garage down the road flared the ends for me. Turned out it wasnt worth the effort for what they charged, even with a good tool that would cost £100plus the time it would have took me was not worth the £15 they charged me!

In my experience, if this is the only brake pipes you will do, then get the local garage to flare them! Just cut them to length and slip the unions on first.

i worked in a garages and have used posh swage/flairing tools and i also have a cheap £15 tool from sealy for home use both work if you know what your doing
cheap one takes more time thats all
pure copper pipe is a dream to work with as its soft and froms nicely
i have even tried to work galv steel brake pipe thats not nice :mad:

That Inside flaring tool is Marvelous. Admittedly a limited use item But it's certainly tempting. Apparently I've never looked deeply enough at Aircraft Spruce although I've bought from there in the past.
I discovered Cheap flaring tools made a complete mess of double flares in steel lines. Erm Would one use any thing other than steel for a brake line?

Paying a shop for their time and skills is often the cleanest solution.

steel brake pipe is only std fitment to prouduction cars realy as cheap hard and rusts. almost all is copper or cupro nickel as it can be formed into bends lasts longer and swaged easly.
i dont know if you can get replacment steel pipe anymore?

Think I'm gone mock mine up in the plastic coated stiff wire you get from garden centres then take my fittings and pipe down the local garage where I get all the cars MOT'd and ask them if they can do it.... think it will be cheaper than buy expensive kit and they are less likely to balls it up than me :D

as long as you get the length and ends right you need made in copper then you can bend your pipe easly by hand around a bolt or can to get the radius you need :)

flaring tool
 

has anyone ever used one of these and are they any good??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=p5197.c0.m619

i have a snap-on one that must be nearly as old as me, used to be my dad's, and after using it last night i can confirm it still works as good as it did when he had it....

half the battle with these tools, is cutting the pipe square, and deburring it the same every time
that and propper placement of the pipe before you start winding

the other half is remembering to put the nut on first!

[quote=baz-r;68778]as long as you get the length and ends right you need made in copper then you can bend your pipe easly by hand around a bolt or can to get the radius you need :)


Dont forget if you get them made up to remember which end is convex and which is concave.

Bob

iirc all sierra stuff is convex for male, concave for female (m10x1.0)

Sorry to dig this thread up... Finally getting round to trying to learn to flare. Am I right in thinking that for the convex for male ends (single flair) I just use the tool with the dye in to make the 1st flair? And then to make it a concave (double flair) for female ends I just remove the dye and do it again?

datz da one:)

Bob

yep the second flair is the cone shape bit on your tool and folds the front half of your first flair back to make it like a funnel.

i find the best thing to do is cut the end off all your metal pipes leaving the end with its nut etc. in the parts you take off your doner then you know the tread,length and type of swage you need when you make all your pipes up.

Cool thanks for the confirmation guys. Couple of other questions:

To gauge how much pipe to have sticking out of the clamp with the wing nuts, is using the step on the dye about right? On my tool there doesn't seem to be much difference between the size of the dyes on the step... If that's not a good idea, can anyone say how much I should have sticking out for a 3/16 pipe?

I found cutting the pipe with a pipe cutter quite hard, infact the pipe cutter broke on the 1st attempt and basically squashed the pipe. I'm thinking using a dremel to cut it is a better way to go then try to file it down as flat as possible?

The amount of pipe to leave proud of the dies varies from tool to tool so just have a play. As for cutting use the roller cutters as that leaves it ready to swage without the need to chamfer the pipe. Dont forget to debur the inside of the pipe.

Bob