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Some projects such as making your own plumbing system, building stainless steel handlebars or creating decorative metal works of art for your home require, bending stainless steel pipes. There are several tools that allow you to do this. Purchase or rent tools from your local hardware or home improvement store. You can also take stainless steel pipe to some hardware stores and they will use an automatic machine to bend it. - Automatic benders are large machines that professionals use to bend large quantities of heavy-duty pipe. It is a convenient alternative to manual pipe bending, especially if you have a lot of pipe to bend. These machines are computer operated to achieve near perfect results. These machines will bend even the toughest stainless steel pipes and are useful if you want complex bends in your pipe.
- Radius levers are manual tools that allow you to bend stainless steel pipes. These tools are cheaper to rent or purchase than automatic benders, but they require manual pressure. They are convenient for do-it-yourself projects that don't require extensive pipe bending of high-grade, or hard stainless steel pipes. These tools have two handles on opposite sides of a circular center. To bend the pipe, you simply open the handles and lock the pipe along the circular center. Then, press the two handles together to bend the pipe. Some radius levers have springs that make the bending process better.
- Conduit benders have one handle. This necessitates clamping one end of the pipe on a worktable or putting the end of the floor and stepping on it for leverage. This method is simpler for some people to use because you are only pulling one handle in one direction rather than two handles together. To use it, lock one end of the pipe into the rounded edge, step on the other end of the pipe and pull the handle toward yourself.
