How to flare a steel brake pipe with your own hands?

Flaring brake pipes is a process that may be needed at any time by someone who has a personal car. Of course, the implementation of this and any other procedure associated with technological service and vehicle repair can always be entrusted to competent service station professionals, however, many drivers take a different path and strive to do everything with their own hands. Any owner has the right to decide who to trust with the maintenance of their vehicle, and many of the problems can be completely resolved on their own.

Non-ferrous metal tubes in vehicle systems

We won’t touch the radiators for now, this is a separate topic. Let's take an interest in the pipes that are responsible for the operation of the car's brake and fuel systems. Rotten brake pipes are a problem not only of old Soviet cars, but also of newer foreign cars that have been driving on roads generously sprinkled with salt and all sorts of chemicals for several years. Tubes become unusable primarily due to the fact that they are affected by an aggressive chemical environment. In winter, we have plenty of this environment under our wheels. With human-made road surfaces, the salt comes off the roads along with the snow, but with our roads, it can remain there until next winter.

Features of the technology

In the modern automotive industry, there are eight types of flaring of copper, brass, aluminum and steel tubes. They are used to create detachable connections for various hydraulic and fuel systems in modern cars. Most types of these flaring are produced industrially on special machines in the factory.

But the main three types of flaring are the most common and are used both in the automotive industry and in the installation of various power equipment. These include:

simple single flaring to a “D” cone, made at an angle of 45 degrees in the form of a single funnel, most hand-held tube flaring tools are suitable for its manufacture;
double flaring of tubes to an “E” type cone is also performed at an angle of 45 degrees in the form of a single funnel with a double reinforced edge of the tube; a more specialized flaring tool with special nozzles is suitable for this;
one-time flaring of steel pipes for type “F” fungus is performed with a special eccentric flaring.

Causes of brake pipe failures

But this is not the only reason for the wear of sealed tubes. From salt they only rot, and from constant strong constrictions of fittings, improper fixation, breaks and bends, they receive severe mechanical damage that is incompatible with life. This is not the fault of the pipes, but of unfortunate craftsmen who do not know how to properly handle soft or brittle metal. One way or another, the time comes to replace the tubes, and if the required configuration is not found, which is almost impossible, then you have to make the tube yourself. Cut off the required piece, put on fittings and flare. And you need to be able to do this. Flaring brake pipes with your own hands is not a difficult task, quick, and inexpensive.

The use of tubes in the design of vehicles

Modern machines use several hydraulic systems with different main lines. One of them is the braking system. The working fluid moving through it must be isolated from the external environment due to tightness.

You need to know that thanks to good connections at the joints of the pipes, it is possible to achieve a high degree of tightness for the vehicle’s vehicle.

The success of reliable connections depends on the quality of the flaring. This operation uniformly increases the diameter of one tube tip. At the counter tube, the diameter of the tip is reduced to ensure rolling (entering a small diameter into a larger one and holding the pair in this position for a long time).

If the tubes in any of the sections receive mechanical damage, then due to depressurization of the system, part of the main wiring must be replaced. At a car factory, flaring is done using special equipment that contains hydraulic, electrical and mechanical drives. In garage conditions, a device for flaring brake pipes is most often mechanically driven by the muscular strength of the performer.

Brake pipe flaring kit

You cannot prepare copper tubing for use with your bare hands. To do this you need to have at least minimal equipment. Although the metal is soft, the end of the tube must exactly correspond to the landing cone, otherwise we will not achieve a sealed system. Ideally, for flaring tubes, they use a machine that needs to be purchased, but if we have the opportunity, we can use a homemade kit, which, once done, we will use for many years. And it will come in handy more than once, believe me. Here is his drawing.

It is not anything complicated. This is a frame made of two corners 5mm thick and a shelf 32mm. The length of each corner is 100 mm. The drawing shows that the set is suitable for tubes with a diameter of 9 and 12 mm. The bed itself is completed in ten minutes with a sharpening machine, drilling machine and grinder. Both corners are fastened with two M8 bolts; holes and chamfers are drilled in them when assembled. You will either have to order the mandrels from a turner, which is not at all problematic, or grind them yourself. But with the help of such a kit, any tube turns into a perfectly prepared part. The flaring process occurs in exactly the same way as using a machine, which we will discuss later.

Performing work on a homemade machine

A self-made machine can be used for a long time in the future. It will be useful for car owners whose cars have high mileage.

The tools you will need are a sharpening machine, a grinder and a drill. The materials will be custom-made mandrels, angles (100x32x5 mm, 2 pcs.) and a pair of M8 bolts. The corners are bolted to each other, and holes are drilled in the base of the frame. Don't forget about the chamfer for the edges of the holes.

The process of working on a homemade machine will be similar to working on factory equipment. The algorithm consists of the following points:

We fix the workpiece so that the outer edge protrudes 5–6 mm beyond the jaws of the vice;
select a cone of the required diameter;
the fittings must be multi-directional;
slowly screw in the cone, flaring the edges of the tube until it fits in to the extreme mark;
lift the cone and remove the formed burrs.

Brake Tube Flaring Machine

the simplest tube flaring machine will cost you 600-700 rubles. But this will not be the highest quality product. We would recommend not going below 1800, otherwise there is a chance of wasting your money. We showed several sets and machines in the photo. One of them is more expensive, the second is cheaper, but they have the same essence.

The machine consists of a bar that holds the cutting. Actually, our homemade set also has the same structure, only the branded sets are required to include:

the bar itself for fixing the tubes;
machine with a flaring angle of 45 degrees;
a set of replaceable dies made of durable hardened steel;
tube cutter.

More expensive models have even more equipment, but we will consider only the most minimal configurations.

Flaring can be of three types, but the first two are of little interest to us, because they are used mainly in refrigerators and air conditioners. Flaring occurs as follows:

We clamp the tube in the holder so that it protrudes beyond its edge by 5-6 mm.
Instead of a cone, we install a stamp that matches the diameter of the tube.
We screw in the stamp and flatten the very end of the copper tube.
Do not forget to put on the fittings, and the threads should be directed away from each other towards the ends of the tube.
Remove the stamp and change it to a cone.
Screw in the cone carefully and gradually.
We take out the tube, carry out a careful inspection, and clean it if necessary.

Thus, we get a neat flared brake pipe, which can be used to safely replace the old one that has failed. We can't say that every garage should have a tube flaring machine, but as a rule, the most valuable items are those that are not always at hand. Monitor the condition of the brake system, and good luck on the roads!

FakeHeader

Comments 55

Thank you very much for the post!

Is it permissible to do barrel rolling for GAZ and AZLK parts?

Beautiful photos! Just a sight for sore eyes! Rolling, as on the leftmost tube, is used in aviation.

Maybe I'm asking a stupid question, but were copper brake pipes used on the Volgas? The foreign analogues of those years seemed to have ordinary metal tubes... Or was this all part of a “factory improvement”? Just wondering.

Copper ones lasted until the mid-90s for sure, then I don’t know, even on the UAZ of 97th century there were copper ones. Then the supplies ran out and they switched to metal ones)))

And I filled large diameter tubes (12.16) with sand and bent them with a pipe bender. And small diameter tubes (6,8,10) using a manual pipe bender.

Did you get the fittings from a regular spare parts store? And where are the tubes themselves?

I had fittings, but they are sold in the same place as the tubes (I bought them at the car market)

what kind of roller do you use?

Tool – Jonnesway AN040043

You can't get these everywhere

There is also this device for pipes. I think you will like it

Everything is just great! I didn’t quite understand something about the spring pipe bender? You put the spring on the tube and use your hands, a hammer... to bend it?

What kind of hammer?) They bend easily by hand) The spring is needed so that the radius is even and the tube does not flatten.

Everything is just great! I didn’t quite understand something about the spring pipe bender? You put the spring on the tube and use your hands, a hammer... to bend it?

Copper and aluminum tubes are easy to bend by hand. A spring mandrel is used to create small radius bends. If you try to bend the tube 90 degrees, without a pipe bender it will simply break somewhere in the center.

The leftmost tube, such a cone was observed on GAZ and ZIL in the pumping system, as well as in the fuel line. I repaired it on my own equipment, a similar set.

This is what I use. I don’t know if it’s suitable for restoration, but for repairing regular cars, I heat-shrink the tubes with glue so that the tube doesn’t turn green.

What kind of heat shrink on glue?

electroplast.by/termousad…icientom-usadki-31-ttk-31 is not an advertisement, but of this kind, the glue also additionally seals.

What kind of heat shrink on glue?

The effect is like coloring.

This is what I use. I don’t know if it’s suitable for restoration, but for repairing regular cars, I heat-shrink the tubes with glue so that the tube doesn’t turn green.

Is there a pipe bender in the photo?

Yes, very simple and cheap)))

As I understand it, for one, some specific diameter?

I think up to 8mm (or up to 6mm) I don’t remember now, because... I bend it only 4.2mm

I have never seen a better car restoration! Good luck to you!

I always forget about the second fitting)))

Great, I have a similar thing, recently I broke a pipe near the main one, so I had to pull a new one through the whole car, and remove the fender liners and extensions...

Familiar... (((((Once I completely bent the line, all that was left was to flare the tip of the tube. I removed the rolling and saw that the cone had a crack. I had to order the tube again and bend it, like a damaged tube.

Yes, I also felt offended when I had already changed it and it turned out that it was possible to roll it in our city.

Yes there are companies. But when I went to see them, it turned out their pipe bender was broken and they were rolling it with hammers. That's why I bought myself a set.

Well written, and the photos are absolutely super duper! It is obvious that with love...

Flaring machine

Of course, if the pipes are faulty, you can take the car to a service station and entrust the repair to specialists. But why spend money on something you can do yourself? To do this, you need to purchase a flaring tool in specialized stores or order it online. It is available for inch or metric threads. The set includes a pipe cutter, a device, pliers, a clamp, and dies for different diameters of tubes for flaring with a fungus.

Recommendations for flaring

Independent beading of copper tubes is an easy task only if you have practical experience. At the same time, the tightness and reliability of the connections made depend on the quality of flaring.

Therefore, before installing a copper pipeline, installing or repairing heat-generating devices, it is better to practice on pipes of different diameters.

A specialist professionally involved in the repair of pipelines or equipment will need a set of professional tools, which, in addition to a flaring tool, includes a pipe edger, a pipe bender and a pipe cutter. For rare repair work, an inexpensive flaring tool with a minimum set of attachments will suffice.

Recommendations to help you perform flaring correctly:

Before starting work, carefully check the pipe: there should be no burrs or debris on it, the edge and walls should be smooth and free of bends, only pipes with a round cross-section are allowed for flaring. During flaring, it is important to ensure that the expanding tip does not skew relative to the pipe. Otherwise, the socket will be asymmetrical and will not be able to provide a reliable connection. When expanding a pipe manually, the taper blank should be screwed in rather than pressed into the hole

This will help distribute the force and avoid damaging the pipe. It is better to carry out beading of a pipe with an expander in two or three stages. First, widen the edge a little, and then turn the expander and stretch the pipe to the desired diameter. When installing a pipe into the die of a rolling machine, you should select the hole that exactly matches the diameter of the pipe. Before flaring, the outer surface of the tube is treated with an abrasive sponge to remove dust and debris and ensure reliable fixation in the holder. If this is not done, the tube will slip in the die, interfering with the flaring process.

Homemade device for repairing brake pipes

An even cheaper method is to make a homemade device. If you have the desire and minimal skills to work with your hands, there is nothing difficult about it. First you need to make a base (frame) for attaching the tubes. You can assemble it from two steel corners. Cut the corners to the required length with a grinding machine, drill two holes in them for fastening with bolts. This is done in 15 minutes.

Having assembled the frame, you need to make holes for the tube and chamfer it using a drill press or drill. The most difficult thing is the production of punches (mandrels). You can order them from a familiar turner.

The process of flaring brake pipes with your own hands

First you need to determine the extent of the tube failure and the possibility of repair. To do this, unscrew it from the caliper or brake cylinder. If it is possible to remove the damaged area while maintaining the desired length, cut this piece with a pipe cutter. After this, we treat the remaining part with gasoline, clamp it with pliers and remove the internal chamfer with a drill. If it is impossible to carry out repairs, we buy the handset in the store.

DIY tube repair instructions:

We install the tube in the device (base). It is necessary that the end protrudes 5 mm beyond the edge;
We change the cone with a stamp required for the diameter of the tube;
Screw the stamp;
Screw in the stamp and slightly flatten the end of the copper tube;
We put on the fittings. Be sure not to forget, otherwise you will have to redo everything;
Remove the stamp and replace it with a cone-shaped tool;
Carefully, slowly, twist;
We take out the tube and clean it if necessary.

At the exit we have a new brake pipe under the cone. You can also flare the tube in another way, called a “fungus”. Typically, European-made cars use “fungus” flaring, while Japanese and other Asian models use “cone” flaring. To flare it under the “fungus” you just need not remove the required stamp.

Tools used

Before flaring a brake pipe at home, some craftsmen order special kits for this operation from online stores. The kit contains the following tools:

universal pipe cutter;
grip or clamp;
dies designed for different pipe diameters.

The flaring dies have markings indicating the type of pipe. They can be metric or inch. The process uses a conical screw.

More experienced craftsmen can save on purchasing a kit by making the necessary tools themselves. To do this, you will need a conical blank, on which there is a cone with the required angle.

Copper tubes easily yield to the pressure of the steel tool used. However, in addition to great effort, a certain precision is required, because distortion during impact can lead to tears in the edge of the workpiece, and this means defects and loss of tightness. You can resort to such methods only in extreme cases.

It is more appropriate to take a special expander, which simplifies the work through the use of a rotating handle. The operation does not last long and is performed in one pass, but, unfortunately, 100% results are not achieved in every case. Much depends on the immediate condition of the tube. Thin worked out walls will give an imperfect result and can lead to jamming of the workpiece.

A classic brake pipe flaring kit should include a set of rollers with carbide surfaces. Due to the cylindrical shape of the tool, rolling along the surface of the tube occurs with increasing force. The operation goes smoothly and troubles are practically excluded.

Rollers are able to cope even with imperfect workpieces . The result is a smooth and even surface, free of any roughness or defects.

Also, a solid cone is an effective tool for flaring brake pipes. It has to be pressed into the free part of the pipe. In this case, the tube is secured in a stationary yew. The result is at a high level, comparable to the work of rollers, but you need to stop in a timely manner so as not to damage the workpiece.

Pros and cons of do-it-yourself flaring

Of the minuses, it is worth noting that brake pipes do not fail very often and your tool may only be needed once. An exception is if you buy used cars with high mileage that have been kept in poor, unfavorable conditions or have been in accidents and replace them quite often.

Whether to do the repairs yourself according to the instructions or entrust them to specialists is up to each person to decide individually, but it is always necessary to monitor the condition of the brake system and pipes, among other things! » alt=»»>

Let's jam and relax

The idea had been in my head for a long time, but I didn’t want to buy a standard jig for remaking (it sells for about 300 rubles, but it only rolls into a cone, not a barrel) without clear confidence in success.
So what happened (I sculpted from what came to hand).

This is a general view; the device was clamped in a vice during flaring.

The result of compression and the most important working body

Working body diagram

For the pin I used a 2.5mm drill shank and soldered it into a blind hole.... The chamfers on the corners and the working element were removed with a 7.5mm drill. When I drilled a hole for the tube in the corners, I pressed a piece of cardboard between them (folder “case”) so that the tube would then be squeezed tightly and would not slip.

The angle at the apex is about 100 degrees, but this is not critical - the copper will be crimped. I drilled a hole in the conductor with a drill equal to the diameter of the tube, the fact is that there are 5 mm and 4.8 (the inch size is about that), due to the folder being removed after drilling, the tube is clamped, if you drill 5 mm, you won’t clamp 4.8... so first the tube... It seems like the original is 4.8... but I can’t say for sure, tomorrow I’ll measure the fitting, it seems like 5 mm fits into it very tightly, but it should turn freely.

Now you can buy a device (it’s just more convenient to disassemble and assemble) and make another punch there. As soon as I catch my eye, I’ll buy it, remake it and post it...

As promised, such a miracle was purchased

A new working element was manufactured

The difference from the first sample is that in the new version it does not rotate relative to the tube.....

The brake system on a friend’s Gazelle was completely redone, not a single leak! Well, little by little, about a dozen rolling pins, everything works without problems...

Do-it-yourself flaring of brake pipes, pros and cons

Purpose of brake pipes

brake pipes are needed for and what function they perform , you do not need to regard them as an independent component, you should get acquainted with the entire system of the car. The car braking system functions in this way: if it is necessary to reduce speed or during sudden braking, the driver unscrews the corresponding lever, and the piston, which is in the main cylinder under great pressure, begins to drive away the liquid along special paths.

Braking itself or the absolute stop of the car occurs at the moment of restructuring the fluid pressure forces on the wheel cylinders in opposition to the brake pads. So, the paths along which the piston drives fluid to the wheels consist of tubes and hoses. Taking a part out of operation results in a malfunction of the entire braking system, and your car becomes unusable for use.

Tube faults

If there is poor transmission of fluid through the pipes, the car brakes with delay, and the braking distance almost doubles. In addition, during the operation of the system, most often when the brake pedal is pressed, extraneous sounds and some impulse movements occur.

The cause of pipe damage is loss of fluid in the brake system. This loss will cause the brake drums to overheat and cause uneven pad wear. Another indicator may be the unusual behavior of the car when the lever is pressed, namely: the car moves a little to the side. Of course, this is not a direct cause, however, as professionals say, it may indicate a broken tube.

Each motorist should be a little familiar with the design of his own car in order to be able to repair the breakdown with his own hands in the event of repair work, if possible. This especially applies to the autobraking system. Often, when it malfunctions, it is necessary to flare the pipes through which the liquid passes, when the lever is pressed, from the cylinder to the pads.

Pipe flaring kit

The choice of tools for making more copper products is very wide. It may include the following combinations: • Mechanical flaring machine.

copper tube flarer

• Electric flaring machine.

copper tube flaring tool

• Set for rolling copper tubes, which also has expanders, pipe cutters and wrenches for work.

Copper tube rolling kit

It is better to buy such a set when you are going to constantly perform such installation work, for example, for your own income. And if you only need to perform expansion once, then the simplest set for universal work, which contains a regular flaring machine, is also suitable.

Flaring stages

To obtain a reliable connection for a pipeline made of copper pipes, it is necessary to correctly perform the work of flaring the structure. And if you decide to flare the pipes yourself, then you need to follow these steps to do everything correctly: 1. First, you need to clean the end of the pipe. 2. Then you put a specially selected coupling on the stripped part. 3. The pipe must be inserted into the flaring machine, then rotate it until a small edge of forty-five degrees is obtained. 4

Then carefully remove the completed product. 5

And use a coupling to secure two sections of the ends of the pipe. Of course, not only such fittings can be connecting parts. With the help of a professional flaring machine, you can prepare pipes for soldering fastening. The methods are basically similar. They involve deliberate deformation of the pipe to a certain size.

Example of flaring copper pipes

If you are going to install an air conditioner, then in this case the most important task will be the rolling of copper tubes. Because the tightness of the freon circuit will largely depend on the work performed

Since there shouldn't be any leakage. Otherwise, there is no point in operating the air conditioner. Therefore, there should be no doubts.

Let us examine in more detail all the important points of this work. For example, you need to flare a pipe that has a diameter of 3/8 inch. First select the necessary tools for the job:

pipe cutter

pipe cutter for copper pipes

rimmer.

copper pipe rimmer

definitely a flarer.

copper pipe flaring machine

Then take the pipe and cut it to the required size using a pipe cutter.

cut with a pipe cutter

If you look, after cutting you will see how the cross-section has changed under the influence of the pipe cutter. It became smaller by about 0.56 cm.

DIY pipe rolling

If you immediately flare without preparation, you will end up with a side, but it is not needed. This means that after trimming it is necessary to carry out processing: the chamfer is cut using a rimmer. After this action, flare the part again. The edge will disappear and the surface should become smooth.

remove the resulting side

The resulting skirt should become wider, but so that you can put on a ¼ nut. After these actions, it becomes clear that the pipe must be removed from the flaring machine with the edge that was processed.

treatment

And the last stage of work will be joining the received parts. The copper tube, which has been flared, must be attached to the fitting and the nut must be tightened. But everything must be determined in such a way that you can tighten the nut ninety percent by hand, and the remaining ten using a special wrench.

pipe flaring after trimming

The photo shows an example of how it can turn out and how it should be

Flaring machine

When purchasing a flaring device, you need to focus on the manufacturer and cost. It is better not to purchase the cheapest kits, since their quality is not conducive to long-term use. This method of repair work will cost less than in a car repair shop.

Utility services are considered to be the culprit for unscheduled wear of pipes. Various chemical reagents and salts, generously scattered to combat, for example, ice, stimulate the rusting of the alloy several times and reduce the operating time of numerous elements allowed by the manufacturer. And another factor that forces us to often work on the braking system is the notorious domestic roads. When loaded, the tubes become deformed and burst. All together leads to the fact that the components quickly fail.

Self-flaring

A cheaper way is to make a homemade machine rather than purchase a brake pipe flaring kit. With the desire and minimal ability to work with your hands, there is nothing difficult about this. First you need to make a base (frame) for attaching the parts. You can make it up from two metal corners. Cut the corners to the required length with a grinding machine, drill 2 holes in them for fastening with bolts. This is completed in 15 minutes.

Having assembled the frame, you need to make holes for the tube and remove the chamfers on a drill press or drill. The most difficult is the production of punches (mandrels). You can order them to a turner.

If you decide to purchase a pipe flaring kit, don't go with the cheapest alternatives on the market. Yes, you can buy devices for 800 rubles, but they will probably be disposable parts. It has been determined that a more or less high-quality tube flaring kit cannot cost less than 2,000 rubles, or even more.

Often the body of the tube remains intact, but the structure of its head is destroyed. There may be other types of breakdowns:

coking of the thread as a result of liquid entering it;
contamination of connections, etc.

In such situations, if the length allows, you can simply cut off the defective part with a special tool. You can replace the entire tube if you carry out the following repairs.

Work order

The required piece of tube is cut with a pipe cutter.
It is pressed with a holder so that the edge protrudes beyond it by 5-6 mm.
Instead of the cone, a stamp corresponding to the cross-section of the tube is installed.
The inner edge of the pipe is cleaned with something sharp; an ordinary knife will do just fine.
The end is slightly filed with a file.
The fitting is put on. The threads of the nut should be oriented toward the end of the tube, not toward the body.
The seal is screwed in with the end of the tube flattened. The main thing here is not to overdo it and not to flatten too deeply.
The stamp is knocked down and a cone is installed in its place. It must be screwed in carefully and without distortion.
The result should be a tube ringed with a nut with a holder at the end.
The finished tube is installed in place of the broken part, brake fluid is poured into the system, and then passed through it.
The vehicle and system are tested for problems.

Having figured out how to flare the pipes yourself, provide yourself with a minimum amount of similar work in the future. To do this, install a copper tube in a special place. We assure you that you will need to remember about flaring much less often. Even with very active use of the machine, you will not need it in less than 3 years.

Pros and cons of do-it-yourself flaring

One of the advantages of do-it-yourself flaring is that you don’t need to pay someone for the work.

The downside is that your mechanism may only be needed once. An exception is if you purchase used cars with high mileage, which were in bad, negative circumstances or were in accidents, and change them quite often.

Whether to carry out repairs according to the instructions yourself or to entrust them to professionals is a personal decision, but it is necessary to constantly monitor the condition of the entire brake system and pipes.

So, to summarize, it can be noted that the work of flaring pipes is not very labor-intensive and complicated. You need to understand that most of the repair work on a steel friend can be easily done on your own. And this is very significant, because by fixing the problem yourself, you can not only save money, but also do the job better than any car mechanic. The main thing is to follow the instructions.

Tools and accessories

In order to flare tubes made of copper with your own hands, use special devices. Such devices can be either manual or electric driven. They are used for installation of air conditioning, water supply and heating systems. Tools equipped with an electric drive often combine several functions: with their help, you can not only flare a copper tube, but also bend it at the required angle.

Any device used to flare tubes made of copper operates on the principle of plastic deformation, so it is very important that it handles this process as carefully as possible, without disturbing the homogeneity of the structure of the material, maintaining the uniform thickness of the walls of the products, as well as the smoothness of their internal surfaces

Scheme of correct flaring and examples of an incorrectly performed operation

Sample

This is a cone-shaped blank made of a harder metal alloy than copper. The advantages of such a device are low price and ease of use. Meanwhile, its use may be accompanied by ruptures in the walls of the copper product, which results in low quality flaring.

With this simple device you can flare one tube, but you can’t talk about any quality of work

Mechanical flaring machine

The main working element of this device is a hard alloy roller, which, rolling along the edge of the copper tube, gives the latter the required configuration. The use of a mechanical flaring machine makes it possible to uniformly deform the treated section of the tube and form walls of the same thickness at its end with a high quality of their inner surface.

Hand tools are capable of providing high quality flaring and good work speed

Electric flaring machine

Such a device with a whole set of replaceable attachments, having all the advantages of a mechanical tool, allows you to flare copper tubes with higher productivity and less labor costs. Perhaps the only drawback of an electric flaring machine is its fairly high price.

The battery of this flaring machine lasts for approximately 100 operations.

Expander

This manual device, operating on the principle of a lever mechanism, allows you to flare the end of the tube in one movement. Despite its simplicity of design, such a device also has a number of significant disadvantages, the most significant of which is the inability to control the wall thickness of the workpiece. Thus, the use of an expander, which is most often chosen by those who do flaring with their own hands, does not guarantee a high-quality result.

How to flare brake pipes yourself

The main condition for successful pipe end flaring has always been and will be the use of high-quality, or better yet professional, tools. For our cars, Europe-Asia, buy metric flaring kits. The Americans look more than decent, sparkling with chrome, but they can slip an inch system. The old Soviet standard for a copper brake pipe was 8 mm, more recent Soviet and Russian versions used 6 mm steel.

In terms of choice, the most affordable is the Force 656B, 906T2 brake pipe flaring kit; you can use the more elegant JonnesWay kits, or the common Biltema or Licota.

The flaring tool kit includes:

a screw rolling press and a clamp, which is used to tighten the vise bars and deform the metal of the brake tube;
two split clamp bars with six to seven holes with cones into which tubes for flaring are clamped;
cutting device that allows you to cut off the end in a strictly perpendicular direction;
a set of mandrels and cones of various diameters for the formation of fungi.

When choosing a flaring kit, pay attention to the following points. First, the screw pairs of the screw-nut of the press and the clamps should be matte black. This indicates heat treatment and hardening of the screw surface. A cheaper option uses chrome plating.

Secondly, the accuracy of the calibrated holes in the vise bars. Typically, the inner surface of the cones is coated with a protective phosphate-based oxide film. This coating facilitates the sliding of the deformed metal along the inner surface of the matrix.

Third, all calibrated holes have numerical markings of sizes, indicating units of measurement - millimeters or inches, punched by embossing to a depth of up to 0.1 mm, without additional chrome plating or painting. Alternatively, the entire structure can have an oxidized coating. Non-working parts can be painted with plain light paint.

Procedure for flaring brake pipes using a fungus with your own hands:

select from the set a device for precise perpendicular cutting of the end of the brake pipe, insert it into a hole of the appropriate diameter, tighten the screw and turn the cutter a couple of times until it stops;
there is also a sharp semicircular saw for removing internal chamfers and burrs;
after filing the end of the brake pipe with a file, place a fitting nut on the pipe and secure the end in a vice with a clamp, observing the amount of release of the end of the pipe above the plane of the vice;
add a couple of drops of brake fluid to the end of the tube, insert a mandrel of the appropriate size and press down on the edges of the tube, obtaining a fungus.

If, according to the flaring conditions, it is necessary to obtain the American version of the fitting, a cone is inserted into the clamp, and the edges of the upper part of the fungus are pressed under the cone of the matrix. Sometimes a ratchet is built into the design of the clamp, which allows you to limit the force applied to the surface of the fitting.

If flaring needs to be done quickly and at a large number of points, in the case of copper pipes, a simpler tool is used - pliers and a rotary roller.

The plasticity and pliability of copper does not require much effort to deform the metal, so it is faster and easier to flare the end with the force of your hand. Due to the compactness of the device, the pliers can be used for flaring brake pipes directly on the car, in conditions where it is difficult to carry out work with a standard set.

Tools

You can increase the diameter of a soft and elastic copper pipe manually by simply pulling it onto a conical blank of a suitable size.

However, it is very difficult to obtain a bell with the correct geometry using this artisanal method. The walls may have uneven thickness, causing thinner ones to stretch too much and thick ones not to stretch at all. The force applied by a person is also uneven, so it is possible that the pipe will bend during operation and the blank will be skewed, as a result of which the socket will turn out to be asymmetrical and skewed.

To make the beading carefully and form a socket of the desired shape from the edge of the pipe, which can subsequently ensure a reliable connection of structural elements, various tools are used.

Expander

This is a manual mechanism in which flaring is carried out simply by applying force, just like when using a conical blank. The expander consists of two handles and an expander - a sliding conical element that is inserted into the pipe. When the levers are acted upon, parts of the expander diverge in different directions, stretching the pipe.

The expander is inexpensive and allows you to get the job done quickly and without much labor. However, it is difficult to obtain high-quality results using this tool. The walls stretch unevenly, and thinner sections may rupture.

Cone flaring machine

This is a small set of two tools: a matrix and the flaring machine itself.

The matrix is a vice with several cylindrical holes, widened at the top to 45⁰. The hole sizes correspond to standard pipe diameters.

The flaring machine consists of:

housings with guides,
conical expander,
control mechanism,
power screw.

When the power screw that activates the control mechanism rotates, the expander is gradually screwed into the edge of the pipe, expanding it. The guides ensure that the relative position of the pipe and the expander remains constant, so that there are no distortions and a smooth and neat socket is obtained.

Mechanical flaring machine

This tool is similar to the previous one, but its working body is not a cone, but a set of rollers. The rollers do not stretch, but roll out the walls of the pipe, expanding it evenly and gradually, due to which the metal has the same thickness over the entire flared surface, and the socket is neat and symmetrical.

Electric flaring machine

Such a rolling apparatus, in addition to a mechanical flaring machine, has an electric drive, due to which pipe expansion work is completed faster and with less labor.

Features of flaring brake pipes

Steel brake pipes, unlike copper ones, have practically no reserve of ductility, so fungus and funnel can result in the formation of a large number of microcracks. In this sense, the rolled edge of the fungus remains less sensitive to the presence of microcracks, unless, of course, they are located only in the area of the hole. If cracks have formed on the periphery, in the widest part of the fitting, this option is definitely subject to rejection.

For American double funnels, it is often possible to use only copper brake pipe. In extreme cases, if there is an urgent need to flare a steel tube according to the American standard, the procedure is performed in two or three stages. At the first stage, after cutting and filing the end of the tube, it is flared to fit the fungus. Next, the resulting version is subjected to short-term annealing by heating with a burner, which makes it possible to relieve a significant part of the stress in the metal. The third stage will be flaring at an intermediate angle of 25-30°, instead of the required 45°, and repeated annealing. The last thing to do is final flaring to the desired funnel size.

If possible, before flaring the tube, it is worth practicing making a steel American funnel on an unnecessary piece of pipe made of a similar material.

The video shows the process of flaring brake pipes:

When is it used?

Flaring has found wide application in the modern world. This method of processing metal pipes is used in various cases.

Connecting air conditioner pipes requires the use of couplings. The use of this method is explained by the need to control working fluids and the unacceptability of welding. A similar situation is developing in the production of refrigeration units.
Soldering of copper blanks can be performed at a high level only if the surfaces of the pipes are in good contact. When processing workpieces with different diameters, there are no problems - they are simply inserted into each other and soldered together. For pipes with the same diameter, it is necessary to use flaring for the ends, thereby increasing the contact area. If it is not used, the connection will not be strong and will break due to working forces or vibration.
Creation of liners from stainless corrugated pipes.
When constructing pipelines or carrying out repair work in the process of creating various devices, the need arises for high-quality connection of copper tubes. Thanks to flaring, you can prepare holes for further connections.
Installation of pipelines made of metal-plastic, aluminum, steel and other materials, as well as eliminating leaks in existing structures.
A simplified process for connecting pipe ends may be required for decorative and other purposes. In this case, flaring allows you to fix the workpiece with its end facing the plane, for example.
The creation of complex structures, which, for example, involve the laying of electrical harnesses, requires ensuring passage through bends. To solve such problems, the entire structure is divided into several fragments, which are connected to each other by couplings.
In the automobile manufacturing industry, there is a need to create quick-release couplings to form hydraulic brake systems and components for clutch systems.
Preparation of pipes for hoses, production of rivets, bushings and other parts.

We have indicated the main points, so we can move forward in the process of studying the features of this method of processing pipes from different materials.