Acrylic tubing and tremors

Kushiro

New member
Hi guys,

I was just wondering whether or not anyone out there has tremors and has found a way to still get good bends without ruining the tubing. As my tremors recently got a lot worse and I am finding it rather hard to get the bends right now and sometimes I even manage to get it a bit wonky. Being nervous obviously didn't help, but...

Should I just stick with normal tubing?
 
It seems to me like even some of the 'pro' modders get wonky donkey bends fairly often, whether you have tremors or not it's undoubtedly not an easy process, much perseverance is required to get it right. As you get to know the material it gets better.

If it's something you want to do then i'm sure you'll find a way to get it done. Personally I would use mandrels secured onto your work space. Set the heatgun standing vertically and use both hands to heat the tube evenly. Put it down in the mandrel and hold the tubing against it, obviously don't squish the hot part. I'm presuming gripping something together will be less problematic.


There is nothing wrong with normal tubing, any style done well can look equally as good as the next and when rushed bent acrylic definitely doesn't look great. I know everyone's skill and dexterity varies but i'm sure you will get it right.

JR
 
I see, I've been working without mandrels as I was too lazy to source and use them. I may give it a go with a set secured to a bench or something.

The reason why I prefer acrylic tubing is because it looks much cleaner and I don't have to worry about the tubing.
 
I see, I've been working without mandrels as I was too lazy to source and use them. I may give it a go with a set secured to a bench or something.

The reason why I prefer acrylic tubing is because it looks much cleaner and I don't have to worry about the tubing.

Yeah if you want to get it right, you must use a mandrel of some sort. I even used a mini spray can fixed down with bluetack to bend my tubes. It worked well, but obviously limited me to what I could do. Some people make their own little jigs for bending and work fantastic.
 
I got the Monsoon kit for my project and I must say the mandrels do what they're supposed to do well. Only thing os that if you heat the tube a bit too much, it expands. This creates two little lines in the bend where the mandrel sides pushed in the tube, as it was no longer a 13mm od tube due to some expansion.

The measurement kit and such, don't get that. So difficult to work with. You're far better off with just the mandrels and the cutting kit.

I used 16 60cm tubes for my project so I had plenty of headroom for screwups. After a while I just started freebending most of my bends, as you get used to how much heat you need and how the acrylic behaves and such.

It's way more difficult than flex tubing, but imo the result & eyecandy reward are well worth it ^_^
 
Thanks for the links, I was actually looking at importing the kit a while back, however due to some issues going on with AU customs, I didn't bother. Now PCCG stock them here in AU so I may just grab one unless I decide to stick with normal tubing or put up with AIOs if I don't have time.
 
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