Thread: Built a brake tubing straightener

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I'm waiting on some rubber seal samples to be delivered from Steele Rubber, so I figured I would work on a little side project. A few months ago I saw a tubing straightener online and thought it would be a handy tool to have. I also found a couple of videos that talked about straighteners that folks had built.

One of the tools in the video used pocket door rollers. I picked up some from Home Depot (might have been Lowes, it's been awhile) the next time I was there.

This type of straightener has been in use for a long time on just about any kind of machine that has to straighten coiled wire or tubing. Mine is made from some 1 1/2" x 3/4" aluminum bar and a couple of 1/2" shoulder bolts that I had left over from some other project. It only took a few hours to make and it's amazing how well it works.

If you decide to make something similar, try to drill the roller holes exactly in a line. Otherwise it won't work as well as it should. Also, sort the rollers out according to size. The pocket door rollers aren't made to very high precision. Mine were close, but a couple were a few thousandths larger than the others. If I put them on the ends of the tool, I wound up with a slight curve in the tubing. Make sure the end rollers are close to the same size.





As you can see, it's a pretty simple setup.

Here are a few before and after test pieces.









In the past, I've always used shorter straight sections of tubing from the parts store and spliced them together. Now I can buy cheaper roll tubing and do continuous long runs.

".......In the past, I've always used shorter straight sections of tubing from the parts store and spliced them together. Now I can buy cheaper roll tubing and do continuous long runs. ......"

Me to. That is great and something I'll probably be building in the next couple of weeks.



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Mike, I used the aluminum just because I had it and the mill made working with it simple. You could use a couple pieces of angle iron just as well.

I recommend having a way to adjust the spacing for tubing size. I used shim stock between the 2 sections to get the tension right. It needs to be snug on the tubing to work. Also, I can throw a 1/16" shim between the sections and use the same tool for 1/4" tubing.

My rollers were 1 1/4" OD and I spaced them 2 9/16" center to center in each row.

Thanks for the additional info Mike. The info on the shims is especially helpful.

Besides brake line I work a lot with 5/16 and 3/8 fuel line. I usually have a roll of both sitting on the shelf and getting that reasonably straight sucks. I'm thinking that I may make a second one with bigger rollers for that. It crossed my mind last night that a cheap source for those rollers might be the cheap pulleys like I used when I built the flagpole a couple years ago. The ones I'm thinking about usually have the roller held in with a pin and cotter key so their simple to get the roller out.

I'm also thinking about making the lower block longer or adding a short piece of angle iron so it can be clamped in a vice.

One more project to add to the list before I go in for hand surgery in Jan.....they tell me it will be about 3 months before I'll have much use of my hand.



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Nice job! Sure is cheaper then those 200 dollar straighteners isn't it?
I made mine out of some leftover project bits. It is a little more complex then yours. Kudos on keeping it simple!

I have used this on everything from 1/8th diameter wire to 5/8 soft copper tube.

Astro, that looks like a nice tool. Maybe one day I'll get around to making another with a wider range of size.

Because of work hardening issues with tubing------I buy stainless straight tubing in those sizes when I order the heavier wall 4130 and/or ss straight for exhaust stuff-as the number of feet of tubing goes up on an order the price comes down so I can often score hundreds of feet of ss for brake lines, fuel system,etc and even my 4130 at lower price than the 4130 alone------

And then of course I have to been it with a mandrel bending tool but that less stressful than rolling it, straighteneing it and then bending it again???????

Jerry, I can't argue with what works best for you, but I can say that I've seen several machines that manufacture items from small diameter wire or tubing that use straighteners that are made on the same principle as the one that I made.

I would say that it would depend a lot on the alloy of the material and it's propensity for work hardening. Now the 4130 you spoke of might not be a good use for a tool like this due to it's carbon content, but most material sold for use as brake lines is a lot more ductile than 4130.

For brake and fuel/coolant lines I use stainless----------buy long straight pieces when I buy the crmo4130 because pricing is effected by the number of feet you buy------Instead of 100 feet of 4130, add 100 feet of ss tube and prices drop to a higher footage amount-sometimes we can juggle amount of footage tp actually grant us a better price than what just the 4130 would cost----

Nice work on that straightener! I need to make one as well. I did find an old style brake line tubing straightener in my Dad's tool box the other day. It doesn't have rollers but it worked pretty nice.

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