Tube Bending for Food and Beverage Processing
Sanitary stainless tube bent to a radius that drains, with no internal marks to harbour product.
What food processing work brings to a bending shop
Product transfer lines, clean-in-place piping, heat exchanger and pasteuriser tube, and the sanitary runs between tanks and fillers.
Sanitary work inverts the usual priorities. Pressure is low, sizes are modest, and the things that decide whether a part is acceptable are the internal surface and whether the line drains. A bend that is dimensionally perfect but carries mandrel witness marks on the inside can still be rejected, because anything that holds product holds bacteria.
Codes and standards: 3-A sanitary standards and customer specifications rather than a pressure code, with surface finish and drainability usually governing more tightly than pressure does. Send your project specification with the enquiry and we will confirm in writing what we certify against before anything is cut.
Say that the finish matters
Mandrel tooling touches the inside of the pipe, so there can be witness marks. Where the internal surface finish is part of the specification, that has to be in the enquiry so the tooling and lubrication are chosen for it rather than for speed.
Send the required finish, the slope the line has to hold for drainage, and the material grade. Stainless is on the list of materials the shop bends, and cold bending puts no heat into the part at all.
What to send with a food processing enquiry
Five numbers describe a bend: outside diameter, wall thickness, centerline radius, bend angle and the tangent length on each end. Add the material and the quantity and the job can be priced. A drawing, a sketch or a photograph of a marked-up print all work, and the quote form takes an attachment up to 25 MB.
For sanitary work, the internal surface finish requirement has to be in the enquiry, because it changes the tooling and the lubrication rather than being a finishing step. Send the required finish, the slope the line has to hold for drainage, and the material grade.
Put the documentation requirements in the enquiry rather than in a later email. Material test reports, non-destructive testing and heat treatment all cost money and time. Retrofitting a documentation package onto a bend that has already been made is slow, and sometimes it is impossible.
Materials we bend
If the grade you need is not listed, ask. This is what comes through most often, not a limit.
What we can bend for you
How we would make it
Wall thickness, radius, material and schedule decide the process. Send the drawing and we will tell you which one fits.
Heat Induction Bending
Cojafex induction bending up through 42″ O.D. and 4″ wall, in any radius, angle or plane.
Coiling
Helical, spiral wound and serpentine coils, cold, up through 10″ pipe.
Cold Bending
Rotary draw bending on fourteen machines, with mandrels and wiper shoes where the radius needs them.
Mandrel Bending
Ball mandrels and wiper shoes for tight radii and thin walls that would otherwise collapse.
Large Diameter Pipe Bending
The work most shops turn away: up to 42 inch outside diameter and 4 inch wall.
Stainless and Alloy Bending
Stainless, duplex, Hastelloy, titanium and nickel alloys, bent without wrecking the metallurgy.
Questions we get from food processing buyers
Can you bend sanitary stainless tube?
Yes. Stainless is one of the materials the shop bends and cold bending puts no heat into the part. Tell us the internal surface finish requirement with the enquiry, because it changes the tooling.
Will the mandrel mark the inside of the tube?
There is contact, so there can be witness marks. Where the internal finish is part of the specification, say so and the tooling and lubrication are chosen accordingly.
Can you hold a drainage slope through a bend?
Yes, but it has to be dimensioned. Send the slope the line must hold and the tangent lengths, and it is set up rather than assumed.
Have a drawing? Send it over.
Send a drawing or a sketch and our team will get back to you with a quote.