Decent Brake Pipe Flaring Tools?

[Alastairh 47]

Well it seems a regular thing im having to do brake pipes for friends/family and my own cars, so i think its about time i bought myself one.

 

Can anyone reccemend a decent tool for reasonable money and where from?

 

Alastair

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

I have seen decent tools in the Sealey catalogue but it wasn't cheap. Pretty sure it was in the current sale catalogue in the £75-100 range.

[jonah 1]

With a bit of care even the cheap ones will do the job. I've got el cheapo Machine Mart jobbie, cost about £15-20, and I've plumbed my entire brake system with it and have never had a leak.

[nick 3]

As above, the Machine mart one is excellent. Go for the slightly dearer one with the cutting tool, as this gives perfectly straight cuts on the pipe which essential for good flares.

 

Nick

[jonah 1]

Yep that's the one I've got.

 

When I say with care, you do need to take your time making flares as it's easy for the die to wander off centre and you end up with an uneven flare. You also need to have exactly the right amount of pipe protruding from the clamp which takes some trial and error (practice on some spare pipe first).

 

The other limitation is that it won't be strong enough to flare steel pipes, but I've never had any problems with plain copper pipe which is dirt cheap - £5 for a 25ft reel from my local motor factors.

Edited August 1, 2006 by jonah

[M3Evo 0]

Yeah, I've got a "Laser" one which was about £18 I think.

 

It's fine as long as you follow the instructions!

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

I've got el cheapo Machine Mart jobbie, cost about £15-20,

It's fine as long as you follow the instructions!

I bought a MachienMArt one a few years ago & it didn't come with any iunstructions, when I asked in the branch I bought it from they just looked puzzled & were no help so I returned it for a full refund.

 

I had a lucky day on ebay though a bit after that & managed to find a Sykes Pickavant one like they had at my local garage with the cam action, making a brake pipe takes minutes now.

 

Graham.

[max0 5]

As above, the Machine mart one is excellent. Go for the slightly dearer one with the cutting tool, as this gives perfectly straight cuts on the pipe which essential for good flares.

 

Nick

 

same one ive got, does the job and doesnt take long to do a flare. takes a few goes to learn how much pipe to have sticking out tho.

[ablister 31]

i bought a sykes pickavant hand held one, it wasn't cheap at about £100 but it's very good and can be used with pipes insitu. Only problem i have with it is that one of the flaring dies gets stuck in the bracket but other than that it's been perfect

[888rmb 6]

I'll vouch for the machine mart one as well, has more than paid for itself on many occasions.

[205turbo 32 2 Cars]

you can get new bluepoint (snap on) on ebay for about £12 and they have a lifetime unlimited warrenty on there,