brake pipe flaring tool

[foxy99]

Hi guys

Am about to invest in a tool to make up kunifer pipes for my Mondeo.

Afaik that will be DIN flares.

I've taken the pipes off the car and some ends are male and some female which is pretty normal I guess.

What's worrying me is that there is a lot of online info re making the bubble flare for the male connectors but not so much re the more open type of flare for the female-ended ones.

Will all tools do both types?

Also. There seem to be 3 basic types

• cheap - a pair of bars which clamp together and have holes for various size pipe
• quite dear - a hand-held (SP) type that you need to do a lot of swapping of heads/mandrels for each flare
• dear - a vice-mounted (SP) type with a revolving head for all sizes of pipes which has a large lever to quickly punch the flares on the pipes

[composimmonite]

I've got the middle type. 30+ years old and still does a good job.
I borrowed one of the first cheap types to flare some LPG pipes and wasn't impressed with the result. Acceptable but I'd be reluctant to use it for brake pipes.
If I had the spare money then I'd buy a quality secondhand third type - Sykes & Pickavant etc.

[colnerov]

Hi, pretty much the same as Composimmonite. The 'very dear' SP capstan type are very quick at making pipes no more than 20 secs to do an end. The middle one is a good compromise they can be used in the vice or hand held under the car. The cheap ones I have heard don't last long and are not consistent in make flares.

Colin

[foxy99]

Thanks for the input composimmonite

The middle type would be the SP Flaremaster 2 I guess?

Looks pretty good on a YouTube video I saw and should be fine if you're not to bothered about speed (ie doing one car for an MoT now and then).

The lever action expensive 3rd type looks great but no good under a car I guess.

Been doing a bit more reading since I started the thread and it would appear that the non-bubble flare is the same for SAE & DIN. ie the one that goes with the female nuts

[welshpug]

have a look on ebay for second hand SP kits, the number of dies you got in them varied depending on what the original purchaser needed, you can pick them up quite cheaply comparatively.

I have used mine on the car actually, used a large pair of stilsons as a vice!

[foxy99]

Jun 9, 2015 23:37:50 GMT colnerov said:

Hi, pretty much the same as Composimmonite. The 'very dear' SP capstan type are very quick at making pipes no more than 20 secs to do an end. The middle one is a good compromise they can be used in the vice or hand held under the car. The cheap ones I have heard don't last long and are not consistent in make flares.

Colin

Cheers Colin. I plumped for a Flaremaster 2. £109 inc P&P

[foxy99]

Jun 10, 2015 8:41:12 GMT welshpug said:

have a look on ebay for second hand SP kits, the number of dies you got in them varied depending on what the original purchaser needed, you can pick them up quite cheaply comparatively.

I have used mine on the car actually, used a large pair of stilsons as a vice!

Thanks welshpug. I was tempted to bid on one of the SP 270 things (2nd hand) but need to tool sharpish so just bought the mid range type.

I saw there were also some older looking SP kits which look like HD version of the really cheap type. They come in metal boxes with a big screw clamp thing and a large cast spinner handle. Would those do DIN?

[BigDaftAl]

I've been using one of these today to flare the existing steel pipes to repair a rotten Discovery 3.
I've never used one (or even seen one) before but I was very impressed and can definitely recommend it.
I've tried so many different on car tools before that either refuse point blank to flare steel pipe, or make a crappy half-hearted attempt at it.
This worked so well and was really simple to use.

[fordperv]

I have flared steel pipes with the first type without issue, they aren't bad at all if you use them right

[Xenocide]

Jun 12, 2015 20:46:49 GMT fordperv said:

I have flared steel pipes with the first type without issue, they aren't bad at all if you use them right

It's prep of the pipe which makes them easier.

1) Grind the end of the pipe with a file so that it's tapered /^\
2) Put it in the bars so it's flush with the top and file the top flat
3) Move it up in the bars so it's as tall as the base of the die you're going to use.
4) Lube it up
5) Slowly do it up.

[foxy99]

Good tips guys.

I've been spending a lot of time preparing the ends of my pipe before making the flare. IE making it flat then tapering them and also de-burring the inside. I've been using small files for this.

Here are my very first attempts.


L-R: double flare; SAE single flare; DIN single flare


L-R: DIN single flare; SAE single flare; double flare


I've done several, for real, since those above and I'd say the hand held type is all you'd ever need. It does the flare in seconds without any great pressure being needed. You'll spend more time preparing the pipe-ends regardless of which tool you use than you will doing the actual flares. I've not tried it on steel tbf but it's been great on my copper pipe (which was advertised as Kunifer)


DIN single flare with male fitting


I still think it's strange that the bubble/convex flares are called single flares. I thought the name was based on the shape. IE the flare goes out then back in so it was a 'double' in my mind but the name really refers to the amount of stages involved in making it:

• for the bubble type you are pressing down on the tube so it bulges outwards which is one operation .'. single flare
• for the cocktail-glass/concave shape flares you make a bubble as above then change the die for one which pushes the top of the bubble back into the bottom and makes a one directional flare (visually) but is called a double flare as two operations are involved

[tdipd]

guys, want to remake my brake pipes in kunifer.... but how do i tell whether to get a tool that does SAE or a tool that does DIN?? I cant seem to find that out.

Its for a mercedes 190e


Ill only be spending £40 tops, so wont be buying a tool that does both.
I have one of those cheap silvertec tools and made heaps of pipes before but never paid attention to which type to use as i didnt know there was a difference....
Totally over using that cumbersome type of tool, hence looking for a new one

[collector]

i have this one and it works like a charm

[tdipd]

yeh i have similar, but a shitter brand. I've never been happy how it can sometimes mark the pipe where its been clamped, and the actual clamp itself is barely strong enough to hold the pipe, and when the vice is wound in, it can push the pipe out.

Just a curse word experience with a low quality version, but i'd like to try one of the other designs available

[bodieanddoyle]

At work we have a bench mounted one which is fast and good, but a lot of mot pipes are joined on car for which we just got a new flaremaster. New because we wore the other two out!
One piece of knowledge I have recently found despite doing pipes for the last 18years is; you're only supposed to op2 or double flare an SAE op1/single flare. The DIN single flare stays just that, if you intend to double flare then start with SAE.

[Kieran]

I've recently bought one of these :-

pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=400891784693&globalID=EBAY-GB

It's mega. I've had the cheaper horse shoe / split clamp type but they make horrible wonky flares, and it's guess work how much pipe to protrude etc.

The tool in the link above is brilliant. The setting mandrel sets the pipe, and everything screws down to a datum. No guess work needed, and it doesn't mark the pipe like the split clamp type either.

Recommended!

[DavidB]

Buy the one that has the square block with the mandrel and handle. The flares always come out good. The cheap ones aren't very good and awful to set up.

[tdipd]

That's the type I want to go for, but they come in SAE or DIN, that's where I'm stuck, how do you know which to use?

[tdipd]

From what I've found online is that the SAE double or single flare tends to be for most cars pre-1970ish, and most american vehicles.

The rest of us use DIN (metric), which is bubble flare. My car should be DIN

kunifer, a heap of unions, a new tool, and benders all bought