Copper lettering

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JWD

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Hi Guys, not sure if this is the right place to post but:

Im looking to make a sign/wall plaque and for the lettering i was thinking of bent solid copper (4/5mm) spelling out

Brighton

I was just wondering what i will need (if anything) to do this? the letters will be max 70mm high x up to 50mm across

many thanks

joe
 
If you want round bar lettering you could use copper brake pipe, or fuel line if you wanted a larger diameter. Use a brake pipe bender to create your curves at a constant radius.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 
6 mm copper tube from a plumbing merchants. Smaller than that and its getting harder to source.
 
thanks for your responses!

would it not be better to use solid copper @5mm? i dont want to be bending it for a really tight angle and have it fold!
 
The trick, as I understand it, is to anneal it well and fill it with fine, dry sand before bending. That's if you haven't got a pipe bender, but I had one like this:
New-Hand-Manual-font-b-pipe-b-font-font-b-bender-b-font-6-8-font.jpg

And it was truly rubbish. I threw it out.

I note in passing that Toolstation sell one branded Draper, that's slightly different and might be a bit better.

Anyway, I have to do our house number, too, and was thinking of doing it with 8mm or 10mm pipe, as I have some to hand. I intend to try the sand thing.

E.
 
and to anneal copper, I believe that you heat it and plunge it into cold water- the opposite that you would do for steel.

check before you do it- I am not 100% on this.
 
Shame, just a few weeks ago I had a clear out and scrapped a load of stuff some of which the scrappies called pyro ? It was the elements out of old redundant night storage heaters which were 6mm copper tube with a solid insulation filling around a copper core, you could bend it double by hand without kinking. I don't think I got much for it as scrap value.
 
phil.p":1k8xr9jl said:
marcros":1k8xr9jl said:
and to anneal copper, I believe that you heat it and plunge it into cold water- the opposite that you would do for steel.

check before you do it- I am not 100% on this.

Yes. The same for silver and brass.

For carbon steels you are correct, for stainless and stainless welds it is the other way around :(
 
marcros":39loq0f7 said:
and to anneal copper, I believe that you heat it and plunge it into cold water- the opposite that you would do for steel.

check before you do it- I am not 100% on this.


Even better if you heat and let it cool gently.
 
I've always had success with the type of tube bender Eric posted. I've never tried bending heating pipe with it though, it's always been brake pipe which has a thicker wall - I'd say this makes it more resistant to kinking?

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More great responses, cheers fellas

Gonna order some tubing i think this evening, do we reckon brake pipe will be best if it has a slightly thicker wall than plumbing stuff?

ill try and attach a pic of some very quick experiments with some brass at about 3:30am so forgive the dreadful attempt, but i can't decide whether to do each letter separately or try and do it from one long coil in a calligraphic style?

any wisdom or ideas you can throw my way would help massively

joe
 
another point is that at some points, i may want the pipe to kink, so do i just not heat treat that area?
 
Picture
 

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Good first effort! Brake pipe comes in a soft state, ready to form. Once its been bent it work hardens and needs annealing to soften again. I'd say if you bent it in the jaws of a vice you could get it to kink though.
 
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