Technical Opinions on copper zinc brake line

No confusion at all from this side
Cunifer and ni cop are just different ways of saying the same thing.
Same alloy, same material.
It’s all an alloy of copper, nickel and ferrous.

 

I have 3 different benders, they are all Imperial benders.
Industrial quality and only bend one size of tubing.
Way better than the benders that bend multiple different sizes.
They typically (cheap hardware store multiple size benders) don’t bend to a nice tight radius.
And sometimes they are difficult to use.

The single size Imperial benders are favored by tradesmen like instrument fitters etc.

https://imperial-tools.com/products/364-fha-lever-type-tube-benders/

 

In my opinion that stuff NEVER looks as nice as some carefully thought out and bent steel line. Looks cheap and to me always looks like it was rushed putting it in and an after thought.

 

I was the one confused, just for the record.


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Confusion, delusion..........I get the two mixed up!

 

I deliver coils of the stuff weekly. It's all the pro-shops use now days. Good stuff. As far as looks, I'd go with stainless if that's your bag.

 

Huh ? What ?


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Of course you are entitled to your opinion even if you’re wrong.
Check out all the pictures of my plumbing on my RPU build thread and then try to tell me it looks cheap ,rushed or an after thought

 

You did a great job on those lines, only one dissenting post, I think he’s outnumbered

 

Well I meant for anyone in general that was confused. But now I am a bit confused as NiCopp should be Nickel/Copper alloy whereas Cunifer is Copp/Nickel/Iron alloy if the manufacturers are being honest with the periodic table.

 

Out numbered yes, but this thread wasn't titled "which looks cooler, Stainless or Nicopp". If it has been there likely would have been overwhelming support for the shiny stuff. I know I like it better on the right car.

 

My question is about a straightener, for cunifer or any other tubing bought in a coil. What works good without breaking the bank?

 

I bought one from Eastwood, it worked very well. It was just for 3/16 line but they offer one for multiple sized lines, no idea if it works or not.

 

Drill a hole in a piece of hardwood. Pull it through. Straight pipe. I also made a straightener using six patio door pulleys on an angle iron frame. Looks just like the ones you can buy but only cost ten quid.


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I messed around with a variety of different over the years flaring tools and never really liked any of them.

This time around I wanted easy and professional results.
So I ordered the Eastwood flaring tool that does 3/16”-3/8”.
Probably one of the best tool purchases I’ve ever made.
Really easy to use and perfect flares, not a single leak in any of my self made brake lines.

 

^^^Same tool, I love that thing. I also got their AN die set for the flaring tool and used it on my fuel lines.

 

Well, it wasn’t


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As for a tubing straightener I thought about making my own but as you can see from my build thread I had plenty of other stuff to build.

So I just went onto eBay and ordered this one for $120.

Works really good.

 

Is that the Eastwood tool ?

 

It depends greatly on the installer and their personal commitment to professionalism and craftsmanship.

Then, when the guys work truck hlows a rear line we can spend all day on bending a line or an hour on snaking it and pull it thru A to B easy as pie. We get paid, he's back on the road with good brakes, his kids still get dinner and that line ain't well thought out or pretty. The situation is though.

 

No, straight off eBay and shipped to me directly from Singapore.

 

yep, many times i have repaired a broken brake line, late at night cold and snowy. with a plow and sander the truck can't go on the lift so i would have to slide under, clip the old line at either end, take out the fittings, tape the end of the new line and send it along the frame, attach the ends, zip tie it to the old line, bleed and the guy is back tearing up curbs, pealing back grass and moving gravel into the yards...........strung like christmas lights but cheap and solid repair.......

 

I was going to mention your effort but I can't recall the thread title. Time to bump it up I guess if you would.

 

Three bearings mounted on a piece of wood can do the job of straightening line

Bending and flaring lines can be an art form or a pain in the ass!

I spent hours and hours on my Lincoln to get the lines arrow straight and the bends perfect so I could reuse all the stock mounting points and make it all look oem.

I’ve also basically thrown line at the bottom of some of my winter beaters and zip tied it to the old rusty line.

They both work to get my brakes working correctly, but why waste time when the vehicle is not worth the effort ?

 

Blue One, that's a nice straightener you show in the pic, and my being a retired machinist with a fairly well equipped shop, I think I could make that pretty easily.
Approx. what is overall length and what is approx OD of wheels? Also, does the adjustment knob move both the wheels in together?
I've got "more time than money" so that might be a good Winter project to keep me busy.

 

I used it on my 34...won't use anything else now.

 

I searched, but could not find on the internet the comparison of genuine Cunifer to other similar CuNi products.
This may have been posted in a previous brake line thread. As I remember it, some of the other brands were a little bit thinner wall, resulting in not so good flares and other possible problems.

 

DOM, if you search tubing straighteners on Eastwood's site there's a near identical unit that has pics of both front and back. The lower wheels are fixed and the upper pair is adjustable. One pic shows a man's arm behind the straightener that gives a pretty good perspective of overall size.

I'd make a wild guess that the bearings may be inline skate wheel ball bearings as they're made by the millions and dirt cheap, like 100 pieces for 20 bucks. Those bearings are 22mm OD, 7mm wide, with a 8mm bore. A pair of them pressed into one of the wheels with a couple mm space between would work out about right for what the overall width appears to be based on the max 1/2" tube diameter.

They say the wheels are ABS plastic which is about as cheap a plastic as you can find. Would seem to me most any plastic would work without marking the tubing, and if you can't come up with suitable plastic I can't see any reason why some hardwood wheels wouldn't work as the loads aren't high at all.

 

▲
I looked at one where the rollers appeared to be patio door wheels.

 

I have mixed emotions on it as well. A shop I know did a suspension upgrade on an OT car and used it. It is hard to straighten out and it looked cheesy in this application. If it was made in straight sticks, I would give it a go.