Splitting round tubing longitudinally

[landman]

Is there an easy way to split round tubing to make quarter round corners?

[espo]

Plastruct makes quarter and half round stock in various sizes.

[Mark]

Plastruct makes quarter and half round stock in various sizes.

But those are solid stock.  Splitting an entire length of tubing will be tough to do without the cut line wandering around. 

What diameter tubing are you cutting, how long do you need the pieces to be, and how many are needed?  If you only need a few short lengths, it might be better to sacrifice some of the material and get three quarter-round pieces instead of four.  I'd cut the tubing slightly longer than needed for the finished part before attempting to split it. 

If you need a lot of pieces, building some sort of jig would be a good idea.  Even something as simple as a length of brass or aluminum channel or angle to hold the tubing straight should work.  Putting something inside the tubing to keep it round should be part of the plan too.  This is probably the sort of situation where you'd want to get everything in your hands and start messing with it, and as you do that you might come up with an idea that will work for what you want to do.

[Xingu]

Could you possibly get a sheet of aluminum or brass and form it to the shape you need.

[stitchdup]

Depending on the length you need, a simple mitre block from wood or metal might be your best bet. Just place 2 bits side by side with a gap to hold your tube tight enough that it's not going to wobble, and a couple inches long so your cuts will be in the same place the whole way, then another couple of bits of wood on top and below to hold your saw in place over the centre and start cutting. As your cutting there should be enough bend in the cut ends to clear the saw. Remember to have the saw at an angle so it stays square to the tube. I hope that makes sense, if not I can do a quick drawing of what I mean that might explain it better

[landman]

thanks guys. It was to make the front corners of the tank body I an building.  If I had allowed for it, the solid quarter round might have worked but I forgot and made square corners.

[cowboy rich]

Up in the truck section on the work bench "purepmd" has a scratch build of a white road boss that he quarter tube for the corners maybe he could help.

[Ace-Garageguy]

thanks guys. It was to make the front corners of the tank body I an building.  If I had allowed for it, the solid quarter round might have worked but I forgot and made square corners.

Just glue some square stock to the backside of the corners, let it dry THOROUGHLY,  and round them off with a sanding block. I do things like that frequently.

[landman]

Up in the truck section on the work bench "purepmd" has a scratch build of a white road boss that he quarter tube for the corners maybe he could help.

That is exactly what I had in mind.

[MrObsessive]

Pat, years ago the local train shop in my area had just what you're looking for, and in fact, it's what I use from time to time when I do opening doors and I want the proper radii for the door jambs.

If you check here, they might have what you're looking for--------I don't know if they sell retail to the public. As I mentioned, my train shop had/has it and it's come in handy for various things.

[Muncie]

splitting Evergreen (say 1/8 or larger) plastic tubing freehnad is a pretty straightforward deal with a thin fine tooth hobby saw - lay the tubing on the bench and don't aim the blade at any vital body parts - leave a little bit extra to straighten and cleanup the line with a long fine tooth file.  Might be easier to split the tubing to a semi circle then split that to get a 90 for a corner piece - Now I'm not working to make four pieces out of a length of tubing. One corner piece per length is success for me.   Also works with hobby aluminum tubing.