Marketair Inc. has introduced easybend by Castel Engineering, a soft copper pipe bender that eliminates VRF and minisplit lineset installation kinks. Marketair specializes in ductless air conditioning tools/accessories and is the exclusive easybend importer/distributor for the North American markets.
The easybend kit consists of four color-coded, industrial-grade, solid polyethylene mandrel diameters. It is 13-ft-long and fits snugly into soft copper lineset tubing sizes of .25-in, 3/8-in, .5-inch, and 5/8-inch (O.D.). The easybend prevents collapsing and kinking while making bends of up to 180-degrees (dependent upon individual lineset manufacturer tolerances).
Because it supports the tube internally, the company says the easybend is capable of unprecedented flexibility in bending linesets, allowing for the industry's tightest radiuses while simultaneously bending both lines without kinking. Post installation, easybend is easily extracted, wiped clean with a cloth, and perpetually reusable for future projects.
Conventional pipe benders need pre-installation bending calculations, are labor-intensive, limited in radius capabilities, can handle only one line at a time, and require pipe insulation removal. Instead, linesets in which easybend is inserted can be precisely bent manually while passing through walls and around obstacles during installation. The easybend is 11 ft longer than bending springs and is easily extracted after use, said company officials.
--Marketair
