How to swage a metal tube?

Maker Talk
1

Hey all, our house came with a flagpole installed in the front lawn, which is constructed of a handful of slip-fit aluminum tubes. The base tube section sheared off at the edge of the swedge/ diameter reduction. The result is a tube section that is one continuous diameter, with no swaged/reduced diameter to slip-fit into the bottom of the next section.

I’m wondering if there’s a way to swage the tube back to the correct diameter, just a few inches shorter. In theory I could TIG weld the sheared off piece back on (though I’m not much of a welder) but have since lost it.

Open to any suggestions on how to get the existing tube section back into service, and avoid buying a new $50-80 section :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance!

1 Like
2

You could design a swedge plate and plasma cut a front and back plate. I think hydraulic press is best to press it from both sides.

3

What’s the diameter of the tube? Maybe you could turn your own swaging tool, like this:

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