Bending Instrument Tubing

Tube bending is something of an art, especially when done with stainless steel tubing. It is truly
magnificent to see a professionally-crafted array of stainless steel instrument tubes, all bends perfectly
made, all terminations square, all tubes parallel when laid side by side and perfectly perpendicular
when crossing.

If possible, a goal in tube bending is to eliminate as many connections as possible. Connections
invite leaks, and leaks are problematic. Long runs of instrument tubing made from standard 20 foot
tube sections, however, require junctions be made somewhere, usually in the form of tube unions.
When multiple tube unions must be placed in parallel tube runs, it is advisable to offset the unions
so it is easier to get a wrench around the tube nuts to turn them. The philosophy here, as always, is
to build the tubing system with future work in mind. A photograph of several tube junctions shows
one way to do this: