FOLAI Copper Pipe Expander - Universal Hand Tool for Refrigeration & Copper Pipe Swaging - 1/4", "5/16", "3/8", "1/2", "5/8", "3/4", "7/8" inch Tube Expander

I have used this a few times now with great success. Yes, you must rotate the pipe while swaging to maintain a round cross-sectional shape. And, those who complain about split pipe are probably attemtpting to swage hardened (tempered) copper tubing used for water lines. Swaging must be done on soft copper. An end (say ~ 2 inches) of hardened copper can be annealed (softened) by heating with an ordinary propane torch to a cherry red color and then quenching in water. Be aware that "working" copper (via bending, hammering, swaging, etc. also "work hardens" (tempers) the material. However, merely swaging the end of a copper tube does not constitute enough "work hardening" to cause breakage. If the tube is rigid, as for water, it has been hardened and will need to be annealed before swaging to prevent splitting while swaging. That is not a big deal; just heat the end to be swaged with an ordinary propane torch and then dip in room temperature water to quench. After that process, the end to be swaged will be "annealed" and soft enough to swage. After swaging it will be ready to solder. For those unable to finesse the "rotating while expanding" part of the process to achieve an acceptably concentric tube end, I suggest using a tube flaring and swaging kit, many such kits also available here on Amazon. (I have one from Wostore that is very nice, is economical, and does both swaging and flaring. In that case, you lock your tubing into an appropriately-sized hole in a steel swaging bar, install an appropriate-sized swaging die into a swivel connector on a steel yoke (yoke is a type of clamp that locks onto the swaging bar) and then turn a handle to screw the swaging die into the inside diameter of the copper tubing to expand it. The latter method obviously takes many more steps and is thus much slower than using the swaging tool of this listing, but the die makes a perfectly symmetrical expansion without artistic finesse from the user. I believe that most of the problems expressed by frustrated reviewees stem from attempting to swage tempered (hardened) copper without annealing. The video by the seller is not helpul at all and probably adds to the confusion. He appears to be doing the process at breakneck speed to impress would-be buyers with how quickly swaging can be done using his tool. However, the undesirable result is that one can hardly see that he is rotating the tube while he works to maintain a symmetrical expansion. He probably receives many returns as a result, when a purchaser simply inserts the tool into a piece of tubing, squeezes the handle and is disappointed with the asymmetrical result. If the tubing is tempered, both an asymmetrical and split cross section can result. So much confusion due to poor communication, so little time...

I tested this guy out on some scrap 3/4 copper. It works great. I had to switch back and forth from one side to the other as I built up to the final size for my bell shape. I kept rotating as I went. I found it very easy to use. Yes, it will take a bit longer than the expensive hydraulic units that an HVACR pro would use, but it seems like a very well made tool and I made a nice tight-fitting little swage/bell in my test. Looking forward to putting it to work on my next brazing project.

Worked good for maybe a year almost then broke :/ only reason for 4 stars. I will say in the time that I had this tool I used it a lot and definitely got my moneys worth frfr

I saw some of the reviews saying it was hard to use, or they had problems with the tubing splitting, and was a little concerned about potential results, but given how inexpensive it was I thought I'd give it a shot and I'm glad I did! It really does work well and I've had much better results than a much more expensive flaring kit that uses a compression bracket to hold the tubing in place while a section outside the bracket has a tool bit forced into it to expand the tubing. That always seemed to have issues with the tubing backing out of the bracket or the tubing splitting, really annoying.Using the tool is very simple and I was surprised by how little effort it took to gradually expand the tubing. It took about a minute to expand the tubing a bit, rotating it about 1/8th of a turn, and repeating until the handles are fully together. Then it was a matter of rotating and shaping the tubing until it was completely round and fitted onto another piece of tubing. Very easy, though I could see how being impatient might cause the tubing to split, or not being careful shaping the tubing to be completely round would cause frustration. Great tool!

This product does what it supposed to do and is a good value for the money, but because of the design it does not swedge the copper uniformly. It tends to oval the copper and you have to be very careful or you get a sloppy fit. I recommend a tool that presses down into the copper and expands rather than pushing it apart like this one does. If you want an inexpensive tool this will work and the quality is fine I just don’t like the results you get if you’re looking for a tight fit such as refrigeration or air conditioning fittings.

Awesome product. Used on my heater core copper lines out of the firewall in my civic!Worked great!

For the price you can’t beat it. I’m sure the hydraulic ones work faster, but they’re also 10x the price of this.It takes a little to figure out how to use it properly, but once you do you can flare fast enough and perfectly to be able to slide joints together.

Don't use it on a day to day basis but it definitely does the job. I'm very happy with it and it saved me a lot of time