[mr48chev]

If you haven't forgotten to put the nut on before you do a flair you haven't flaired enough tubing to talk about. It will happen sooner or later.

There seems to be a big difference in quality for the tube benders of the design that Ogre showed in post 4. I had one that was rather sloppy in the frame and had so much paint on it that the tubes wouldn't fit in the grooves well. I've actually got so many different tube benders of different designs that I lost count that I have bought in the past 50 something years and still don't have a favorite. I have the big Eastwood flair tool that works great but is rather expensive but works great but a guy has to have a lot of lines to flair to make buying one viable. I also have my SnapOn set that I have had since I was in trade school and it was one of the first things I bought off a tool truck. I've pretty well worn it out in the past 50+ years though.

As far as tubing goes right now I have different size rolls of tubing in the garage. I don't want to spend the money to buy a tube straightener but think I can make my own reasonably simply. I haven't had a lot of luck making tight bends in the green coated stuff from O'Reilly's and prefer the old cad or what ever plated stuff.