Copper Swaging Tool For HVAC Techs
What is your Preferred method for Swaging and flaring copper pipe as an HVAC Tech? Have you tried the Spin tools?
If you have worked in the HVAC service industry for any length of time, I am sure you have run into a scenario where you wished you had a swaging tool in your tool bag. Run out of couplings? Use the swaging tool. Using a swaging tool for HVAC works reduces the number of fittings required and the number of welded joints.
What are the Spinning Flare and Swage Tools?
The Tool looks like a small metal paddle with a hex shank designed to fit into any drill that meets the minimum requirements. It is designed to quickly expand copper tubing in sizes from 1/4” to 7/8” in rigid or soft-drawn copper while swaging, and the copper flaring tool is recommended for soft copper only.
This style of swaging and flaring tools has been around for a few years now, and guys working in the HVAC/R Industry seem to either love them or hate them. They don’t take up much room on the truck and can be an incredibly convenient tool when needing a quick copper swage or flare joint.
Pro’s of Using a Spin Tool
The biggest benefit of using this style of tool is speed. Manufactures of these tools advertise speeds as much as 10x faster than setting up a traditional swage/flare block.
Portability is also a great selling point for these. You could remove these from their hard case, and toss a full flare and swage set into a canvas or nylon tool pouch and they would take up little to no real estate in your bag or truck.
Cost - The spin tools are relatively cheap when compared to some of the alternatives on the market. Navac has a battery-powered copper flaring tool that comes in close to $700, and Hilmor has a hydraulic swage tool that can range between $300-$700 dollars depending on which kit you purchase.
Of course, there are also traditional options, such as eccentric flaring blocks and swage kits comparable in price to the spin tools, but they take much longer to set up.
Con’s of Using a Spin Tool
They require a drill with enough power. If you look at any of the manufacturers of these tools, their sale brochure will point out you can “use with any drill*.” When you dig a little deeper into that asterisk, you will find that you can use it with any drill that meets the minimum requirements. These requirements are typically 18v and 1800 rpm minimum for cordless drills and 500w and 1800 rpm for corded drills.
Ease of use - this one could be either a pro or a con depending on how you view it. Yes, they are easy to use, but at the same time, it is somewhat challenging to get quality copper flares and swages from these tools. The copper swage tool is much more forgiving, but you must ensure it’s lined up perfectly. If you start at a slight angle or off-center, the swage will be crooked in the copper pipe. I only use the swage and do not trust the flares. You may have better luck than I did.
The smaller sizes work much more reliably than the large sizes. If you watched the video above, you could see that almost all five tools I used struggled with the largest 7/8” swage. I was shocked that the 12v impact could run the swage and blow all the others out of the water.
Conclusion
If you are an HVAC tech or plumber that needs a tool to perform the occasional flare or swage, this is probably a great tool to add to the arsenal. If you need something to run hundreds of flares and swage joints, I’d probably invest in one of the other swaging tools for HVAC work I listed earlier. As you can see from the video, I’m not sure a drill would hold up to the repeated abuse of running multiple swages back to back.
As a service technician, I keep a set of the swaging tool in my tool bag to get me out of a pinch. As an Installer that would need to run hundreds of these, I would grab the NAVAC swaging tool designed for HVAC work.
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