I was wondering of anybody knew any little tricks to doing double flares on 3/16 stainless steel brake lines.

I have a flaring tool and I just can't seem to get an acceptable flare. I have heard use heat, use cold, soak in oil.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks Greg

I could easily be wrong but I was told you can't double flare stainless.

I have heard that recently also and I am looking at a 37 deg flare with 3AN fittings.

You are using a double flair tool , Right?

Troy

To make a good flare in stainless you need to have a rigid setup, the little gripper tool and cone flare maker in the common flaring sets is too cheap to hold the tubing securely and the cone needs to have flats ground on it's flare faces to swage the tubing into the socket. I use a lathe with a proper collet to hold the tubing for the upset operation (using the tailstock) and then use my Rigid cone tool to finish it off. Stainless steel work hardens so you need approx twice the pressure to form the flare, poor quality tools make the task next to impossible.

If your in dire need of a double flare and only have a poor quality tool to do it with I suggest you anneal the tubing after the first upset operation by heating the tubing end to red heat and placing in a bucket of ashes to cool slowly. Doing the flare in one quick operation is essential since the material work hardens very quickly.

I have done it this way in the field and it works in a pinch.

I have used several life long gaurantee flaring tools and 4 Jaw is right. Most of them do not grip well enough. I have an Eastman tool now and it works great.

I've never been able to do a double flare in stainless. I either use regular steel and do a double flare or use stainless w/ AN fittings and 37 deg single flare.

1st off, it's best to buy tubing that has already been been fully annealed like you get from "inline tube co." a regular flaring tool will work if it's rated for stainless. most are not. i got one made by a company called "mastercool" ( beleive they mainly target the HVAC market ) it works quite well. be sure the tubing is cut straight & deburred. ss will wear out the cutting wheels on your tubing cutter alot faster so make sure they're in good shape. a drill bit works good for de-burring. a little oil on the cone part of the tool helps alot also. it gets easier with practice. my 1st few attempts at flairing stainless tubing did not turn out well either. i ended up ruining a tool not rated for stainless. when looking at buying a flaring tool be sure it says on the package or box that it'll flare stainless tube. if it doesn't, it won't!

A cheap flaring tool will not handle stainless, and by cheap I mean under about $75. I bought a Rigid brand for my project, to the tune of about $130. The best way to go though is with AN fittings and do away with flaring all together.

Vince