Tube bending apparatus and method

A method of bending a tube, the method comprising:

• providing a tube bending apparatus including
• a bending wheel including a circumferential tube-accepting recess and oppositely facing proximal and distal wheel faces, the bending wheel including a rotation recess extending longitudinally through the bending wheel between the proximal and distal wheel faces along a central axis of the bending wheel, and the proximal wheel face including a lever pivot anchor;
• a cam insert including a longitudinally extending shaft having a tool driving feature extending coaxially at least partially therethrough, the shaft being configured for selective insertion into the rotation recess, the cam insert including a camming flange extending laterally from at least a portion of a proximal face of the shaft, the camming flange including a lever urging feature spaced laterally apart from the tool driving feature;
• and
• a keeper lever including a longitudinally extending keeper finger rigidly connected to an outboard end of a laterally extending lever arm, the keeper finger extending longitudinally from the proximal wheel face to at least a proximal-most portion of the tube-accepting recess, an anchor end of the lever arm including an arm pivot feature, the arm pivot feature being configured to pivotally connect to the lever pivot anchor, and the lever arm including a cam following feature spaced apart from the arm pivot feature, the cam following feature being configured to interact with the lever urging feature of the camming flange;
• locating the shaft at least partially within the rotation recess to bring the camming flange in proximity to the proximal wheel face, and concurrently pivotally connecting the arm pivot feature of the keeper lever to the lever pivot anchor;
• operatively connecting the cam following feature of the keeper lever to the lever urging feature;
• placing the tube at least partially in the tube-accepting recess with a bending target portion of the tube, the bending target portion being spaced apart from at least one end of the tube, in a tangent relationship to the bending wheel;
• driving rotation of the cam insert in a selected rotational direction to cause rotation of the lever urging feature in that the selected rotational direction;
• with the lever urging feature, responsively driving the cam following feature of the keeper lever to pivot the lever arm in the selected rotational direction about the lever pivot anchor;
• bringing the keeper finger proximate the tube-accepting recess through pivoting of the lever arm in the selected rotational direction about the lever pivot anchor;
• maintaining a spatial position of the at least one end of the tube with respect to the tube bending apparatus;
• rotating the tube bending apparatus in the selected rotational direction with the keeper finger held proximate the tube-accepting recess;
• with the keeper finger, preventing egress of the tube from the tube-accepting recess;
• and
• at least partially wrapping the tube around the bending wheel to bend the tube due to a combination of differently-directed forces applied to the tube by the keeper finger and the maintained spatial position of the at least one end of the tube.