Ill be honest, I have no idea what your doing. I wish you had photos or something of the problem.
I am also a member of the measure 6 times, cut once, and still have it too short family. Welcome.
Now that I am done giving you a hard time, check out these guys.
http://store.racing-solutions.org/albe1.html
They mandrel bend aluminum tubing. I bought a bunch of mild steel bends, quality is very good as is pricing. You should call them and dont have DHL ship them. It took FOREVER.
Good luck dude - Evan