Securing a bender from spinning in place when in use

[Doug Arthurs]

I cut my hossfeld bender short and bolt it to the table of my milling machine when I need to use it.

 

[86turbodsl]

All the pirate 4x4 guys use hydraulics if they dont want to bolt to the floor. I suggest that.

 

[slowtwitch73]

I drilled the concrete and epoxied female anchors in flush with the floor. The stand has corresponding tabs with holes, and I added on some wheels that only bear weight if the bender and stand are lifted/tipped slightly. I stash it out of the way when not using, and slide it over and bolt it down when I need it.. takes maybe a minute. Give yourself lots of room in case you need to bend something long, and for cheater bars. This for a Diacro 3.

 

[jdwilson44]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I actually still haven't done anything with these benders - I had a kid about a year and a half ago, lost one job - was out of work - found another one, had family health issues - etc. So the Diacro benders have been sitting for a while looking to get finished up.

Out of all of the suggestions in this thread - I think I like the vacuum suction to the floor one the best. I have one of the Diacros setup to mount on a stand that I made out of a truck box set on it's side. I was going to use it as a cabinet - with drawers inside - to store all of the Diacro accessories and so forth. My original idea was to have a couple of angle iron pieces on the bottom of the stand (it's mounted on casters) - so that I could just slide the whole thing onto either a piece mounted on the floor - or onto a bracket that would stick out from the wall (to avoid having to drill into the floor.

But if I could figure out how to make one of those suction plates work - I could maybe make a plate that just ***** itself down to the floor - and then I could roll the stand over that and lock it in.

I suppose converting the bender to either hydraulics or linear actuators would avoid the whole mounting issue, but I'll have to look at that a little to see how easy it might be to convert the Diacro to be operated by hydraulics or an actuator.

 

[matt_i]

The best idea of all is to upgrade to a Diacro #4. Which has ratcheting capabilities (roller chain fitted around the OD) to bend stuff that would take a 10 foot long arm. Its not much to pull on the ratchet handle.

In our plant's maintenance shop we use a Diacro #3 - no ratcheting. But we use drop-in anchors which work very well and allow us to reconfigure the shop if something super large came in without having to deal with the nightmare of exposed studs. In a shop where most of the time the bender wasn't mounted I think you'd want either setscrews or corks/rubber plugs to prevent the threads from collecting too much gunk.

The diacro is a design which is 360 degrees and doesn't adapt well to hydraulics like the JD^2 or Hossfeld. Its best friend is a lathe which can make a ton of the tooling.

 

[jdwilson44]

The best idea of all is to upgrade to a Diacro #4. Which has ratcheting capabilities (roller chain fitted around the OD) to bend stuff that would take a 10 foot long arm. Its not much to pull on the ratchet handle.

In our plant's maintenance shop we use a Diacro #3 - no ratcheting. But we use drop-in anchors which work very well and allow us to reconfigure the shop if something super large came in without having to deal with the nightmare of exposed studs. In a shop where most of the time the bender wasn't mounted I think you'd want either setscrews or corks/rubber plugs to prevent the threads from collecting too much gunk.

The diacro is a design which is 360 degrees and doesn't adapt well to hydraulics like the JD^2 or Hossfeld. Its best friend is a lathe which can make a ton of the tooling.

I actually have a Diacro #4 as well. But I'm still going to have the same problem with that - the stand needs to be secured somehow - and I don't really want to sink bolts into the floor to do it.

 

[matt_i]

So I put the Diacro #4 on a wooden base that I can move with a pallet jack.

If its small, pull the handle.

If its big, use the ratchet.

A bunch of round dies & pins helps stabilize the base

 

[lis2323]

Don’t know if it’s of any help but this is what I did with the #2 Di-acro I refurbished.





It rolls out of the way when not in use. The bottom pic shows the blue 2” square tube securing it to the bench receiver.

Here’s a pic of the same system securing my Hossfeld bender.







The OEM Hossfeld cabinet is sitting on two 1/4” steel strips so a hand truck platen can slide under to move.

The workbench has a 3” solid steel top with a total weight just under 2200 pounds so it doesn’t move much. LOL

 

[lis2323]

So I put the Diacro #4 on a wooden base that I can move with a pallet jack.

If its small, pull the handle.

If its big, use the ratchet.

A bunch of round dies & pins helps stabilize the base

I think you and I must be the kings of pallet jack tool and equipment moving. [emoji3]

 

[bullnerd]

Metal frame that flips down from the wall that pins into/onto the bender.

 

[lis2323]

I have these in my shop floor and in the concrete apron outside the door.



Good for tie down/winching and securing grinders/benders etc.

 

[Opa]

Lis, i just want to say you have great ideas throughout your shop. very creative, and helpful ideas. thanks.

 

[joe49]

I have these in my shop floor and in the concrete apron outside the door.



Good for tie down/winching and securing grinders/benders etc.

Is that a piece of drill steel in your embedment?

 

[lis2323]

Is that a piece of drill steel in your embedment?

Yes it is.

 

[lis2323]

Lis, i just want to say you have great ideas throughout your shop. very creative, and helpful ideas. thanks.

Thank you Opa. I always hope my ideas will help in some way or more likely be the basis for a BETTER idea.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Thank you Opa. I always hope my ideas will help in some way or more likely be the basis for a BETTER idea.

I used u-bolts from tractor/trailer for tie downs in my floor. I used water meter boxes with a cast iron cover flush mounted in the floor. It has a 3x3x3 concrete section around each.

 

[lis2323]

I used u-bolts from tractor/trailer for tie downs in my floor. I used water meter boxes with a cast iron cover flush mounted in the floor. It has a 3x3x3 concrete section around each.

Awesome idea[emoji481]

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Awesome idea[emoji481]

Thank you.

I've put the bend back in 4 inch drop axles from a horse trailer using the overhead hoist, a chain and a jack stand. You put the end of the axle on a jack stand, the chain where you want it bent and the hoist on the long end of the axle. A 4000 pound hoist at the end of a 6-7 foot axle is a lot of leverage.

 

[ndnchf]

I had a similar problem with my Harbor Freight tire changer. My solution was to make a receiver hitch mount. When needed, I just lock it into the hitch of my truck. Maybe you could do something similar.

 

[Graham08]

I just saw this thread while searching for pictures of Hossfeld stands. That's a good looking setup! Is that a #1 or #2 Hossfeld? I just ordered the hardware to convert my #2 over to hydraulic operation to bend larger tube, so I'm looking for ideas on how to package everything. I would like to incorporate the power unit and tooling storage into the stand that I build.

 

[danielbuck]

I didn't (and still don't) have space to bolt it down, and I didn't want to use hydraulic either, so I used a trailer screw jack.

These photos are about 5 years old, I now have the bender on a more stable, rolling stand. The trailer jack is still working though. I use an electric drill to drive the jack.

I know a few friends of mine have copied the idea, and is working well for them too.

 

[lis2323]

I just saw this thread while searching for pictures of Hossfeld stands. That's a good looking setup! Is that a #1 or #2 Hossfeld? I just ordered the hardware to convert my #2 over to hydraulic operation to bend larger tube, so I'm looking for ideas on how to package everything. I would like to incorporate the power unit and tooling storage into the stand that I build.

Graham, thank you! Mine is a No 1 setup.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I just saw this thread while searching for pictures of Hossfeld stands. That's a good looking setup! Is that a #1 or #2 Hossfeld? I just ordered the hardware to convert my #2 over to hydraulic operation to bend larger tube, so I'm looking for ideas on how to package everything. I would like to incorporate the power unit and tooling storage into the stand that I build.

My Hossfeld is one of the last built by Hossfeld before they were bought out. I converted it to hydraulics. It doesn't "ratchet" it just goes around in one smooth motion.

 

[lis2323]

My Hossfeld is one of the last built by Hossfeld before they were bought out. I converted it to hydraulics. It doesn't "ratchet" it just goes around in one smooth motion.

Wow. Nice setup. [emoji481]

When were they bought out? I contacted them by phone a few years back and the fellow I talked to wasn’t very helpful.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Wow. Nice setup. [emoji481]

When were they bought out? I contacted them by phone a few years back and the fellow I talked to wasn’t very helpful.

I'll have to get back with you later, my phone needs to be fed.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Wow. Nice setup. [emoji481]

When were they bought out? I contacted them by phone a few years back and the fellow I talked to wasn’t very helpful.

1/28/2016 is when I bought it. This is my second one. The first was burned in a fire earlier and kinda was "warped".

I haven't spoke with them in a while now. I'm not sure who's handling the Hossfeld line now.

 

[toplessHO]

That's what I did. 1/4" wall 2" x2" square tube about ten feet long. I bolt it to my bender stand and slide it into the hitch on my truck.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I did the same to add a pipevise to the back end of truck
works great for holding anything.
I put some squiggly weld beads on 2 sides of the tubing and ground it flat until it fits snugly,to eliminate any slop.

 

[Graham08]

1/28/2016 is when I bought it. This is my second one. The first was burned in a fire earlier and kinda was "warped".

I haven't spoke with them in a while now. I'm not sure who's handling the Hossfeld line now.

There may have been a change in the ownership, but Hossfeld is still a small business. I talk to Rollie every time I call up there, and he's been nothing but helpful.

Their stuff is not real fancy. It's built the same way it was in the 1940's, but it just flat works. I'm able to make a lot of brackets and parts with my Hossfeld that I wouldn't otherwise be able to without a lot of press brake tooling. Also, the feed-along tooling for bending tube does a great job of replacing a roll bender. The reason I'm upgrading to hydraulics is to bend larger square tube with the feed along dies.

I also have a well tooled JD2 Model 4 that I wouldn't be without. It's more optimized for tubing, but is not as versatile as the Hossfeld.


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[metalmagpie]

I bought a die from Hossfeld the other day. I didn't talk to Rollie on the phone the way I normally do. The guy I spoke with said he normally works at the foundry where Hossfeld gets their parts poured, but since that foundry bought Hossfeld in 2016, he has been doing 2 days a week at Hossfeld itself.

So why did the business get sold in 2016? Before that for several generations Hossfeld was owned by a single family. At the end, the only one left was a woman who was an attorney and whose heart was really not in the business. Also, a lot of the machines Hossfeld used were very worn so the physical plant needed a substantial influx of capital, something the lawyer lady really didn't want to do. Hossfeld had always done business with the foundry also in the small town of Winona. The foundry poured their parts and did the heat treating. I'm guessing that Hossfeld was one of their major accounts, and possibly without their business the foundry itself might have gone under. Anyway, a deal happened and the foundry company bought Hossfeld. Most of the employees stayed on. A lot of their employees have over 20 years on the job. Can't be easy to find a good paying steady manufacturing job like that in a small town in Minnesota.

So we know for sure it's the same guys pouring the iron and the same exact wooden patterns and the same guys doing the heat treating. I don't care who's signing the checks. As far as I can tell the quality has not dropped, not one bit.

metalmagpie

 

[iagsxr]

My first JD2 bender was manual. Started with one set of anchors in the floor. eventually added another set in the approach pad because it seemed like there was always something parked over the set inside. It sucked.

My second JD2 bender is hydraulic. Convert yours if you really plan to do any real amount of bending. Speed and repeatability is way better than with a manual as well.

 

[isb cornbinder]

Bolt it to some heavy OSB. Then you stand on the OSB while bending. Your arms push one way on the bender and your legs push the opposite way on the OSB and the whole thing should stay roughly in place.

The OSB will delaminate like a bowl of Cornflakes, when put under stress.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Either mount it on a vehicle hitch or sink two posts in the ground next to the driveway and use that as a base for a stand.