Hossfeld #2 bender Vs others

[Keyblazer]

A tube bender is on my wish list as I need to make rollcages and bumpers sometimes.

Been offered an old Hossfeld #2 Universal Iron Bender, Wrenchless type.
Manual, nice beefy stand, but no handle, or dies, and the thing has been sitting outside, so its a little rusty, but not seized.

Trying to balance its worth against a new JD2 or the like.
How does it compare?
Capacity and Die costs are baffling..

I know Hossfeld is supposed to be good, but need some advice and education on what to do...
Anyone?

 

[Keyblazer]

Anyone?

 

[bl00]

For tubes and cages only get the JD2. To bend everything under the sun, assuming you buy/make all the tooling, get the Hossfeld.

 

[AA/FC]

To me a JD2 is basically a copy of Hossfeld. Not an exact copy (dimensionally) but the same basic principle. I have used a couple different hossfeld benders in the past however, both of them were hydraulic powered so I can't talk about the manual version. I do know that trying to bend heavy wall or large diameter tubing is a real pain-in-the-*** on any manual benders, regardless of brand. I have personally never used a JD2 bender but I have a friend who owns one and it looks to be much lighter duty than the hossfeld. I like Hossfeld benders, I've had good luck with them, they've been around forever, and are well made. I'm not knocking the JD2, but I think they are a bit over rated. Your mileage may vary...

Either one will probably work just fine for what you're doing.

My .02

 

[Keyblazer]

Can you do a real world cost, affordable ram conversion with a HF 8t ram?

 

[markw365]

Check out rogue fab, dies are cheaper than the jd2/pro-tools dies. Plus it's designed around the 8 ton HF ram, and bends in a vertical plane so using a digital angle finder is a breeze. https://www.roguefab.com/

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

I have a Hossefeld, and built my buggie with a JD2 because the 1.5 die I had for the Hossfeld was too small of a radius and I was loaned a JD2. The hossfeld is so much beefier then the JD it is capable of doing sooooo much more other type bends. The dies are very expensive. I believe I found american bender sold the dies for about half the price and I bought a 1 in for making roofracks and it works great. Price Price Price has to be factored in. I use the Hoss for bending 5/16 by 4 in flat steel try doing that with Jd2, try bending rod or punching holes in metal on and on that can be done with the Hoss. I did add about 6 feet to the lever to aid the bending. PS one sweep and the bend is done with Hoss 50 cranks on the Jd2 to make the same bend.

 

[2mJps]

I allways wanted a hossfeld and this summer i got one for 50.00 but it dosent have any dies. My buddy had one at his shop with all the dies and he said it was alot of troble to set up so they never used it but they allso didnt bend much pipe.

 

[Keyblazer]

Agreed a far price for the Hossfeld and am going to get it today. It's a friend's estate sale and they think they have tooling somewhere. I am gonna earn my find helping and categorizing some of the stuff and hopefully it turns up!

 

[Keyblazer]

Spent some time looking at pictures of Hossfeld tooling so I know what the hell I am looking for!... My goodness, some of it is strange looking!

 

[AA/FC]

<SNIP> but they allso didnt bend much pipe.

Probably a good thing since a Hossfeld is generally used for bending "tubing". (Not pipe)

 

[Keyblazer]

Bought it, and done... we found the tooling box too, and I ended up about $200 for the lot..
I think my media blasting cabinet is gonna earn its keep this week!

Teaser pics to start with...


Stand is pretty cool I think..


Box "O" tooling...


Gotta figure out what this all is...


One thing missing for sure is the original handle...

 

[Keyblazer]

Have a few questions for those that know!

Obviously, this thing is gonna need some cleanup!
What should I refinish it with?
Nothing... Paint or powdercoat?
If I powdercoat, I will have to watch buildup in the holes and pins.

This die, which I think is the 1" and 3/4" block has a chunk missing on left side... worth replacing or is it ok?



This 1 X 3 die was in the box, but no other parts... believe it should have a lock block and follower? Can you buy them, or make them?


Are these 3 chisel things on the left bender tooling or something random???
Flat end has a threaded hole.


Help!

 

[William Payne]

Google hossfeld bender. They have a website and still make and sell everything.

 

[PugetDude]

When it comes to manual benders, there is Hossfeld or something else. They have been around forever; copied to death but never equaled.

Nice score, a steal at $200.

If you can't find a cheap replacement, you can probably build up the broken die with weld and re-grind the profile.

Clean it up, paint it to forestall future rusting, mount it on a well-secured pedestal and put it to work.

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

I purchased the other part of the 1 in die because I had just what you have from American bender. those others are for pipe not tube. Mine has been out doors for more then 10 years it has a light rust but just oil it up I have never painted it up.

 

[Zeke]

First of all, you ****. Had to be mentioned. If I were to clean that up I'd blast it, hit with a wire wheel to burnish it then oil and heat the parts. Any paint or coating will get crushed on your first bend. Of course this doesn't apply to the stand and fixture.

 

[Keyblazer]

Thanks for the input guys!
I feel like I scored... but there is more to spend!

I emailed Hossfeld this morning and already got the reply... Wow!
Here is what they said...

1. Don't sandblast the frames. It will take the temper out. The original coating is our own blend and is a mixture of things. I wouldn't worry about that. If you paint it don't get paint in the pin holes. The pins won't fit.

2. Yes you can get original stickers from us. They cost $5 and you can put your own numbers on them.

3. Handle Part# 20760 $56

4. 19B4 UPin Part# 20098 $50

5. 14B Part# 20072 $45

6. I'm assuming you have OD tube for these. Back Block Part# 23845 $75 Draw Block Part# 23847 $100. If it's Sch. 40 pipe let me know and I'll quote that.

 

[Keyblazer]

Making some steady progress with the restoration. I'm all spent out, so new tooling will have to wait!
Been hitting the parts with a angle grinder and wire brush, stripping off the surface rust.
Some before and after..


Finished the rotating arm in satin black.


Found the plans for the hydraulic conversion parts, but it will be a long time before I can afford the pump/cylinder!

 

[Keyblazer]

Knocked the ugly out of it...
Just the stand left to clean up and paint.

 

[mike.zeiderman]

Man, that came out nice, very jealous, when I was in tubing fab, we had the Hoss, and the rest were CNC. Hoss was the work horse of the shop, from prototyping to tweaking it was the go to. We had an 8' cheater on it and bent pretty much any and all, never gave us a lick of hassle. Very good score.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[Keyblazer]

Thanks Mike.
I just hit everything with the wire wheel, and stripped off the crud/rust, then shot it with Rustoleum rust reformer primer, that goes a nice satin after.
Tooling was treated the same then a light coat of Cast Aluminum Engine enamel, because it is a super thin coat that I hope wont chip badly.
Have to blitz the stand and grind off the welding spatter!
That stand is so beefy I think I will use it as a metalworking stand...

Been digging on the net for Hossfeld tooling and also DIY stuff.
Found plans for a DIY version of the hydraulic conversion, that I will likely copy, but no way will I be able to afford/justify the $3k+ pump/cylinder kit short of someone showing me a cheaper way to do that using affordable parts..

Thinking I will try to use a HF 8t long ram as I already have a couple of them.

 

[AA/FC]

Looks brand new, nice work!

 

[Keyblazer]

Finished up the tooling now, and have an inventory of what I need, and what is missing.

Is there a Hossfeld thread where people share projects, techniques, tooling ideas, etc?

Seems like it would be fun...

 

[Keyblazer]

Been busy on other stuff and now I need the Hossfeld...

Started with wanting to bend a piece of 1/2" Sched 4 pipe...
The bender is not bolted down and I cant drill into the floor cos Im here in CA and its a "Post Tension Concrete Slab". Plus I want to to be moved around.

Time for a Hydraulic conversion.... but I don't have $3000!

So, with the plans I found I built the brackets first...
The bigger one is 24 X 6 X 3/4!




I dont have a Hydraulic pump or cylinder, but I do have a 8T Air/Hydraulic HF long arm jack I can use..



Now trying to work out the Pivot points

 

[Ed ke6bnl]

I have the hossfeld bender and air over hydraulic ram like you do would be nice to convert also. thanks for all information you have on the conversion

 

[Keyblazer]

Never used it until now... tried bending the silly bit of tube and failed...

I would love the double action ram, and Hydraulic pump but just cannot justify it.

Whats that old saying?
Fast and reliable is not cheap.
Fast and cheap is not reliable.
Cheap and reliable is not fast...

That is where I am!

Search Hossfeld conversion and it will toss up the PDF plans for the brackets and stuff... Welding Web or such had it.

Most of the swing arm and pivot is 1/2" x 2", and I didn't have enough.
I couldn't find any at a reasonable price... nothing in the REM rack, at the local IMS, and they wanted $170 for a 20' stick, which is just silly.

I have a bunch of 1 x 2 1/8 wall, and some 1/2 x 2 HRS, so I am gonna try that. Not bending crazy stuff... Yet.

The one thing I found... was that the HF jack is longer buy maybe 4" that the Hossfeld OEM item.

I'm trying to work out the Kinematics... if that's the right word!

 

[NitroShark]

one of my first tools was a brand new Hohossfeld #2 I bought in 1982 and still use it today, 'great tool that others can only copy.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

The conversion "ratchets", I built mine so I could bend past 180* in a single pass. I did my "Hydraulic Conversion" knowing I'd mainly be bending tubing, like 0.134 X 1-3/4 cage pipe. When I did my first "Hydraulic Conversion", I started out something like you are...then found out I wanted to go past 180*, So I did some serious "re-engineering"....it will bend 0.120 x 1-3/4 180*, but just barely, I'm going to a higher PSI Electric/Hydraulic pump before long...

BTW, I've only tried bending 0.134 cage pipe once to see if it'd do it. I usually bend 1 inch square and round tubing and pipe.

I hear a Hossfeld will bend sch 40 2inch OD PIPE with a long enough handle manually.

Download all the literature from the Hossfeld site for the tooling and everything, then look and read through it. Next check out YouTube for demos and how to's others have posted.

You can make pretty cool bends in ways a JD can never think about doing.

 

[Keyblazer]

Hacked it together and ended up departing from the Hossfeld copy.
This is where I am so far...
It works, but its slow...