Hossfeld Bender
I've been looking for a bender for a long time. I've even build a couple of three pin benders that kind of worked. The end all to end all benders for the home shop has to be a Hossfeld Bender. I watched This Old Tony talk about his knock off ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzXecCoQWgg ) and I just liked what a saw. Tony's is not a real one but will work. The two main arms start off as 2 1/2 by 1/2 hot rolled steel and most of the holes are 3/4 minus the end, middle pivot.
I started to build my own. What you see to the right is about 6 hours on the Bridgeport drilling holes and another hour slitting the arm in preparation to bend the arms. That is a 3/4 inch rod in the photo. To cut the hole I used some very odd drill bits. I got them at the auction house I help out. I got ten for ten dollars. They are discontinued and I didn’t have the holder for them. I get a better photo loaded soon. But to drill ¾ inch holes, they worked. The table had to be locked down really tight and there was a lot of up and down with the drilling to keep the little cutters cleaned out.
To bend these, I cut slits across them were I want them to bend. The next step is to make the spacers for these so I can fit them up and not over bed them. I need to make a jig to measure them so I know I have the bend right. After bending, I’ll fill in the slits with welding and Bob is your uncle. I plan on finishing these. I’ll decided later if I want to keep them or listing them as clones. I like the finish on these… I built these from plans I found on the internet. They are good and from what I can tell they are spot on. If you are willing you can make most of the cast parts by cutting and welding parts together. The oscillating block is one part that has to go into the mounted arm. I know I saw a how to on building one but can’t find it. My plan is two pipes with the right outside measurement and hit it with the welder. What done welding, hit it with a long boring bar to open the holes to the right size. The one sleeve is to allow the oscillating block to rotate. |
My go too has always been Craigslist. @$%#$^T% Craigslist. There are just too much crap and scams going on there.
I started looking on Market Place and found someone cleaning out what was left of his father's shop. I made an offer, not a low ball, but all the same a good price. We settled at $750 and a 6 hour round trip, I have a bender. It came with a lot of dies, blocks and pins. There are some I will still want but this is a good start. Loading was easy as he had his dad's tractor with forks and he lifted and set it down in the back of my truck. One strap over the top in 16 deg weather and I was headed back home. It could use a new coat of paint. The pins and blocks have paint on them… Not sure if that will stay. I would rather blue them and keep them oiled. The handle is not right but like most thing in my shop, there is some mods that I just don’t see fixing if they work. The next problem is where am I going to put it. I would like to mount it to the floor but I have really gotten tight on space. It may end up outside with a cover or on wheels with a way to anchor it when in use. |