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Hossfeld Bender--Thanks Ries!

Graham Gott

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Location
Iron Station, NC
Thanks to member Ries for the wealth of information he's shared over the years regarding Hossfeld benders. His input helped greatly to influence my decision to purchase one a couple weeks ago. I immediately put it to use on a project for a client and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite pieces of equipment. It makes doing a bunch of brackets and parts that I typically do for this client much faster and easier.

Right now I have it clamped down to my welding table...



So far, I've used a square tube die set:



This is 3/4" x 0.065" square on a 2" inside radius, tighter than I can get tooling for my JD Squared bender.

Here's the bending yoke:



And a part that came from it. Making a clevis this deep is not trivial on my other equipment. The legs are 1-5/16" apart and about 3" deep.



I've also used the 26B sharp square bending block for some wider pieces:





The versatility of these things open up a bunch of capabilities I didn't have before...
 
Looks like you caught on fairly quick on the operation of the Hossfeld.
That is some nice work.
I have 2 of them actually, and it has been a long learning experience. I have to get the book out every time I use it because there are so many combinations to arrange the tooling.

I would like to join you in thanking Ries for his involvement on PM over the years.
My first post here a few years, ago Ries came on board to help.
Every since then, I try to pay attention to his words of wisdom.
What I like most, is that his posts are accurate, clear, concise and no BS, or put downs, on peoples skill and ability or lack of the same.
So heres to you Ries and thanks from another grateful member.
Dave
 
Ries is also a very respected member on the Miller Welds Forum that I have been a part of for several years, however, I have to say, on the Miller forum I was an allstar, coming over to this forum made me realize ( There's a whole lot of guys here that are a lot smarter than me. )
I would like to mention, the Hossfeld bender is a great bender but bang for the buck, I've really enjoyed my JD squared model 32 bender, the dies are cheaper, I have the air over hydraulic which works great.
 
Ries is also a very respected member on the Miller Welds Forum that I have been a part of for several years, however, I have to say, on the Miller forum I was an allstar, coming over to this forum made me realize ( There's a whole lot of guys here that are a lot smarter than me. )
I would like to mention, the Hossfeld bender is a great bender but bang for the buck, I've really enjoyed my JD squared model 32 bender, the dies are cheaper, I have the air over hydraulic which works great.
I agree JD Squared makes a great bender for tubing. I've had a Model 4 with the air over hydraulic setup for probably 15 years. It's never skipped a beat. The thing the Hossfeld gives me is the ability to bend everything else, as well as some ways to bend tube I didn't have before. Both are great tools.

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Am I right in assuming that the dies are not interchangeable between the Hossfeld and the JD Squared.
The reason that I ask is because I thought that I read somewhere that there was someone who had copied the Hossfeld, and the dies were cheaper to buy.

Awhile ago I bought the Hossfeld dies to do 1" sg. tubing, and by the time it got to me it cost me $1,200.
It is hard to justify that kind of expense for what I do, and I certainly can't be buying too many more.
Dave
 
Am I right in assuming that the dies are not interchangeable between the Hossfeld and the JD Squared.
The reason that I ask is because I thought that I read somewhere that there was someone who had copied the Hossfeld, and the dies were cheaper to buy.

Awhile ago I bought the Hossfeld dies to do 1" sg. tubing, and by the time it got to me it cost me $1,200.
It is hard to justify that kind of expense for what I do, and I certainly can't be buying too many more.
Dave
I don't think the dies interchange. The square die set I got for the Hossfeld was a little over $300. That's expensive compared to JD Squared, but I didn't think it was outlandish. The nice part about the Hossfeld square tooling is it's modular. If I want to do 1/2" square on a 2" inside radius, I would just need a different follow bar and backing block, where JD Squared would be a complete three piece die set. It's not necessarily good or bad either way, just different. There are pros and cons with either bender and tooling arrangement.

I have 12 die sets for my Model 4, so I'm not going to start duplicating the same tooling for my Hossfeld anytime soon.


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Well I am pretty sure Ries will know the answer and if he reads this we will both be the wiser.
I am just too lazy to do a search, because I thought it was on PM where I read about someone copying the Hossfeld because the Patent had run out. That and the fact that I can't afford any dies right now.
Dave
 
Congrats on the new Hossfled, mine is in use everyday and I love it

I think you're thinking of Jeff at American Bender, Jeff is a good guy. I've bought dies from him and they are very good quality. His hydraulic setup is very nice and better than the original Hoss in my opinion. Square dies I've bought (from Hoss) were in the $275-$350 range, not sure how you got to $1200 for one die set?
 
Congrats on the new Hossfled, mine is in use everyday and I love it

I think you're thinking of Jeff at American Bender, Jeff is a good guy. I've bought dies from him and they are very good quality. His hydraulic setup is very nice and better than the original Hoss in my opinion. Square dies I've bought (from Hoss) were in the $275-$350 range, not sure how you got to $1200 for one die set?
Well that is what the bill was, and my thinking is because of where I live.
Coming across the border and the exchange rate are what I am assuming was the reason.

So it is American Bender dies that are compatible to Hossfelld?
Dave
 
American Bender makes dies that are compatible with the Hossfeld as well as a Hoss clone machine. He doesn't make every die Hoss does but has a good assortment and their dies are very good quality.

Dang, that's a bummer getting it to Canada adds so much.
 
Good to know, thanks for that gary-sc.

Yea, it doesn't help when you start off with our dollar being worth on average of about 20% less than your dollar and I am not sure but I don't think that you can buy direct from Hossfeld...... Can you?
I went through a dealer in Kitchener Ont. They were the closest I could find.
Thanks, Dave
 
Good to know, thanks for that gary-sc.

Yea, it doesn't help when you start off with our dollar being worth on average of about 20% less than your dollar and I am not sure but I don't think that you can buy direct from Hossfeld...... Can you?
I went through a dealer in Kitchener Ont. They were the closest I could find.
Thanks, Dave
I just bought all my stuff direct from Hossfeld. I think at one time you had to go through a dealer, but that's no longer the case.

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I am always happy when people realize how much you can do with a hossfeld.
I have been off the grid for a couple of weeks, in rural Uruguay, but now I am back in touch.

I think a really well equipped shop would have both a hossfeld and a JD2- the JD2 is better designed for square and round tubing. It wont do all the other stuff a hossfeld will, though.

I think a lot of people are scared off by the fact that you actually have to read the book, to learn setups for a hossfeld- even though its far simpler than a VMC.

I have trained 8 or 10 people over the years to use a hossfeld, and it does take a while to get really familiar with it- at least a year, often 2, of using it regularly.
at least 3 or 4 of the guys who worked with me have since bought their own hossfelds, and use them daily in their shops, making things from metal for a living.

I bought mine way back around 1979, when there was no internet- I found a 3" long classified ad in the old Seattle PI, the daily paper, advertising a used one for sale, and I was intrigued by all the things he said it could do, so I went over, saw it, and bought it. $775, which included a then $1500 worth of machine and dies- today, more likely 3 grand or more. The guy I bought it from had run a fab shop, and built himself an all metal camper conversion for his pickup, and was selling all his tools to hit the road.

Nowadays, I do more and more hot work with the hossfeld. I keep it a step away from my forge and power hammer, and use it all the time for forging work- forging just means changing the shape of hot metal, and it can be done with a hand hammer, a power hammer, a press, or a hossfeld- its all just about applying force in a controlled way.
 
Just took delivery of my new hossfeld today. I need to make a stand but I played around with it a bit.

I put some pics on instagram and used the hashtag #hossfeldbender as you did, Graham.

Looks like we got some of the same tooling.

Another thumbs up for Ries. I often google "ries practical machinist hossfeld" and a lot will come up.

It's going to be a learning curve but I have some bending experience. I had a well tooled (for what it was) shop outfitters 20/20 bender I sold to help finance the Hossfeld.

I also still have a JD2 model 32 full hydro with 4 dies as well as a diacro 1a we use for one job. I may try to do that job on the hossfeld.



Finally, I called Hossfeld to order and the guy on the phone referred to the 'new owners' a couple times...so maybe they changed hands?
 
Nice, I saw your pictures last night. Instagram has added the ability to follow a hashtag in addition to individual users, so I follow "#hossfeldbender", "#tubebender", and "#pressbrake" and have been getting some cool stuff to show up in my feed.

That's interesting about new owners. Hopefully they keep building great machines.
 
Nice, I saw your pictures last night. Instagram has added the ability to follow a hashtag in addition to individual users, so I follow "#hossfeldbender", "#tubebender", and "#pressbrake" and have been getting some cool stuff to show up in my feed.

That's interesting about new owners. Hopefully they keep building great machines.

I actually toured the Hossfeld factory once- It was 1989, and I was driving across country, and I forced my wife to let me stop in Winona Mn. We walked in the front door, and asked for a tour- and they were a bit surprised- I dont think anyone had ever done that before- but they gave me one. The whole place was full of beautiful wooden patterns for casting all the dies, hanging on walls, sitting on shelves. I am pretty sure they sent the casting out, but kept the patterns in house to avoid loss. And, I am sure, some dies only get cast once every ten years. Not that many people buy 180 degree dies for cap rail, or 180" radius dies.

At that time, they were still building the little well drilling rig. They had one in final assembly in the factory. I would guess they only made a couple a year by that point.

If you google Albert Hossfeld patents, you can see he was making rock drills a good 10 or 15 years before he made his first benders.
video of one in action, here- Hossfeld rock drill - YouTube

at that point, they led me to believe the family still owned it. But, obviously, that was 20 plus years ago.
 
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Pic of mine with bulldozer die. Sample bend sitting on bender.

Started to repurpose an old machine stand to mount it on, will anchor it down later today.
 
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The bender is mounted and I started playing around with it more today.

I got the general purpose toolset for bending pipe...the feed along dies.

I'm pretty impressed with how nice it bends pipe in this manner. I used 3/4" pipe and it was easy enough. I probably shouldn't have bought the whole set as I'm sure I won't be bending 1 1/2" or 2" pipe.

I also bought the sets for bending bar and flat, and the angle iron flange in dies.

I created a nice pile of scrap stock with hooks and eyes on the ends...I could probably waste a lot of time and material just bending stuff randomly.
 








 
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