May 15, 20233 yr Author A further thought about the moveable roller as suggested by Scott NC above. As you can see in this photo, the pin holding it sticks out from the bottom of the swing arm: In practice, this means that the end of the pin bumps against one of the supports of the circle guide, limiting the swing arm's movement. You can raise the pin a bit to get the proper clearance, but it's awkward and annoying. I think I may make another pin that stops right at the bottom of the swing arm, so that it can swing freely though its full range without bumping into anything. I could theoretically use one of the other standard pins (such as the 17B Flat Head Pin), but the inner bore of the bearings is just a hair tight on those, and I don't want to grind them down to improve the fit if I don't have to.
May 16, 20233 yr Trimming the pin is a reasonable solution, a washer under the arm pivot will raise it enough you don't have to make the pin flush. If you grind the pin end in a shallow dish it's more likely to ride over the plate. I wouldn't hate having to tweak a Hossfeld and figure out how to use it. <sigh> Frosty The lucky.
May 16, 20233 yr I've spent many hours using mine for round tube bending. I opted for the 180* dies since they were minimally more expensive at the time. I haven't used it in about 10 years. Modified the stand to hold my plate anvil. I got the hydraulic unit because the handle extension would have to be about 20' long to bend the 1 1/2 tube with 2 people. Bending square tube requires collapsing the inner wall slightly. Your stop block is real similar, but better, to the stock one minus it being cast iron. Mine broke the second time I used it. I ended up just drawing a soapstone line on the ring, or in the case of the tube dies, a sharpie on the die. I had to make hundreds of the same bend over a few years. To make the bends even easier I use Tapmatic Edge lube. It was required to keep from tearing aluminum tube but it helps with steel.
May 17, 20233 yr Repeatability is always a challenge when bending. I used to bend those big tapered "arms" that hold up traffic lights at intersections on a long, very heavey duty, horizontal bending machine. The poles were 20-30' long, or longer in some cases, and it had different dies for different radii. We kept notes on the length to bend and after a few trial and errors on the first ones we had movable electric eye sensor we would set up to stop the bender. They came close to tolerance (+-3 degrees) but never the same. If they were over bent, we would hold the big, base end up on an overhead crane and slam the bend on the floor, you eventually got a feel for how hard to throw it down. This took out some of the bend. We also made the arms that hold up power lines on transmission poles. Same general principal only shorter. They were 3/8-1/2" thick, tapered, hexagonaly bent material though, so you had to put them in the bender backwards to take some radius out. That machine scared everybody and nobody wanted to work on it. It used rather large chain to hold the base end and pull the smaller end around the die. It creaked and groaned enough to make you grit your teeth. All the pipe, tubing and plate steel was formed in house so I imagine it was due to the quality of the steel. It came in by rail car, probably from China.
June 1, 20233 yr Author As discussed above, I made a dedicated pin for the roller block. It has a finger ring on top and is flush with the underside of the swing arm, to clear the spot for the circle guide.
June 2, 20233 yr John, Your roller block is interesting, I'm assuming you're only replacing the trailing 11B block, not both. Will be interested to hear how it works for you. One comment I'd offer is that the 11B blocks were made to provide 4 different clearances given where the hole is in the block. I find being able to rotate the blocks (particularly the leading block) to change clearance is often helpful--just more of the subtleties of the Hossfeld & its tooling. Glad you got the manual, lots of good info in there--in particular notes on limits and capacities. My manual is at the shop so this is just from memory. With respect to bending eyes with the dog, do note the use of the two different pins to control the position of the dog's nose (normally to the leading side of the center pin) and the caution about safe limits. My take on it is that you can damage the dog's nose with too much force. --Larry
June 2, 20233 yr Author 1 minute ago, LarryFahnoe said: I'm assuming you're only replacing the trailing 11B block, not both. Will be interested to hear how it works for you. Yes, and so far, so good.
June 4, 20233 yr On 6/2/2023 at 1:34 PM, LarryFahnoe said: One comment I'd offer is that the 11B blocks were made to provide 4 different clearances given where the hole is in the block. I find being able to rotate the blocks (particularly the leading block) to change clearance is often helpful Whatever you do, don't throw the 11B block away. You may want to use it in place of that crazy bearing roller for some purpose in the future. I should have mentioned that.
June 5, 20233 yr Author Yes, I always understood this to be a reinforcement rather than a replacement.
June 5, 20233 yr Don't throw a part of a tool or piece of equipment away? Like that's very likely with blacksmiths! Good one, I get it. Frosty The Lucky.
June 5, 20233 yr Author With permission, I am photo-dumping here a bunch of images of Hossfeld tooling. These are from a couple of posts on the "Hossfeld bender junkies" Facebook forum by a couple of folks in New Mexico who are auctioning off the two benders from their shop. [dead link removed] (Note the unusual handle, which I think may be a shop-built replacement.) [dead links removed] The previous photos are all from their post about a manual bender; the following, from their post about a hydraulic. [dead links removed] (I've asked what the fourth pin from the left is for; here is their reply: "For one of our products, we made tight eyebolt-like bends in the end of 1/2" round stock, working cold. The dog leg allowed us to complete and center the eyebolt shape at the end of the round stock. As I remember, when we got to finishing that eye bolt shape, it was just a quick adjustment to adjust that dog leg piece to complete the bend...instead of using another pin.") [dead links removed] Edited April 2, 20242 yr by Mod34 Dead links to photos removed; see later comment for images.
June 6, 20233 yr They've got a couple parts that are used with the hydraulic unit, wonder if that's still around.
June 6, 20233 yr Author As noted above, they have two benders for sale. One is manual, and the other one is hydraulic. They are selling each bender as a lot with its respective tooling set. I can't post the links here, but if you are interested in taking a look, I can DM you the links for the online auctions of each of those lots.
July 2, 20232 yr Author Not sure where those photos went, so here’s another try: In other news, going on a suggestion in a YouTube video, I made a photocopy of the manual for my #2 and put it in a binder with plastic sheet protectors. That will go out in the shop to get covered in grit and grease, and the original manual will remain safe and clean on my bookshelf.
September 3, 20232 yr Author Made some more Hossfeld parts. First, inspired by one of the photos from June 5, I made an unconventional extension handle. I might add some diagonal bracing if I find it flexing too much. Also, a 25B Sliding Gauge from some 1/2” plate and a couple of 5/16” x 18 socket screws:
September 20, 20232 yr Author Interesting video of someone milling a #60B bulldozer die out of railroad track.
September 21, 20232 yr Thanks for the link it is an interesting video. It's been a long time since I spent any time in a machine shop, it brings back good memories. I just wish folks posting videos like this would leave out the stupid LOUD music. It adds nothing, makes muting a must and loses the benefit of being able to hear the machine and tool sounds. Frosty The Lucky.
November 6, 20232 yr Author Today is the 100th Anniversary of the patent being issued for the Hossfeld Bender on November 6, 1923. Happy Birthday, Hossfeld!
November 8, 20232 yr Happy Belated Birthday to you Mr. Bend Hossright invention patent. Glory be, I found a picture of my old home built one which is still stuck in storage in Nebraska! Only, the photo is stuck on my dilapidated, semi froze up laptop.
November 8, 20232 yr I have to quit forecasting things I can't deliver on.... I will draw a picture of it tomorrow and post it. I suppose we ran out of pencils now.
November 11, 20232 yr No pressure Scott, I just wanted to see what you'd come up with, a sketch is good. If you don't have pencils, charred sticks and the side of the house is fine. Frosty The Lucky.
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