Hossfeld Bender Die Sizing vs results

[JP_in_STL]

@digr
The fire pit legs are just 2-7/8 OD oil pipe. I miter cut them at a 32º angle to cope into the bowl. I cut the pipes double length and then split to get 2 legs.

Or if you meant the leg for the bender stand, that's a 100lb propane tank shell I had as "inventory" and a couple plate drops. All built from scrap on hand. I'm going to add shelves in the stand body to hold the dies.

[randydupree]

Originally Posted by cutter

Well, you certainly have a good looking product. I hope it all works out for you.

For real!
Nice.

[randydupree]

Heres some ideas for you.

1-this bender is made out of plywood,2 pieces of 3/4 ply sandwiched together and screwed.
the bending edge is not square,it has a slight peak in the middle,this peak dimples the tube slightly making it easier to bend the radius,that 1 1/2 square tube i bent in the pics,i bent about 40 of them,each one the same.
I have made benders like this for alum. "T" rail to use in the bottom of alum boats,5 rails per boat floor and they all came out the same.
I'm not sure how many boats we built.
The "T" rail bender had a gap between the plywood for the leg to go into,and a simple handle with roller to roll around the metal,a stirrup on the held end keeps it in place.
If i was doing what your doing i would build a plywood deal for the angle iron,make it a little bigger than a half radius,and slip the work around 2.5 times to get it round,this is a fast way to bend angle.

2-my version of a ring roller,made out of junk,the solid rubber tires are off some old military machine and the adjuster is a track jack,used by the army to tighter tracks on tanks,its a fine threaded screw on a sturdy frame and the top wheel is mounted to that frame.
I have rolled 2x2x120 wall square tube on it,a 20 foot stick of steel at a time.
I can't say what the radius was but i used them for the top of a 14' wide rolling door,i cut the flats off the ends of course.
I should have made the roller laying down,when you get a 20 foot stick of steel bent the ends are way high in the air,it took a couple of guys on ladders to support the ends with them going up and down alot as we rolled the tube.
The wheels have a crown in them,which helps dimple the tube and makes it bend easier.

3-a sample bend,done on the plywood bender.

4-top bending on the Hossfeld

5- i used the bent square tube for the top of these shutters,using the plywood bender to do it.

I had a big plywood bender that we bent airboat cage main loops on,most of them were 180 degree bends,3/4 stainless tube.
A few we rolled the stainless 360 degrees,lots of springback on the stainless,bent into about an 8' loop.

Maybe you can use some of these ideas,maybe not.
But it worked for me,made a few bucks with little money invested in tooling.

The plywood came from a local truck parts house,they ship big brake drums with a 4x4 sheet of plywood between the drums,they gave me all i wanted.

[randydupree]

I didn't mean to kill the thread...

[JP_in_STL]

@randydupree

No thread killing felt on my end.

I like all of your DIY roller/bender options. I've used the plywood jig and bent hot for a couple one off pieces before. Works great for the price!!!

I have a 3 wheel ring roller from Harbor Freight that I've beefed up and added the power drive option from SWAG Offroad that adapts a pipe threader (also available from HF) to drive the ring roller. It does a fairly good job, sure beats hand cranking, but the final size varies a bit. I usually roll my footrest from 1in SCH40 pipe. I find anything thinner really wants to twist and corkscrew.
https://www.harborfreight.com/tubing-roller-99736.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/portab...der-62203.html
https://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-Bun...ler_p_163.html

I spent a couple hrs out in the shop last night after the day job. Needed to make some concentric rings with varying diameters from 37-46.5in. So I used the #20 radius block in the Hossfeld and cranked some 3/8 rod through. Came up with this idea of "combs" out of some 3/4 scrap tubing to keep the rings concentric. Should get back out there tonight for a bit and weld things up.

[JP_in_STL]

Not necessarily Hossfeld related, but I did learn how to use it in this project. I'm dreaming up some new ideas to use the Hossfeld on.

I finished the pain in the ass fire pit. Came out pretty good. Took too long and I did not charge enough :-) Concentric rings for the shelf are 3/8 solid round. Inside ring is 1in x 3/16 flat edge bent and the outer ring is 1x1x3/16 angle bent leg in. Adjustable height swinging grate is sized for a weber kettle grate for easy replacement in the future. Upright for the grate is removable and just drops in a socket.

The concentric rings out of 3/8 took too much time. I needed a diameter between 36in and 47in. I used the #18 and #20 die, 2 each and walked them into place. I made some "combs" to help with the spacing and built it upside down on the table to do all the bracing so the shelf surface would be flat.

[toprecycler]

It looks very professional though. They should be happy with that. Hope you told them that they are getting a good deal, and if they have any friends that want one, give them the price it should have been. Of course, the next one will go much quicker probably. That is the challenge of one-offs and the first one , it takes a lot of time for the learning curve.




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[cutter]

Very nice, JP. I am impressed by the design and the execution.

[Scotts]

Yes that is well done.

Scott

[JohnBoy]

I know nothing about benders or rollers, but I know that looks good.