Bender input needed SO vs. American

[67chevelle]

I'm in the market for a bender ( tube, flat, square and round stock) and need some input.
I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you that have one of the 2 units that I'm considering. ( Dave Meridian, Broccoli1 hint.. hint.. )

I've read what seems like 1000's of posts over the last couple of weeks as I have been searching for information on the various benders that are available.

My choices have boiled down to the following 2 models

Shop Outfitters 20/20 Compact Bender or the American Bender Series # 2

I need the ability to bend 1/2" and 1" square tube, flat stock, and solid round / square stock. The SO website does a lot better job than the American bender site does in outlining their equipments capabilities.

Does the American Bender unit bend flat, square and round solid stock?

How's the documentation that comes with each of these benders?

I'm leaning towards the American bender unit because of it's capability to do larger material that the SO bender. I don't need that capability now, but may in the future.

Comments?

Thanks
Mark

[84ZMike]

I have the knock off of the 2020 and it works just fine........the 2020 is a lot better built than mine,but it still does the job.......
Mike

[Wyoming]

Mark,
The American #2 bender is a very close knock-off of the Hossfeld bender. Many, if not all, of the dies from Hossfeld will interchange with the American bender frame. American doesn't offer the wealth of dies that Hossfeld does, but the ones they do offer are well made and usually cheaper than the Hossfeld dies.

Do a bit of web-searching and you should be able to come up with a tutorial for the Hossfeld bender. Since this is basically the same unit, you should be able to gather enough information from the tutorial to make an educated selection. If you can't find the tutorial...I believe it was hosted by one of the blacksmithing sites...maybe A.B.A.N.A....contact Low Buck Tools for a copy of the Hossfeld promotional literature. They won't shhip you a free detailed manual, but the promotional literature is quite informative. For more information try Hossfeld. They offer an owner's manual that gets into the depth of their machines's capabilities on a nuts and bolts level. The manual was $10 the last time I bought one...several years ago. Here is the link to Hossfeld which has some of the tutorial listed on its site if you care to look around:
http://www.hossfeldbender.com/

Shop Outfitters is a quality company as well. The 2020 won't do the magnitude of work that the American bender is capable of as it is smaller and availabilty of various die sets is far more limited. That said...the Shop Outfitters bender may be all you'll ever need or want and it is a lot cheaper to feed.

Out of the box, each of these benders will do an amazing amount of work. If you need specialty die sets, it gets expensive quickly. General basic bending...go with the Shop Outfitters. If you have special needs such as flange in or out angle iron bends, stair railing, punching, etc., go with the American or a Hossfeld.

[Broccoli1]

As Wyoming said the American is more versatile but these things add up in $$

SO 2020, which will do all of the Flat-2" x 3/16" and solid round stock up to 5/8"

I have bent 5/8" with ease

and then I added
1" sq. die set
1" Round tube die set
Leverage Multiplyer (which is recommended for 1" +)

$1,000.00

[67chevelle]

Ed, I have a couple of additional questions about the SO unit (probably more later)

How clear and complete are the documentation and manuals?

How accurate is the repeatability of bends in the 1" tube?


thanks again
Mark

[Broccoli1]

Mark,

The manual is very clear and there is a "stop" that drops in so you can do Repeats.

I really don't do production work with it- we thought we would be building some carts for our business but we ended up just buying some as they were better outfitted anyway.


SO offers a discount on shipping to forum members- they are quite helpful so see if they'll send you a manual to see if it's something you could use.


there is software available for bending as well

http://vansantent.com/technical_resources.htm

[84ZMike]

Originally Posted by Broccoli1

Mark,

The manual is very clear and there is a "stop" that drops in so you can do Repeats.

I really don't do production work with it- we thought we would be building some carts for our business but we ended up just buying some as they were better outfitted anyway.


SO offers a discount on shipping to forum members- they are quite helpful so see if they'll send you a manual to see if it's something you could use.


there is software available for bending as well

http://vansantent.com/technical_resources.htm

They won't send you one via e-mail,but for $13.00 they will send you a paper copy.
Mike

[Broccoli1]

Mike,

I believe they are a wee bit pissed that HF sells a knock off I imagine they get a few folks asking for an English manual since the HF one is in the good ol' Chinglesh version, with some crappy pics


btw- it's worth the 13 bux

[84ZMike]

Originally Posted by Broccoli1

Mike,

I believe they are a wee bit pissed that HF sells a knock off I imagine they get a few folks asking for an English manual since the HF one is in the good ol' Chinglesh version, with some crappy pics


btw- it's worth the 13 bux

I agree the HF/ Northerntool doesn't have very good instructions....it does give some basics.
Mike

[Dave Merdian]

Buy the American Bender and you won't reget it. I have a Hossfeld and all the attachments are interchangeable. Here are some pics of projects I made using the bender.

[Dave Merdian]

Here is a pic of some angle I formed on the bender, 12 inch radius.