Crimper for various fittings

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Hello folks,quite a few moons ago I was at a flea market, garage sale, or some other sort of used tool opportunity and picked up a set of dies for crimping hydraulic lines. Those of you familiar with these sorts of tools probably know that the dies/die sets are the expensive part of this stuff. I surmised that at some time in the future I would have a need for something like this and then put them to use. Well it took a lot of years but I finally got around to doing something with them. I imagine a lot of you have also had the pleasure of using many of the commercially available choices for crimping the retaining sleeves onto various hose end combinations. I have typically not been impressed with much of what is out there, I'm not saying that you can't find anything, but if you do, it might require a trip to the loan department at the bank to be able to pay for it.Once I made the decision to make this stuff actually do something I needed to plan my strategy for putting everything together. Between home and the scrap supply at school I was able to find a couple of nice SS pipe fittings/flanges that would work for a portion of this build. Additionally, a length of all-thread and some nuts, a center hub to a belt shieve, a piece of SS flat bar, a chunk of thick MS plate, and an old hydraulic jack rounded out the parts. The next step was to determine the angle to machine the SS flange to so that it would provide the correct receiver piece to make the die crimp as it was designed. Once I figure that out (15 degrees, 30 degrees included angle) I bored the inside of the flange to the correct size and depth. Welded this to the chunk of MS plate and bored it through to provide clearance and access to pass the hose/fitting through so that it could be crimped. Welded the SS flat bar to cover the hole in the center of the top flange and then connected the two together with the all-thread. Used the hub center as a spacer to provide clearance for the hose end when it was being pressed by the jack between the two surfaces. Then I use a vise to clamp and hold the press in place for use. I also needed to perform some weld build-up and grinding/reshaping on the die sections to obtain a satisfactory crimp for my particular purpose (the die was slightly oversize for my intended purpose).  To use this monstrosity you have to install the die into the tapered hole and then from the bottom, pass the hose up through and orient it at the correct depth before pressing. Next step is to place the hub center over the hose fitting and centered on the die and then place the jack in position and apply jacking pressure until you feel it come up solid. After releasing the pressure on the jack, removing it and the hub center, you can lightly push up from the bottom of the press against the dies and remove the finished hose end.I am including some pictures to better explain/illustrate this whole thing. Best regards everyone, AllanEdit: sorry about the picture quality, after I got done snapping these I noticed that I hadn't enabled the macro setting on the camera. Attached Imagesaevald
Reply:Here are some more pics. Attached Imagesaevald
Reply:I just go to the hose room and make what I need. Doesn't everybody?  We have a decent hose making setup at work and we get a big discount on fittings from Applied Industrial. We have these two machines. I had a chance to get a crimping setup with pump, press & dies for $50 and didn't do it. Very nice execution on scrounged parts. Where in SW WA are you? Attached ImagesLast edited by RaptorDuner; 01-12-2013 at 06:48 PM.Millermatic 200Hobart Handler 120Victor O/A & Ramco BandsawLincoln 225 ACSnapOn AD HoodMiller XMT304/22AHypertherm Powermax 1650 G3Lincoln Idealarc DC600 w/Extreme 12 VSMiller Digital Elite "Joker"
Reply:Hello RaptorDuner, know what you're saying about having those "nice" crimpers, used to have access with different employment. I am located just south of you in Longview, I teach welding at Lower Columbia College there. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:RaptorDuner, are you working in Randle as well as living up there? Possibly one of the board mills in the area? I have had some students over the years from your area and have also had some students go to work up there. Your mention of Applied Industrial possibly means that they are your vendor for those types of supplies or possibly you may work much closer to my school than your information suggests. Just curious. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:Work & live here.  I work at the Hampton Lumber mill as a mechanic in the rolling stock shop. I know the millwrights are looking for a qualified millwright and we are looking for a qualified mechanic in our shop. Who have you sent up this way? Applied comes out of Tacoma and the parts are decently priced but the sales....JasonMillermatic 200Hobart Handler 120Victor O/A & Ramco BandsawLincoln 225 ACSnapOn AD HoodMiller XMT304/22AHypertherm Powermax 1650 G3Lincoln Idealarc DC600 w/Extreme 12 VSMiller Digital Elite "Joker"
Reply:Does Francisco Ojeda ring a bell? I believe that he worked in the saw filers shop and also did some millwrighting or welding there. He is the only one who's name I can pull off the top of my head right now. There have been others, yet, I don't know if they are still there. They would likely have been welders/millwrights while there. Still others could have been with outside contractors that were doing work there on a shutdown or some other sort of upgrade. Regards, Allanaevald
Reply:No, but he could've worked at the Hampton mill in Morton. We have 4 contractors working there right now and are hiring millwrights fairly regularly so your students should have a future.JasonMillermatic 200Hobart Handler 120Victor O/A & Ramco BandsawLincoln 225 ACSnapOn AD HoodMiller XMT304/22AHypertherm Powermax 1650 G3Lincoln Idealarc DC600 w/Extreme 12 VSMiller Digital Elite "Joker"
Reply:Thanks Jason, if we end up with some qualified folks to send your way I'll let them know of the job possibilities or to at least check in with Hampton. Best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:I brought in the rest of the "dies" that were part of the package and snapped a couple of pictures of them. As I mentioned before, these were originally intended for use to crimp hydraulic fittings. I believe that I will be able to use them for their original intended purpose along with a number of other uses, ie., compressed air lines, reducing the diameter of pipe ends to make-up removable legs for different types of stands and such. Just generally to use when crimping/reducing would be beneficial. All of them will work in my improvised press configuration. Best regards, Allan Attached Imagesaevald
Reply:Great find and excellent execution!Now I wonder where the rest of us mortals might find affordable crimping tools for 1/4" air hose...  I am dissappointed I don't see this stuff at Northern Tools or Harbor Feight.- MondoMember, AWSLincoln ProMIG 140Lincoln AC TombstoneCraftsman Lathe 12 x 24 c1935Atlas MFC Horizontal MillCraftsman Commercial Lathe 12 x 36 c1970- - - I'll just keep on keepin' on.
Reply:Hello Mondo, there are a large selection of "crimpers" out there and available through any number of sources. Often times though they are "cheesy" IMHO. That is why I had wanted to come up with something that would provide professional results when the crimp was applied. Many of the crimping kits use the vise-grip style pliers to apply the crimp and often times the resulting crimp is very uneven and much of the time downright ugly, here again, IMHO. I have another crimper that is manufactured by Imperial Eastman, it's a pretty nice unit but susceptible to damage relatively easily. I have seen a lot of others as well but have not been able to personally try them. Thanks for the comments. Best regards, Allanaevald