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Hose Crimper

J

Jaltavela

Member
Do any of you own your own hose crimping tool? If so, what do you have an are you happy with it? I want to be able to do the full range of sizes needed and being portable is preferred. I have a Weather head press that the previous owner left but no Dies for it and the dies are very expensive on their own. I am wondering if anyone has used the Chinese amazon one since i don't see a decent portable option listed anywhere.

 
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What hoses are you trying to make? Bay hoses are not cost effective to make - they can be ordered assembled from Kleen Rite for around the same price as buying the components yourself, just keep a few spares on hand. If its longer hoses for equipment room to bays, any custom lengths for automatics, it usually makes sense time wise to make your own. We keep spares of bay hoses and have the longer ones made locally as needed, that usually costs more, but it is convenient and we can be up and running quickly. Only problem is finding an open hose shop on weekends.

Sell that weather head press if you don't want to spend the $ on dies. Those are top tier presses and will be worth a good amount used also. If you want to make your own hoses, would suggest buying the dies instead of using the china amazon machine.
 
I want to be able to make and repair the 1" high pressure hoses for the IBAs. The local parts stores can make them but they're very expensive and not always open. I have a bucket of fittings and a roll of hose, I'm not sure how much is left on the roll but id guess at least 50'. It seems every time i have napa make a 1" hose its $500. I'd consider buying a set of dies if i can find a used set but i'm worried id end up buying the wrong ones.
 
yep, those hoses will be expensive to have made. Maybe contact a hydraulic supplier for help. We've used discount hydraulic hose online with good results. They should be able to get you the correct dies
 
To get the correct hose crimp you will need the correct die set. You will need to have machine brand, the hose brand and model. Not all hoses of the same size work with the same die set. there are different pressure settings per style of hose as well. Good luck.
 
I have a weatherhead hose press. I use it a lot, we make up all of our hoses, 3/8" - 1" hoses. I paid $400 for my hose used a number of years ago. Shop around for used dies or a complete set up.
 
I have a Parker karry krimp for many years now. Air pedal with it too. I use it all the time and it works great. I have dyes from 1/4" to 1 1/4" for 43 series and parflex hose. You have to use Parker hose and fittings. Hoses at my own washes are scheduled only to break on Saturdays and Sundays so it definitely is nice to have.
 
I use a Parker Minikrimp but like mentioned above, but you better have the correct dies and all. I use gates hose with parker fittings works very nice.
 
If you know, the hose size and dimensions, we order them from discount hydraulic hose.com. They are literally so cheap that I replaced them once a year, that way I know they never fail on the weekends when I’m not around. I love it. I couldn’t make them for cheaper.
 
This goes back to aggressive PM. I saw a sign recently on one of the FB groups that said something like "if you don't schedule maintenance on your equipment, it will" Anyway, I'm as guilty as most folks about overlooking things but I'm trying to be better about replacing hoses before they break. As suggested by GPAW it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace moving hoses annually on a higher volume car wash. If It will cost you less than a single day's profit and keep things running smoothly it's worth it.

I have the parker mini crimper air-powered crimper. I got it from a local carwash guy getting out of the business along with a complete set of dies from 1/4-1" for $500. Saves me a good bit of time. He said he bought 10K worth of hoses and fittings from a local parker dealer and they included it in the deal. I've had no problem using it with gates or goodyear hose that I buy from KR or CWSS.

The screw on hose fittings work fine for me and hold up longer than the hose will. I keep them on the truck in 3/8" and 1/2". They get a little more difficult to use at 3/4" and 1" but if you keep a pair of those in each size and a length of some hose it can get you out of a pinch and probably still cheaper than local hose shops.

For years I just bought plenty of spare hoses with fittings installed from Kleen Rite to keep on hand. If I kept a 3,4,5,6 and 7 ft hose along with a couple of now working fxf swivels I could cobble something together that would work in almost any situation. Sometimes I had to loop the extra length but it got me running. I also have a couple of very common ones on the automatic that break so I keep those pre-made.
 
just finished buying a new hose crimper machine a german make thru discount hose company, we make a lot of hose for our coin ops. hose we us is 100r1 at hose and buy 500 ft reels . machine came with multiple sizes, when looking to buy we also noticed portable hand pumped unit, ours is fixed and 220 volt powered and we thru 1000 ft of hose in a year
 
Most of my hoses are 3/8" I keep stock and just make them on site as needed. 3/8" reusable fittings , easy and quick.
 
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