Staffa tube bender

[inchpincher]

Purchased on impulse when I was picking up a bandsaw last year, told it leaked a bit but just needed topping up before use

It's sat for the best part of a year then I had a funny five minutes and filled it with dot 4 brake fluid and now it won't hold pressure, doh!

Stripped it apart and drained it, the seal kits are obscure and from what I've googled expensive, so where do I go from here?

Go to a seal company and get bits matched or just put it back together and refill (with what fluid btw?)...

It really will be very occasional use, I just happen to need it now

Cheers

Image below just pulled off the web but mine is identical, can provide pics of it stripped down...

 

[brightspark]

take out the seals and get them matched up at a bearing and transmission dealers . should be filled with hydraulic oil not brake fluid

 

[Engineer]

You can get new seals made using the originals as pattern. Anywhere that has a "Sealjet" machine will be able to make these for you. Hydraulic seals are completely different to seals used in bearing housings, so bearing suppliers will be unable to help.

 

[brightspark]

You can get new seals made using the originals as pattern. Anywhere that has a "Sealjet" machine will be able to make these for you. Hydraulic seals are completely different to seals used in bearing housings, so bearing suppliers will be unable to help.

they must be unique round our way then i got all my seals matched up for an epco jack and know someone got theres for a tube bender . they are allso trasmission and fluid engineering supplies

 

[Shox Dr]

You can get new seals made using the originals as pattern. Anywhere that has a "Sealjet" machine will be able to make these for you. Hydraulic seals are completely different to seals used in bearing housings, so bearing suppliers will be unable to help.

Having one seal made will cost an arm and a 2 legs. I've just had 10 seals made for a Suzuki GT750 2stroke Oil Pump, at 4.95each, and believe me that was a good price.

Hydraulic seals are completely different to seals used in bearing housings, so bearing suppliers will be unable to help.

In what way?

 

[graffian]

When my old epco jack got a bit incontinent I went to my local hydraulic place
with the string seal and they said to drop the pump/ram off and they would find a seal. I think I gave them a tenner when I collected it, no idea if they found a seal to fit or modded the housing to take one. My tube bender leaks, it's fine to do a job but if you leave it lying flat it will leak[it's been like it since 1990]. I use auto trans fluid in jacks and rams.

 

[dai]

get the seals out and post a pic with the sizes

 

[Engineer]

Strangely most people are unaware of the fact that hydraulic seals are quite different to the rotary garter seals you would buy from a bearing supplier for instance.

This leads to many replacing the hydraulic seals in things like bike forks for instance with rotary seals, which will generally start leaking pretty quickly.

However hydraulic seals in something like the OPs pipe bender, are not likely to the same as bike fork type seals, and there is no chance of confusion here.

If the tube bender is still being made then spares should still be available, but if not the ram dimensions of this type of thing mean that hydraulic repair places generally wont be able to help, and getting seals made is likely to be an awful lot cheaper than buying a new pipe bender.

 

[Shox Dr]

It not a case of the seals are different more a case of suitable for the application.
If when replacing a seal, or O-ring, you don't replace like with like then, you can expect to have problems. Any Seal supplier worth dealing with would ask the simple question as to what it's for.

 

[Engineer]

The fact is rotary and hydraulic seals are different, and as most people are not aware of this, its only too easy to end up with a seal that fits perfectly but wont do the job properly!

 

[FranV8]

The fact is rotary and hydraulic seals are different, and as most people are not aware of this, its only too easy to end up with a seal that fits perfectly but wont do the job properly!

I'm nominating you for today's stating the obvious medal.

 

[Engineer]

Perhaps you could explain how the seals are different V8?

 

[inchpincher]

There are four 'main' rubber seals i can find, the ram itself is still in situ, the original leak emanated from the top of the two small pistons that the lever forces down. One is bigger than the other and their seals have a slight OD taper. There are two regular round seals, one still in the housing as i didn't want to pick it out unnecessarily. I've also discovered the original oil was shell tellous 27 and i've found a modern equivalent so that's a start.

All of the washers on the bolts have a rubber ID surface too, more stuff for the hydraulic specialists? I've used these sort of washers for a motorbike mastercylinder hose connections but i can't remember what they are called...

Good hydraulic seal stockists/shops in London???

edit - just realised the sizes are probably imperial, should of flicked the verniers, sorry

 

[inchpincher]

Found a local company that said they'd take a look tomorrow - Forrest Hydraulics Ltd in Canning Town, will report back

 

[malcolm]

Perhaps you could explain how the seals are different V8?

Perhaps you could explain it yourself. I've never replaced a hydraulic seal in my life but might do one day so it could be useful to know.

This forum is not intended to be like the other forums where people withhold useful info in order to prove they are better than everyone else. It's more about sharing information and helping others along.

 

[Robotstar5]

All of the washers on the bolts have a rubber ID surface too, more stuff for the hydraulic specialists? I've used these sort of washers for a motorbike mastercylinder hose connections but i can't remember what they are called...

Dowty washers, but they're not cheap!

 

[gavuk]

Let me know the Id of the dowty seals,might have some here that will fit,cant help with the piston seals though...as stated previously,try someone local,can't see those seals being mistaken as rotary shaft seals ,but do explain what they will be used for...the od of the pressure seals being tapered is not that unusual....

 

[Engineer]

Perhaps you could explain it yourself. I've never replaced a hydraulic seal in my life but might do one day so it could be useful to know.

This forum is not intended to be like the other forums where people withhold useful info in order to prove they are better than everyone else. It's more about sharing information and helping others along.

In an earlier response to the OP it was suggested he got seals from a bearing supplier. These people generally only supply rotary seals, which are quite different to hydraulic seals. For anyone unsure about seals this site provides some useful info: http://www.ahpseals.com/

There is also much confusion over the type of seals required for motorcycle front forks, and these while looking exactly the same as a common or garden rotary shaft seal of the type sold by bearing suppliers, are designed for operation at far higher pressures: http://www.blue-diamond.co.uk/press/press1.html

 

[dai]

Dowty washers, but they're not cheap!

they arnt that dear normally

 

[Paul.]

They look cheap enough to me, the price is for the quantity shown on the left, 1/8th bsp are £7.70 for a bag of 50,