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Harbor freight Bead roller. who has one?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by DIRTYT, Dec 26, 2006.

  1. DIRTYT
    Joined: Oct 22, 2003
    Posts: 3,264

    DIRTYT
    Member
    from Warren,MI

    They have them on sale this week for 99.99 and ive needed one more times then i can count. i thought this would be a good way to spend some of my x-mas cash. But ive all so done some reading online and got some mixed reviews. even found some post on google from 2002 or so on here.

    any rate from what ive read it seems with a little re-inforcing these things dont work half bad. But i would like to hear some updated thoghts if i could.

    While were at it... any one have a link to that homemade english wheels post from about 3 years ago?

    Thanks
    Bryan
     
  2. Anderson
    Joined: Jan 27, 2003
    Posts: 7,155

    Anderson
    Member

    My dad bought one of those bead rollers recently. Talked to him tonight, said he just finished making a stand for it. Not sure how much, if any, renforccment he's done on it. But he said it works ok.....not bad for the price anyway.
     
  3. hotrodladycrusr
    Joined: Sep 20, 2002
    Posts: 20,765

    hotrodladycrusr
    Member

    Not that you appreciate opinions that comes from me but here is directions to build your own English wheel that ALOT of my pals have built
    http://www.roddingroundtable.com/tech/articles/12ewheel.html

    Now I'll go back to "baking fucking cookies"
     
  4. Rob Kozak
    Joined: Aug 18, 2005
    Posts: 442

    Rob Kozak
    Member


  5. DIRTYT
    Joined: Oct 22, 2003
    Posts: 3,264

    DIRTYT
    Member
    from Warren,MI

  6. fab32
    Joined: May 14, 2002
    Posts: 13,985

    fab32
    Member Emeritus

    Bryan, You don't have to go to the exteme that that link does but it sure makes a nice looking roller. I think if you do a search you'll find a couple of threads about reinforcing the HF roller to make if a decent piece.
    As far as the Rodders Roundtable english wheel goes, I built one and there is only one problem. Once you start to use it you won't be able to quit. I made one and I've got a whole shelf rack of different shapes I've made getting the hang of how to use a wheel. It's additive so beware.

    Frank
     
  7. If you're talking about the one that shears, flanges, and bead rolls, i used one on the aluminum floors, and fireblock to the trunk area in a Willys i built 10 years ago and it worked pretty good. It takes 2, one to crank it, and the other to feed the "work", but for a guy that never fabricated anything, i wasn't embarassed!
     
  8. michael037
    Joined: May 26, 2005
    Posts: 324

    michael037
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I cut up some 2 x 1/4" angleand welded up a support frame that I bolted to the rear of the existing frame. I incorporated 2 off 2" square tube uprights into the angle frame to hopefully mount a gear drive electric motor onto one day.
    Michael
     
  9. Rob Paul
    Joined: Nov 11, 2005
    Posts: 1,272

    Rob Paul
    Member

    Well worth the money. A little reinforcing, and you will be good to roll. You cant beat the price.
     
  10. Metalmeet.com has a killer english wheel build.
     
  11. scootermcrad
    Joined: Sep 20, 2005
    Posts: 12,382

    scootermcrad
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Anyone put a motor or gearmotor drive on the HF bead roller? I'm going to pick up one of these also. I have a million uses for a bead roller at this point... AND an E-wheel for that matter!
     
  12. tdoty
    Joined: Jun 21, 2006
    Posts: 821

    tdoty
    Member

    As a matter of fact, I have motorized my HF bead roller :D

    The dies alone are worth the price of admission! If you had to build your own frame, you'd still come out way ahead. The dies might need a bit more finishing work, but I didn't mind that a bit.


    A bit of bracing with 1 1/2" square tube and an aluminum motor mount and it works just fine. There are many methods of motorizing things, and your choice of motor decides a big part of it. My motor is a Dayton/Grainger 1/10hp 90vDC 90 degree gearmotor with a Leeson speed controller and a 3:1 reduction in the pulleys. It maxes out at about 22 rpm - or about 11 1/2 feet of sheetmetal a minute at max speed. I find that slower is better.

    2691beadroller.jpg

    HTH,
    Tim D.
     
  13. scootermcrad
    Joined: Sep 20, 2005
    Posts: 12,382

    scootermcrad
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Cool! Are you using a foot controller then? That speed controller sounds expensive. What did that thing set you back?
     
  14. AHotRod
    Joined: Jul 27, 2001
    Posts: 12,216

    AHotRod
    Member

    I got a HF Bead-Roller, and it works great for me.
     
  15. fab32
    Joined: May 14, 2002
    Posts: 13,985

    fab32
    Member Emeritus

    My first bead roller is one from Eastwood which is the one the chinese copied and is sold by Harbor Freight. I took the end castings off an old belt lathe and made a stand. Mounted the bead roller reinforced a little different than the ones that have been posted. Mounted an old electric motor and a gear reduction I had laying around to a fabricated shelf below the roller and figured the reduction for a couple of v-belt pulleys. Mounted the small pulley on the grear reducer and the large one on the crank position of the bead roller and now have a powered bead roller. Used an old sewing machine pedal to feed power to the motor and made it a variable speed deal.
    When Fuel Pump or Hatch are around with their camera I'll have them post a couple of pictures.

    Frank
     
  16. Yo Baby
    Joined: Jul 11, 2004
    Posts: 2,811

    Yo Baby
    Member

    I don't have any pics but there an is old guy here in town who made a simple hub that fit on the "drive shaft" of the roller where the crank would normally go and installed a chev. flexplate and used a ford window motor assy. to drive the flex plate.
    I don't recall whether he used a power supply or a batt. and charger to make it go though.
     
  17. scootermcrad
    Joined: Sep 20, 2005
    Posts: 12,382

    scootermcrad
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I would REALLY like to see that! PLEASE post some stuff on that! The sewing machine pedal might be a great solution for that too! Does that vary the speed by resistance based on pedal position or does it control something else that varies the speed?
     
  18. speedaddict
    Joined: Sep 28, 2002
    Posts: 2,420

    speedaddict
    Member
    from Austin, Tx

    oh my...that's a great thread on reinforcing...that thing turned out sweet.
     
  19. I think mine is great.......when I have it. Everybody else is happy with it too.
     
  20. Jalopy-Phil
    Joined: Nov 15, 2005
    Posts: 53

    Jalopy-Phil
    Member

    I just picked up one. I would like to see more pictures of one fitted with a motor.
     
  21. Deuce Rails
    Joined: Feb 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,016

    Deuce Rails
    Member

    I like what Tim Doty did to his.

    I hated mine. Aside from low rigidity, here's what I didn't like:
    1) There's no good way to adjust pressure of the dies.
    2) The dies are cheap metal with a nasty black oxide finish.
    3) The crank makes it very difficult to feed metal at a constant rate; a turnwheel works much better.
    4) There's no positive engagement, like a gear drive, of the top and bottom dies.

    I ended getting one from http://www.toolsplus1.com/broller.htm which was a lot more expensive, but SO much better than the HF thing.

    --Matt
     
  22. Chopper Demon
    Joined: Jan 27, 2005
    Posts: 274

    Chopper Demon
    Member

    A buddy of mine picked one up and did some pretty cool beads for a custom truck bed....I'll try to gets some pics of it.
     
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