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
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.
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"
Take a look at this thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137858&highlight=bead+roller
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
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!
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
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!
As a matter of fact, I have motorized my HF bead roller 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. HTH, Tim D.
Cool! Are you using a foot controller then? That speed controller sounds expensive. What did that thing set you back?
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
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.
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?
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
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.