I bought myself a Magnum tools bead roller and decided to beef it up for stiffness and to also power it with a gear motor. I welded some extra metal around and into it which greatly stiffened it, it will now roll 16 gauge without protest if needed. I also modified the top die pressure screw so that the top die can be turned down and also lifted for changing dies without loosening any bolts. The gear motor is a Dayton which has a 1787:1 reduction so it gives about 2.8 RPM speed to the dies under load. I wired it so it is reversible and it operates with a foot pedal. It came with the basic stepping and bead rolling dies, I'll add to my collection as I go, likely tipping dies, and louver dies too. Pictures
Sure is nice to stand there and run it with a foot pedal. Makes it an easy one man job and the slow speed makes following lines easy too.
It's a Dayton 2Z797C. I believe they are discontinued now, although they pop up on e-bay from time to time. I was able to get one new in the box so I jumped on it. They are a really reliable strong and long life little motor-gearbox. Dayton may offer one with similar specs, I'm not sure. 1/15 HP 115 volt 1757:1 reduction ratio.
Thanks Don, After I had all the welding done I wrestled it into a bead blasting cabinet and blasted it all clean, then a fresh coat of Krylon True Blue. Painted the switch box and cover and went from there. The die crank wheel is off a small metal lathe that was scrapped about 10 years ago. I kept 2 of them knowing I would find a use for them some day Larry.
Nice work! I've been looking to do something like this and your roller is a great example of what I'd like to end up with. What coupler is that? Source? How did you wire the motor to reverse? As you can tell by my questions, I know very little but am eager to learn. dw
excellant job on your retrofit to the bead roller , were you ever a mill wright ? reason i ask is i used to see a lot of love joy drive couplings used on the machines and in the pump rooms ,
Great job on your project! ...one question for you though: the toggle switch you're using to reverse the windings, is it motor rated? I imagine with the gear reduction of the unit that you'll probably never exceed the amp rating of the switch, but using a motor rated switch still wouldn't be a bad idea. Again, not nitpicking, bitching, or criticizing, just asking. I love your roller and saved the pics to my "future tools to be made" file.
Great looking modifications and very well done. The cable clamp going into your switch box could be improved with one designed for power cords which are available in most hardware stores for a couple of dollars. The clamps fit into the same knockout hole and have a rubber insert that tightens down on the power cord, The clamps are available with either a round hole or an oval hole rubber insert. On the other hand, what you have will probably last forever.
I use the same motor on my bead roller and it is starting to go south on me. I been checking for more power but haven't found anything. You are right that it is discontinued but there are brush kits available. Dayton has replaced it with another that has slightly less power. You are smart to beef up the clamp screw assembly, when i started doing 16ga the metal ruined the screw threads and i went to a 1/2" diameter screw. I think if i ever do another one it'll be very short as i do all my work on the outside of the dies and having a short throat it'd make very strong. I can tell by how much you built yours up that you have done a lot of work with one - nice job.
That is like, sooooo nice. I have rolled several miles of lines and would sure have liked to have had that back in the day!!!! LOL
The coupling is called a Lovejoy coupling and is available at most electric motor or industrial supply places. I got one side in 1/2" to fit the motor and the other in 1" to fit the bead roller. The flexible disc in the middle is standard. The whole coupling was $25. Because the bead roller was designed for a hand crank I used a small cold chisel and cut a 1-4" key slot for the couplings key. You need a 6 pole DPDT switch which I will post details on below. I'll also make a wiring diagram and post that. The 2.8 RPM is slow, but it is very easy to follow lines and stay straight as well when you are doing detail or corners you don't worry about running over. I've worked around a lot of millwrights, I'm a welder. This is the toggle switch I used, well rated for the duty. 6 pole, 3 position off in the center and continuous on each side. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/POWER-FIRST-Toggle-Switch-2VLU3?Pid=search
I was looking at that, now that I have the wiring done I think I'll just loosen them off and slip a short piece of split rubber hose over the wires and tighten them down. Accomplishing the same thing in a slightly different way.
Wiring. While I was looking at doing this I had a heck of a time getting my head around the wiring to reverse the rotation. To change direction of rotation you need to switch the armature wires coming off the motor. (A reversible motor has 2 armature wires coming off the motor and you switch the power to them to change rotation direction.) To do this requires a switch with 6 poles and 3 positions. The middle is off and each side will give a different rotation direction. I asked the question on wiring details and got a couple of replies that got my head going in the right direction to understand the wiring, but they were either not detailed enough or just wrong. My son and I (a Journeyman electrician) looked at what we had to work with and this is what I ended up doing. My drawing is a little cluttered and not all that professional looking , but hopefully you can follow along. It works and works well.
Killer deal on the switch, I just had visions of some el-cheapo unit from the bulk bin at Chi-Com Auto Parts and Pedicures.
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