Technical Jegs Bead roller

Has anyone bought or used the jegs manual bead roller? I know electric is better but i cant afford one. I have seen the Jegs manual one for as inexpensive as 158 bucks

 

THERE I S A WOODWARD FAB UNIT ON EBAY FOR $20 LESS, SAME THING

 

It's the same one everyone else sells. They really need to be reinforced to work well as they flex a lot out of the box. Look around you should be able to get them for cheaper than $158. I think Woodward fab sells theirs for $140 ish.

 

I have a woodward fab one and yes it has some flex in it ...plan on reinforcing it soon

 

You could build one and then ask your sweetie to turn the crank .

 

Go to Schnitzer and buy some heavier metal that will not flex.

 

I was at a swap meet about 4 yrs ago and saw a bead roller I think HF definitely Chinese in it's original torn up cardboard box. $20. the lady said, sold I said. It was as flimsy as can be, so I went on to reinforcing it and it looks like this. Any of the cheap ones you will have to do that to so I would not spend the higher price on the same item. The chalk line is what I started with.

Pat

 

I had the manual bead roller and found an electric motor on ebay and a coupler and a foot pedal made my own it cost maybe a hundred dollars for all of that. I did have to beef up the bead roller by welding some square tubing around the outside. Mine works very well and I'm sure I seen a thread on here or somewhere online to make it electric.

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maybe i should just make one! haha thanks all for the advice! i figured the jegs one would be a little better but i guess not

 

For the $140 is not even worth the time or materials it would take to make. You would also need a lathe to make the dies and then have them hardened. I started with one and it was ok for what it is. I moved to a Mittler Bros powered one because I usually work alone and I found the hand cranking difficult to do while keeping things aligned on anything but the smallest panel. I also have limited time to work on projects so I wasn't about to waste time improving and motorizing my cheapy and then have to make every set of new dies that I needed which would have taken away more of my time.

 

i got rid of the crank on mine i welded a tube onto an old steering wheel and mounted it in place of the crank not i am not moving back and forth while cranking much better than the crank

 

130$ on ebay, another 35$ in rec tube and upper dial. An afternoon of welding and its good to go.

Later will come power.

 

Oliver I wanted to suggest if you do buy the Jegs unit , size out what the motor ratings on some of the powered units are . Maybe talk to some friends, look at craigslist or go by the Habitat for Humanity store and see if they have some motors. Harbor freight sells motors to .

 

Maybe a shop that rebuilds electrical motors may have something used or rebuilt that won’t break the bank . Think I will do a little research tonight on specs and keep my eye open for you .

 

I just bought a similar unit from Eastwood. Did adding the tubing, etc. make much of a difference?

and thanks for the photos... now I see I have to build a stand. Too darn heavy to pop in and out of the vise!

 

I saw a Utube once where a guy mounted the motor and wiring out of a treadmill onto his beadroller. With variable speed and pretty good torque, looked like it worked pretty well and didn't look hard to do. You can pick up used treadmills pretty cheap. Gene

 

I made mine. At first it looked like those mentioned and it flexed until I re-enforced it with rectangular tubing.

So, to sum up:

1. Re-enforce it.
2. Throw the crank away and get a big bus or truck steering wheel to replace it.

 

That's what I did. Works really well now.

 

Check out Tooltopia. Many of the machines look similar, but there are differences. Some have bushings around the shafts and some don't. Some of the dies are a little better than others.
Some have different size holes in the dies. Check out the u tube videos on modifying bead rollers.

 

Friend made this one, He has run 14ga with no flex. He wants to sell, he decided to build one with a deeper throat so he could make bedsides.

 

thats a great idea, thank you!

 

that things sweet!

 

Mine’s a HF that I got when you could get them for $80. Added steel reinforcement which made a huge difference, and a truck steering wheel. I also added a return spring and wheel to the tension bolt. Mounted it to a modified engine stand. Going to power it using a Chevy flex plate and a drill motor, seen a YouTube video and it seemed to work well.


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Yes, I used 2x3 heavy 1/4" wall on the top and bottom and 1/4" wall 1x4 on the back to tie the 2x3 together. Works out really well.

Also on the stand, where the square tube is, it actually lifts and comes off right there. That way I can walk up, wrap my arms under the roller, lift it straight up and out of the stand. Easier to transport.

 

I'm going to steal that idea. I've got an older Eastwood roller, and the adjustment bolt is the most annoying part of the job. I'll add a small handwheel and spring to it soon.

 

use a harbor frgt. pipe threader as a drive .....good to go with reverse add a footswitch i dunno

 

mount it up rig a coupler most of the drive work is already figured out for ya .......slow enough to work with , has reverse and by the time you get all the other stuff you need to power up a manual roller ,not a lot of difference in investment costs.

 

Check ebay, I bought the upper dial for like 4 bucks. I liked it because it actually has degrees printed on it. Also made a dial indicator for it. You can see it in the pics above if you zoom in.

I use the dial when making a couple beads and want them uniform to each other.

 

I didn’t think about a dial, I have the degree wheel part off of an old drafting machine that may be the right size. Good idea.


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Another place to look with be your metal recycler. They get stuff all the time with motors on them . At least here does. Take your motor specs and check them out .