Beadroller

[jwitkowski]

I built this beadroller after seeing a number of designs on YouTube. I used a motor with a little more power and a heavier gearbox because, well... you don't want to not be able to work with some heavier gauge metal if the need arises. I also made all the dies on my lathe and milling machine. I used a 1" diameter shaft with a hexagonal end drive for the hubs I bought. I liked this design better than using keyways. The pedal controls the variable speed motor control so that I can vary the speed of rotation from a dead stop up to a speed which is as fast as I would want to go. I'm using this primarily for making metal embossed signs and also some rocker panels for vehicles. The upper shaft is adjustable laterally 2 inches and it is easy to have both shafts driving or to only use one when the dies are different diameters.

[DIYer]

Thanks jwitkowski! We've added your Powered Bead Roller to our Bead Rollers category,
as well as to your builder page: jwitkowski's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Powered Bead Roller by jwitkowski

tags: bead roller

[tonyfoale]

I am not very familiar with bead rollers but only yesterday I was thinking about making one because I had a job which would have been much easy with one.
How do you vary the applied force and/or adjust for different size rollers? It looks like the red members are fixed and the top bearing holder can be moved within the top red tube by the screw above. What is the maximum roller rpm and what power motor?

[wizard69]

That is a nice build and frankly a huge collection of dies to start out with.

With respect to the hexagonal hubs are they store purchased or shop made? If the hubs are readily available then going with a hex attachment makes all the sense in the world.

[Saltfever]

edit . . . How do you vary the applied force and/or adjust for different size rollers? It looks like the red members are fixed and the top bearing holder can be moved within the top red tube by the screw above. What is the maximum roller rpm and what power motor?

I have a Harbor freight bead roller that I used once many years ago. The experience was so poor that I put it aside until I can power it. I just checked the site and it looks like they no longer offer the tool. It looks exactly like this one from Eastwood. You definitely need variable speed because you want the feed to be close to zero as you negotiate corners. Even straight lines (freehand without a fixed guide) can be slow depending on the design. My guess, from only one experience, is a max feed rate would be 25-35 mm per second. Therefore the diameter of your forming dies will dictated your rpm. A foot controller is a must and I will be using the one pictured. Since the gear ratio will be so large I assume 1/4 HP will be enough. I never measured the actual force on the crank handle. The torque does vary quite a bit depending on the, material, gauge of the metal, the depth of the indention, and the shape of the form roller. You will quickly find that the stiffness of the beams limits your depth of forming and you adjust accordingly so max torque doesn't seem to be an issue.

Sorry, I could not rotate the pic no matter what I tried. I saved the pic in landscape but no joy.

[tonyfoale]

How about this?



I am somewhat surprised that using a foot pedal can give you cancer. I guess that it must be foot cancer?

[Saltfever]

LOL, you cracked the code on picture rotation, Tony!
Welcome to California, everything there is cancerous and they require everything to be labeled as such! Good intentions, bla, bla, bla ...

[jwitkowski]

That is a nice build and frankly a huge collection of dies to start out with.

With respect to the hexagonal hubs are they store purchased or shop made? If the hubs are readily available then going with a hex attachment makes all the sense in the world.

The hubs are store bought online in the US. If you wish, I can get you the link. I bought 36 hubs originally and haven't used them all yet.