Harbor Freight Bead roller modifications WHEEL instead of CRANK

[bpote]

There are tons of ideas on Harbor Freight bead roller mods on this site and u tube.
Some have replaced the crank with a wheel. The HF crank is approx 13" long. I have not seen a single site that talks about the diameter wheel used. To get the same mechanical advantage as the crank, it seems you need a 26" diameter wheel. If you used a wheel, what did you use? What diameter is it? And how did it perform?

[Frank S]

I used to have one of those HF bead rollers what I did was to mount it on a 4 legged pipe stand made out of 3" sch 40 pipe then cut 2 pieces of 1/2" plate similar in shape as the main frame "C" then sandwiched the main frame between them and welded them in place . Then I used a 32" diameter wheel to replace the crank simply because I had one laying around. Later I replaced the adjusting bolt and nut with a sacrificed "C" clamp Mine worked great for me

[C-Bag]

Having used similar equipment I'd not want to try and guide a workpiece at one end while trying to crank at the other end. I bought one of the HF pipe threaders Portable Electric Pipe Threader to power my rock sifter. I'm going to adapt it to power my HF tubing roller and when I get a bead former that's what I'll use to power it. It's 2hp, runs on 110v powerful and runs at 40rpm. And with the quick change I can just transfer it from machine to machine. I found a return at one of the stores for like $100. I would have spent way more on a motor, sprockets and chain!

[bpote]

great idea. thanks. have you thought about how you will control it?

[C-Bag]

The motor has no trigger lock so I just electric tapped the trigger down. I used the motor for several hundred hours on http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/d...0221#post28977 and had to do one repair. I started out using a HF foot switch but because of the dirt ended up with Easy to Find Safety Power Tool Switch | Rockler Woodworking and Hardware . It seems heavy duty and easy to transfer along with the motor from machine to machine. In the case of the rock sifter I knew I'd be storing in my shed and so didn't want to subject the motor to the elements. Same with the switch. For the ring roller the only mod would be the reversing switch as mine might be an early model and is recessed and very hard switch back and forth. I thought about externally wiring a reverse switch. As with all HFT's they are cheap enough where I don't mind modding them.