Ring roller

[thehomeengineer]

Hi All

This is a ring roller I finished a couple of weeks ago which seemed to take an age to finish. The reason for this it was one of those fullback jobs and as I wasn’t in a rush for it I only occasionally worked on it between other projects.

It has been initially built to roll some brass angle for my 3” Foden Steam Wagon cab side panels which at present is a long way off but it is now ready for when the time comes.

There are a couple of purchased items bearings, plastic knobs, circlip, bolts etc. The only purchased material was a length of 12mm diameter mild steel. The rest is all recycled material. The I-section material which the base is constructed from, governed the size of the build so was built from the base up.

The first test involved a 30-month-old little girl who wanted to help Daddy with his new toy. With a little help from me she was able to wind the captains wheel to roll the 10mm x 10mm square steel stock.

I was a little concerned how the ring roller would hold up as the frame is made from aluminium as is the central roller assembly. The ring roller did handle the 10mm stock with ease so would be happy to roll thicker and wider section materials in the future.

10mm x 10mm rolled by my 30-month-old daughter.


Completed ring roller


Adjustable roller


Different views of ring roller


Thank you for viewing
The Home Engineer

[Frank S]

Excellent design and execution of assembly easily changed dies or ring diameter adjustment good job

[DIYer]

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

Ring Roller by thehomeengineer

tags: ring roller

[Lee Bell]

That is 100% absolutely impressive! Nicest design for one I've seen. Good job!

[rossbotics]

Great job, looks good as well

[Captainleeward]

Hello, Home Engineer Well you've done it again what a piece of art work that is functional as well o yea, I like it, I like a lot....Cap

Congrats for winning the award, Well done...Cap.

[Frank S]

I've already said how much I like it, but since it has captured dies and rollers using a 2 sided design instead of being cantilevered with the die rollers outboard of the framework to me from the pictures it appears that making a 1 piece full ring particularity smaller diameter rings would be difficult.
But maybe that was the intent for the design to keep the machine simpler to build for the small scale rings needed for another project.

[thehomeengineer]

Hello, Home Engineer Well you've done it again what a piece of art work that is functional as well o yea, I like it, I like a lot....Cap

Hi Captain
I don’t know if you remember I finished the operating handle when you completed 300 posts to honour that achievement. You have been a bit quite recently hope all is well.
Thank you again for your kind words
The Home Engineer

[thehomeengineer]

Hi Frank
You are right the design was initially made to support my model making in rolling brass angle which has a double “s” shape to cap the cab-sides. I also intend to make either a 3” or 4” scale Traction engine (one day) so this will roll the front and rear rims and tee section for both and the smoke box rings etc. This is why I decided to use the double sides for equalling the pressure on the rolls. It will obviously be used on any other job that may require this type of tool.
There are four M6 cap heads at the top of the side frames which hold the plate that houses the M16 operating handle assembly. Once these are removed the top operating handle assembly can be removed to enable the completed ring to be freed from the tool.
The minimum diameter that can be rolled into a complete ring is 300mm 1 foot. This can be made tighter if needed but the operating handle would need to be changed for a piece of M16 studding with a hex milled for a spanner. If a job comes up that is smaller than 300mm this is an option.
I have also made some rollers that I intend to machine for doing thin walled tube but have not machined the radius in them as yet as the project they are needed for is a long way off but the blanks are ready.
I thank you again for your kind words and the posts you contribute to are always very constructive and helpful.
The Home Engineer

[wizard69]

Very impressive!! This will fuel a lot of thinking on my part as I eventually want to do a Ring roller.