I had this idea for two weeks now and have been dying try it out. Some of you may remember the custom dash I started a week or so ago (see first pic). I wanted to roll the top edge so it wraps around the top dash tube so I can "hang" it on the tube and dont have to hold it in place while fastening the Dzus Fasteners.
I thought I was going to have to pay for it to be rolled but I racked my brain for ideas on how I could "do it myself" and this is what I came up with. I bought a 6ft length of Hot Rolled 1-1/8 steel round solid bar, it was a Rem. I bought a 20ft length of 1/2 X 1/2 X 1/8 Angle. I didn't need 20 ft but its cheaper to just buy a full length, and they didn't have any Rems. The Angle was 9 bucks and the round bar Rem was 25 bucks.
I tacked, then welded in a few spots a 6ft piece of Angle to the Round Bar with a piece of Aluminum from my dash material in between the Angle and round bar for proper gap. I also welded two 7/8th's coupling nuts to each end of the Round Bar to rotate the bar with. I have a heavy duty, well built wood table out back of the house so I used it to do the rolling.
My dash tube is 1-1/4 X .120 wall DOM. I wanted a good fit so I thought the round bar should be 1-1/8 diameter. 1 inch would have been too small, with the amount of spring back it would not have opened up enough to fit the 1-1/4 tube. With the spring back of to Aluminum, 1-1/4 would have been too big to use, so 1-1/8 it was. You can see in the pics how well it actually fits the 1-1/4 tube.
I had to add the middle clamp after the first attempt to roll the Aluminum, it bowed the solid bar in the middle quite a bit. Once the center clamp was installed it worked perfectly. Basically the Aluminum Binds in the Angle against the round bar and the bar rolls in the Aluminum.
The clamps on each side are NOT tight to the Rolling Bar. There just to keep it from rotating up, or Leveraging up if you will. They keep it against the table basically. The TEST PIECE I rolled was 58" inches long, the material thickness is .080. The kind of industrial equipment it takes to roll something like this is VERY expensive.
This is a VERY cheap alternative to having to have it done and pay a fortune for it.
The only thing, which is not a problem at all is you can see in the pic where the Angle hits the clamp. Thats my rolling limit basically. Its actually the perfect amount for what I needed to do. BUT! If I cut off the angle so it does not hit the clamp, I believe I could roll a near complete circle. Im going to cut the excess Angle off and try it on the TEST PIECE of Aluminum to see how much of a circle can be achieved. Then I will Roll the edge on my dash.
The narrower the piece the easier it will roll. Needless to say Im TOTALL STOKED my idea worked like a charm. All I can say is......Oh Im GOOD
.
I thought I was going to have to pay for it to be rolled but I racked my brain for ideas on how I could "do it myself" and this is what I came up with. I bought a 6ft length of Hot Rolled 1-1/8 steel round solid bar, it was a Rem. I bought a 20ft length of 1/2 X 1/2 X 1/8 Angle. I didn't need 20 ft but its cheaper to just buy a full length, and they didn't have any Rems. The Angle was 9 bucks and the round bar Rem was 25 bucks.
I tacked, then welded in a few spots a 6ft piece of Angle to the Round Bar with a piece of Aluminum from my dash material in between the Angle and round bar for proper gap. I also welded two 7/8th's coupling nuts to each end of the Round Bar to rotate the bar with. I have a heavy duty, well built wood table out back of the house so I used it to do the rolling.
My dash tube is 1-1/4 X .120 wall DOM. I wanted a good fit so I thought the round bar should be 1-1/8 diameter. 1 inch would have been too small, with the amount of spring back it would not have opened up enough to fit the 1-1/4 tube. With the spring back of to Aluminum, 1-1/4 would have been too big to use, so 1-1/8 it was. You can see in the pics how well it actually fits the 1-1/4 tube.
I had to add the middle clamp after the first attempt to roll the Aluminum, it bowed the solid bar in the middle quite a bit. Once the center clamp was installed it worked perfectly. Basically the Aluminum Binds in the Angle against the round bar and the bar rolls in the Aluminum.
The clamps on each side are NOT tight to the Rolling Bar. There just to keep it from rotating up, or Leveraging up if you will. They keep it against the table basically. The TEST PIECE I rolled was 58" inches long, the material thickness is .080. The kind of industrial equipment it takes to roll something like this is VERY expensive.
This is a VERY cheap alternative to having to have it done and pay a fortune for it.
The only thing, which is not a problem at all is you can see in the pic where the Angle hits the clamp. Thats my rolling limit basically. Its actually the perfect amount for what I needed to do. BUT! If I cut off the angle so it does not hit the clamp, I believe I could roll a near complete circle. Im going to cut the excess Angle off and try it on the TEST PIECE of Aluminum to see how much of a circle can be achieved. Then I will Roll the edge on my dash.
The narrower the piece the easier it will roll. Needless to say Im TOTALL STOKED my idea worked like a charm. All I can say is......Oh Im GOOD
.
Last edited:
