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Ring Roller.. building a custom one

camiswelding

camiswelding

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I saw Estebans cool gates he built and it has motivated me to build a ring roller...
Im posting up an example of one I like but Id love some feedback from anyone who has used one

I have the opportunity to buy some new huge bearings 4 -10 inch stuff at stealer prices...like 5-10 bucks each,,, and these bearings would selling for up to 1000 dollars...
Im wondering if I should grab them.. use the design Im posting up and build one similar except one on steroids....

any ideas?

thanks

cam

Ringroller 001.jpg

Ringroller 002.jpg

Ringroller 005.jpg
 
camsk5 said:
I saw Estebans cool gates he built and it has motivated me to build a ring roller...
Im posting up an example of one I like but Id love some feedback from anyone who has used one

I have the opportunity to buy some new huge bearings 4 -10 inch stuff at stealer prices...like 5-10 bucks each,,, and these bearings would selling for up to 1000 dollars...
Im wondering if I should grab them.. use the design Im posting up and build one similar except one on steroids....

any ideas?

thanks

cam
Click to expand...

I think thats a great idea. especially since you can get the bearings sooo cheap. its defenantly a custom piece of fabrication equipment that most would never use, but for the kind of fab work you are into its right up you alley. do you have to machine you own roller dies? or are you gonna try to buy someone else stock ones?
 
The roller dies would consist of the bearings he is talking about.

Cam, wanna hook a brother up with some of those bearings?:wink1:

I started looking around for other things I could use as rollers and thought of a few different things.

I found that steel casters come in 3" diameters and 2" wide. The smooth ones that are used on heavier tables and such may work. I also thought of useing the rollers that come on our fairleads. I have to dig mine out to see how true they are and see if they may work.

I really like the idea of the bearings since it would be easy to swap them out for different sizes as needed. Only problem would be the price of them.

I PM'd DEMA(the guy who built the one pictured) and he said that the ID of the bearings is in MM but is close to 1 1/4" and that he had the ends of the shaft turned down to about 3/4" to fit the cutouts on the rack.

That design is very clean. I don't really see why to change it in any way. What do you plan to bend with it that you need to put it on steroids? A truck frame?:eek1:
 
well... at second glance the bearings I got wont work,, but I bought them anyway because they were so cool...(Ill post some pics of them... they are in MM and made in Germany... I bet they were thousands of dollars ) but they wont work because of design... but they sure will be cool in some sculpture one day... unless after I post them someone here says.. yea.. I need a d9 track bearing :-)


tell me what dema says and we can go from there

Esteban.. I have machine shop access and full welding facilities at my place... maybe we will pal up and build two...

cam
 
I went to a local bearing shop and saw some rollers on the counter. They are the kind that are used for feed tables. Kind of like the ones that are used on fairleads. Anyways, I asked them about price and load rating. The one on the counter was a 6" wide unit that had a 2" diameter. The roller was capable of 250# load rating and they were asking $6. Seemed kind of cheap. They also said that they could make a heavy duty model that had a load rating of 600#. they couldn't give me a price but I can't see it being too much more.

I asked DEMA what he used for the top roller because it doesn't look like a bearing. We'll see what he says.

CAM, about the only thing I would need to get done is the shaft. If I build it like DEMA has it, I would need the ends turned down to fit on the rack. So I may call on you to do that if I go that route.:D
 
wooh! your going to use that to roll rings, or curves?

if your rolling rings I can discribe the ring roller/ twister my old boss had when i did iron work.

had a table made of C chanle 5 feet long on legs, one end had a gear box mounted, that had a shaft faceing the leanght of the table, and an other shaft 90* facing the back, with a large (say 14") wheel, with a belt going to a moter with a small (3-4") wheel.

a forward/reverse switch powered the moter, the saft was fitted with a tool that had a 1/2" resess in it (or 5/8, 3/4) a resever with a simaler resess held the end of the pickit and it would twist them.

for rings we had a jig or tubeing, with a spot to lock on to a piece of 1/2 square. when the jig was turned it would force the square aganst a roller mounted on the channle and wrap it self around the tube, makeing a coil, then cut thru the one side and close the ends with a BFH and you have rings.


for rolling we used an german roller worth 7000$


but he did have a and cranked roller with knurdled wheel to force the stock into a large baring, that was ajustable on a threaded rod.
 
Cam, I found a lot of 10 bearings that are pretty close to what DEMA is useing. They come out to be about $5 each after shipping so it's not a bad price. He only uses 8 but it's still worth it to buy the 10 as apposed to indiviually.

I started priceing the cost of the shafts, the other bearing and the steel and it will probably be about $150 to build this. Not bad IMO. We'll see when the next job comes along if I put aside ome money to start collecting parts.
 
I tried the one at the school Esteban... I want that one... hydralic.. 2200 bucks... but Im sold... I could do one gate and just about make that back
.....
 
LOL. You sellout!!!!:haha:

You were suppose to make one for the coolness factor. ANYONE can say I BOUGHT this. But not anyone can say I BUILT this. It's the whole point of this site isn't it?:doah:

Oh well. I'll show off my $150 dollar machine that i build when i am done with it. :D
 
Go esteban go!!!.. Im not saying Im out yet but after I saw how sweet the one works at school Im wondering if I could duplicate it and have it work that nice... no muss no fuss no effort,,, and me a novice ran perfect radius first time out,,, with some experience I could do compound curves I bet...

I can use the thing in my art biz,,, as well as making custom railings... stainless,,,
keep me in the the loop.. I want to see yours

cam
 
camsk5 said:
Go esteban go!!!.. Im not saying Im out yet but after I saw how sweet the one works at school Im wondering if I could duplicate it and have it work that nice... no muss no fuss no effort,,, and me a novice ran perfect radius first time out,,, with some experience I could do compound curves I bet...

I can use the thing in my art biz,,, as well as making custom railings... stainless,,,
keep me in the the loop.. I want to see yours

cam
Click to expand...

I totally hear you and if I had a full blown business or shop I would probably invest in a larger more advanced one. But since I am small time and only work out of my garage, I'll stick to a simple smaller design. Don't worry, I'll pimp it out once it's done.:D
 
I haven't even started on mine yet. And i don't think Cam is making one. He is buying a super duper brand new one.:D
 
esteban... its getting delivered this week... and Im in the market for a tube bender... Id like to do 2 1/2 inch but Im having a hard time finding it in manual... so maybe Ill settle for a 2 inch... but even those are a grand for a good one
Ill let you know what i think of the ring roller

cam
 
camsk5 said:
esteban... its getting delivered this week... and Im in the market for a tube bender... Id like to do 2 1/2 inch but Im having a hard time finding it in manual... so maybe Ill settle for a 2 inch... but even those are a grand for a good one
Ill let you know what i think of the ring roller

cam
Click to expand...
:bow::bow::D
 
estaban.. Ok this is what i did

I decided to buy a cheapy ring roller... one off of ebay...120.00 chinese

it is what it is and it rolls flat stock well but not tube.. well I havent tried to roll tube .. but it works relatively well for up to 2 in wide x 3/8 flt... more than enough to do top rails for gates... to be decorative you could use multiple arches...

I decided to spend the real money on an american made hydralic bender... which I am getting ready to purchase... then I can do both tube and rail...for custom work and CAGES!!!!! for me

I totally appreciate the built not bought...
Ill show off my layout table that Im just finishing up... youll appreciate that

I had a discussion in welding school about bending big tube and beams ...with a welding engineer
pretty interesting.. it could be used on smaller scale

layout table anchored to floor... table looks like a pegboard.. or an acorn table...
tube (any size),,, in this case it was a 16 incher was welded to one end of the table.. packed with sand and welded up.. large d ring welded on opposite end..
chained and then put to a block..in this case one that was used for ships anchors and the pull was begun..(cold)
by pulling it slowly around an arch made out of pegs on the table the curve..or roll.. was made

when done end was cut off and it was cut off the table.. sand removed (sand or water packing is an old bending trick to prevent/reduce kinking
so.. this is what came out of it...

50 foot long arch.. 16 inch tube. 3/16 wall
1800.00 to bend 10,500 installed

anyway this got me thinking that it isnt any harder to do this with smaller stuff,, its easier... most fence guys just bend their stuff right off the trailer hitches of their trucks
 
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