Has anyone on here done this?Im not talking about beefing up a HF unit,or ordering a weld up kit.Im talking about building the whole thing.I have found a local supply house that sells spur gears and the right shafts I need along with bearings. I have a good plan so far,but I was wanting to check and see if anyone else has built there own and how they feel about it before I start. Thanks in advance!
is this really cost effective? i mean the time and money you could probably save just improving a hf one seems more logical to me.
Do you own a HF machine?I do....and it sucks. My question is not is it cost effective,only has someone here built their own.Please don't take my response as being negative.I just want to build my own.Im willing to spent my time to get a good end result.
no problem, i gotcha i was gonna post something similar about rebuilding an old fridge i have here. on another forum i caught a lot of slack for asking it and never got any helpful advice. i would be interested in knowing what the final product cost and how it work when you finish.
check this out: http://www.allmetalshaping.com/forumdisplay.php?f=32 there are a couple builds on that forum, good luck
I started one, pretty straight forward. Make the frame stiff, where it is stressed the most. I put the bearings outboard of the gears.
i own a HF bead roller and i have built one at a company i used to work for, i bought the HF roller to use as a base for building one for myself, they come with all the parts you need and only require me to build a better frame and ad power. the last one i build was setup for one process and cost 4 times what the HF did, having the dies, shafts, gears and bearings makes for an easy start.
I have built several. I built the first one in 1990 because I was doing alot of IMCA bodies. I used a right angle gear reduction motor that I bought at Grainger, some 3/4" shaft, three sprockets and a couple of feet of # 35 chain. I would machine my own mandrels out of aluminum. I always ended up selling the bead rollers as soon as some one would see it, most of them went into Mexico. I finally bought a Mitler Brothers bead roller, and it used the exact same motor as the ones I built, but it is gear drive instead of chain drive. In my opinion, a hand crank model is useless as it requires two people.
The shop I work for built one years ago. The basic design is the same, but everything is scaled up. It uses larger gears, which requires larger dies, which in turn allow for thicker material. It will do 16g steel floorpans like nothing. It does require two or more people if you want accurate lines. They also have a little woodward fab beadroller. I think it was bought because it was cheap and came with a bunch of dies. I've used it on 18 gauge and it works ok. Dave
I plan on building mine with a 36 inch throat. I hate the way the shafts are mounted to the frame on HF and other similar cheap machines.I figure if I am going to build one,I want it to be EXACTLY like I want it to be.For those of you who have built them,please post some pics!
I think if you had a lathe available and were handy enough with it to turn out the dies it wouldn't be an issue but from several years of experience of buying bearings, bearing ready shaft, gears/sprockets and electric motors it could add up in a hurry. I'll agree that it would be nice to have motor on one as getting a helping hand can be a pain at times.
Here is a link to the Home made tools thread. Several bead rollers in the thread. Here is a link to AndyP's, one of the best: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2515811&highlight=bead+roller#post2515811
I found an interesting piece on german ebay. not that i think this ones good but i find the construction is worth to think about. Mario
I believe that making your own would be entirely practical.... provided you can either scrounge (or already have) most of the major parts. Basically you build up a machine out of your own junk pile. As everyone will have different ideas, and start off with wildly different parts, copying someone else's plans exactly is just not going to be practical. To make it out of all brand new US sourced parts, good luck. It will cost you a BUNDLE. Better to either buy new Chinese crap and suitably modify it, or rebuild and refurbish a solid, but very old and probably worn out machine IMHO.
I do not have any of the major parts,nor do I have a junk pile to scrounge the parts from. Im not concerned with the cost,I will eventual make that money back 10 fold. I tell you what.Im just gonna build one and post the results on the HAMB.Im sure lots of folks will say you should have just beefed up the HF model.But hey...Im building it for me. Thanks for all the links and reply's you guys! EVIL
Good on ya man. I'm building an English Wheel right now, and every thread I read on them suggested either starting with a HF "kit" or buying a U-WeldIt kit from someone. I came to the same conclusion as you. I can do it just as well or better than the other guys, and in my case at least, I believe significantly cheaper than the U-WeldIt kits. Good luck with your project, I'll be following along.
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