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motorized pedestal ring and band roller
eligius1427 -
Monday, December 3, 2007 - 1:58pm
equipment | ring roller I've been looking for plans for a powered 3-roll bender to no avail and decided to try to build one myself. The capacity is a little more limited then I wanted, but it was economical and easy to build out of a Proline pedestal ring and band roller which you can get on Ebay for about $90. All together I think I spent about $250, but all of the parts were new. I used a 250volt AC geared motor from Supluscenter.com($80). It is 1/6HP and is continuous use with 900in/lb of torque(intermittent with 1100in/lbs) and has 8.4RPM. The speed of the motor with the torque needed is the tough part. I wanted the roller on the bender to spin at about 15RPM which translates roughly to about 2.5in of material per second. In order for me to achieve that with this motor I had to put a bigger pulley on the motor and a smaller pulley on the roller. I used a belt and pulley system instead of chain and sprocket. The belts will slip if the pressure is too tight on the rolls where as the chain stopped the motor. This might be solved by using a motor with more torque(which I would probably try to find next time 1500in/lb at least). I had to reinstall the old handle so that when the resistance on the rolls was too much I could assist it, but it usually took very little effort. I used a great website to figure out the pulleys needed to convert the RPM from the motor to the RPM I needed on the rolls. Had I had more RPMs on the motor I probably could have gotten a little more torque with gearing. The capacity of the ring roller is 3/8" x 2" flat bar max. I'm not sure if my motor will handle that or not, but I'm sure I'll find out here in the near future. I've never tried tubing but I'm not sure the roller has the clearance for anything over 3/4" thick. http://www.csgnetwork.com/pulleybeltcalc.html is the web address and it will tell you pulley ratios, the pulley sizes, belt lengths, RPMS, etc. The pressure on the rolls is provided by a 3-ton bottle jack and is very imprecise. With the jack that came with the roller, it con only be oriented in two ways in order for it to work and it leaks pressure, requiring you to reset it about every other roll. I am trying to find a more precise system for the pressure, but the room allowed for the jack is pretty small(3"x3"x7" roughly). I may have to rebuild the frame to allow for a different system. It allowed me to roll about 480' of 1/2"x1" HR Flt Bar in about 6hrs by myself and with no aching arms as a result. The system is very portable and can be operated horizontally or vertically. Take a look at the picts and let me know what you think. Any comments, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 From my experience, I would
don johnson -
Monday, December 3, 2007 - 9:28pm
From my experience, I would have used a 1/3 or 1/2 motor. They usually have metal gears in them and last much longer. The smaller ones often have plastic gears. They are available in about any RPM you want. You can get them from Graingers and others but may be more money than you want to spend. As for the jack, they all seem to leak. I would suggest something mechanical such as a scissor or screw bottle jack used to lift cars and light trucks. They are fairly cheap and available at auto parts stores and wrecking yards. You may have to trim the base plate. Some turnbuckle styles may work such as the ratcheting chain binders. It depends on what it takes to make it fit your machine. You might consider a belt guard after everthing gets working right. It looks like you have created a nice tool and I hope it gives you long service.  That looks like the one I
Gene Olson -
Monday, December 3, 2007 - 10:57pm
That looks like the one I got last year.
We had to drill two new holes in the side sections so it would accommodate 1x1 tube, but it worked great. Cary mounted it on a pair of horses so it rolled sideways like yours does.
http://www.mettleworks.com/jobs/QBP/Qbpgraphic-log.html
Gene Olson Sculptor Elk River, MN  I meant to send this a few
eligius1427 -
Friday, December 7, 2007 - 11:10am
I meant to send this a few days ago. The QBP art wall is amazing. What a giant project. How long ago was that installed and has it started to patina naturally by now? Jake Thanks Rich, Don, and Gene
eligius1427 -
Monday, December 3, 2007 - 11:44pm
Thanks Rich, Don, and Gene for your comments and advice. I'm just going to respond to all of you with this post. Rich, with my setup it will probably be a little difficult to remove a complete ring. I think I would have to disconnect the belt and remove the top roller. I'll definitely look into the Porto power set up, thanks for the advice. Gene, I never thought about just drilling new holes to fit pieces larger than 3/4". Such an obvious solution and it totally escaped me. thanks for the tip. I see you also put your motor on the other side and it has a chain, what size of motor is it and what kind of RPMs did you end up with? Does the pressure ever make your motor stop? Don, I'm not exactly sure what a ratcheting chain binder is, but would like to look into them. Can you give me a bit of a description on what they are? Jake 20 rpm 1/2 hp gear
Gene Olson -
Monday, December 3, 2007 - 11:53pm
20 rpm 1/2 hp gear motor never stops Gene Olson Genes' motor selection was
don johnson -
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 1:42am
Genes' motor selection was what I was thinking but didn't know the best RPM. Gene, did you have a solution for the jack? Chain binders are used to secure machinery to the bed of a truck or trailer. It is a heavy duty turnbuckle with a handle turning the body in either direction. They are about a foot long so may be too much for your application. It looks like Gene has the best hands on experience. We used a portapower jack
Gene Olson -
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 11:00am
We used a portapower jack cause that is what I had and we were constantly varying the radius so long term reproduceability was not an issue. I would think that a piece of threaded rod and either a neat custom built cam over clamp or a modified vice grip would make a good adjustable locking mechanism. Gene Olson  Looks like you did a great
Jim Cotter -
Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 9:30pm
Looks like you did a great job with it would like to see a video clip of ou rollin a ring with it I'm not sure if I know how
eligius1427 -
Friday, December 7, 2007 - 11:12am
I'm not sure if I know how to get a video clip onto this website(or even if my camera will do it), but I'll look into it. Jake |
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ArtMetal
Thanks for sharing that with
Thanks for sharing that with us, Jake! Nice job. I can see how that could be a pretty useful tool to have around.
Can you remove the rings from the roller easily, or do you have to disassemble part of it to release a full ring? I looked at that roller on the web a time or two but don't remember. I do remember being curious as to whether or not it would really do what it said it would, but it seems to work for you, other than the hydraulic issue.
The problem of the inconsistent pressure with the bottle jack might be solved by using a hydraulic setup that is designed to work in any position, such as a Port-o-Power, where the pump is remote from the cylinder. My guess is that your jack is geting air in the fluid and compressing it, resulting in uneven pressure. If it leaks fluid, then fluid can get out so air can get in. Most of those little cheap bottle jacks are designed to work in the upright position only, and they suck air when in any position where the pump is above the reservoir.
Sounds like the thing paid for itself right off the bat. That's always good. Not having your arm sore for three days is even better.