I just made a large style ring roller, using 3" diam DOM tube as rollers. It has a wall thickness of over 1". Pretty nice stuff. Rollers are supported with ball bearings. So far its full capacity has yet to be determined, but I have rolled 5/8 round and also 1/2 sq into nice 12" diam rings. Its principal purpose is to bend up square tube and flat stock, so since I have a bunch of this 3" diam DOM tube I figured I would make up a couple of different die rollers for it. But with my way to adjust pressure on the adjustable roller and not have any deflection it limits me to a 12" diam of whatever I roll. So I need to make a smaller and lighter duty roller. Just how small can you go on the rollers on these things? Would 1 1/2 inches be too small? How about 1" I would like to be able to roll some small rings out of
14 and 11 ga and maybe some 3/16" thick material and probably 3/8" diam rod at max, so do you think a 1 1/2" diam rollers would suffice? How about bronze oil lite bushings instead of bearings?Yea, I know for $50 I can buy one already assembled and ready to go from Harbor Fright, but I prefer tohomebrew my things if possible to keep me occupied so I do not get into trouble, and at the same time help the worlds recycling situation...at least thats my story and I am sticking to it.
A short while ago I built a 30 ton press brake 48 width and 10 ga capacity, that has worked like a champ. Its powered by a enerpac
10000,psi hand operated pump and one large bore cylinder for the ram. Well yesterday I lucked up and got offered a resivoir, 4, 5" x 8" x2" cylinders and all kinds of hoses, a bank of valves, and a pump and motor for next to nothing, all in working condition, so one of these days I will have a full hydraulic powered press brake with limit switches for repeat bends etc setup. Just need some time.I have in the meqntime acquired a real set of press brake dies (upper and lower) from a 6 foot pressbrake so I need to cut them to size and install them as well. With the remaining upper and lower die pieces I hope to build a smaller narrow press brake to handle 1/2 x 6 flat and such, similar to what is sold by shop outfitters.
Retirement, heck, I need a full time job so I can get a break! Visit my website: