Bead roller stand and table.

The thread Ratrod85 did on the stand he built for his bead roller kicked me in the butt to do something better with ours. For the past 6 or 7 years we have had it clamped to an old Mig cart, and although it worked "ok" it had some drawbacks. It sat too low for one thing, and I felt a table, like a table saw has would support the work better than leaving it hanging loose in space.

Here is how we had it mounted originally:



First thing I had to do was build a base for it. Mine wasn't going to be as fancy as Ratrod85's, all I needed was a tall pedestal to bolt it to. Years ago we mounted several 1/2 inch thick steel plates to the floor of our shop with lag bolts to hold tools we don't use often. We would bolt down our tubing notcher and tubing bender to one of these plates and then unbolt it and store it away when done. The base I am making for the bead roller will go on one of those plates.





I scrounged up a piece of big angle iron and cut it in half, then cut a piece of 2 x 2 tubing 35 inches tall for the upright.




To make the base look a little better I trimmed the corners off of it and bolted the upright to it. I thought it was better to bolt the base to the upright rather than welding, in case we ever want to shorten the upright.




I used the mount that Dan welded up years ago and welded it atop the upright.





Next step was to build a table to support the sheet metal while rolling it. For that I used 1/2 inch thick MDF and to give it some strength I added a framework of 1 x 3 wood around the perimeter, and then added two legs in the front to keep the table level.






To hold the table to the bead roller I made up a simple clamp arrangement out of wood and used two wing nuts and bolts so I can tighten them up and clamp the table down tight against the bead roller.







I had to try it out, and rolled a couple of beads in some 18 gauge scrap steel I had. The table made it much easier to do and the bead rolled straight all on it's own.





I still am going to make a movable fence so the sheet metal will ride against it and guide the sheet metal straight. There is still a little figuring to do on that part though.

Don

Great job, I like the simple yet effective design.

That is awesome. And I was going to ask you how people get the grooves in their interior pieces. guess I don't have to ask that dumb question now[cl

Thanks guys. Yep, David, that is how they are done. Our problem has always been getting a straight bead. My Son clamped some steel on both sides of the roller so it had to travel down a straight line, but this new setup should make it easier, especially when I get the fence made.

Don

Looks dang good there Don! I really need more room for tools!!!

Isn't it amazing how, for years, we'll put off what would make our jobs easier and more enjoyable ?
Good job !!!!!!!!!!

Cool Beans!!!!!!

Simple and effective.......nice work!!!!....[cl

Couple nice tech tips in there! I've been wanting to embed some threaded tube on my floor for the same setup cept without the 1/2" plate. That would be welded to the bottoms of the tools. Only problem is, I don't have any of those tools need a good tubing bender, need a bead roller, need a brake, need a tubing roller, planishing hammer, lathe, mill, big arse welder, 60x60' garage, and I really need to replace this old grinder that has been cutting all my stuff for as long as I can remember

that looks great and i bet it's very help full if your alone

That is a great Idea! I bet being able to lay your work on a table makes it a lot easier to feed! Wonder if you got an old air hockey table and used that how well that would work?LOL or make your own air table to float your metal around! That would be cool!

A very good friend of mine has a very professional race car shop and he has a table very similar to yours. He has his covered with a very soft carpet so to not scratch and polished aluminum they always are working with.

LOL..Thanks! I love the idea of the table, that would assist greatly as long as the piece you are bead rolling is flat. The fence is a must for rolling straight lines, however i have not gotten that far yet.

That sounds like a really good idea about the carpet, Ron. I can see where it would keep aluminum from getting scratched, and I bet if it is low nap carpet the aluminum would slide across it pretty nicely.

I finished up what I am all I am doing to mine. I made the fence for it with a four foot piece of 1 x 1 angle iron and some flat steel to clamp it down with. I cut up an old C clamp for the one side, that is to do the main clamping to hold the angle iron tight to the bead roller.








Then I drilled and tapped two holes in the opposite side and ran short 3/8 bolts with jam nut on them so that I can fine tune the squareness to the rollers. I knew no matter how careful we were welding the angle iron to the clamps that it could be off just a hair, so by tightening or loosening one of the screws I can twist the angle iron fence either way until I get it exactly square to the rollers. That short piece of aluminum under the bolts is just to keep them from digging into the painted surface of the bead roller. I knew Dan wouldn't like his bead roller dinged up.




I had to make up a second fence out of a 4 foot piece of aluminum angle iron, and I clamp that directly to the wood top when I am doing a small piece that won't quite reach the large angle iron fence. We have done a few more test roll pieces and it seems to work fine.

Don

Very nicely done!!

Can't argue with perfection....... carpet or no carpet...darn nice work[cl