Powered ring rollers

[Kent]

Following on from Adrians roll build
Got me thinking on about making some power feed rolls were I can easily remove and re- fit roll dies for different sections

Main job will be box, 40x10 flat and hopefully convex 51x 13. But generally whatever comes up over time

Thanks to a tip about belle mixers ( tig Paul if I am wrong please speak up I can't find the other thread)I think I have sourced the motor and gearbox off a scrap one sat in a builders yard with a defective bucket. This will make up the drive. Well hopefully

Looking for a foot peddle switch any ideas? As I want to stand square on controlling feed and pressure single handed

Got plenty en8 round of suitable sizes for the dies and I am told Rockwell 54 is the right state of hard? Ideas for securing release? What's used on the big expensive industrial ones?

Thinking of a decent bit of plate lasercut maybe machining or machine finishing to exact surface finish dimensions
Thickness? Dunno might build it up layering 5 mm even as that's how I have seen press tooling v blocks done

Anyhow if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions love to hear them
Plenty on at present so it might take s while just gathering bits at present

 

[Wedg1e]

You could probably adapt a guitar pedal for the footswitch, I did that for my TIG set... a sight cheaper than the £125 Tech Arc wanted

 

[Kent]

You could probably adapt a guitar pedal for the footswitch, I did that for my TIG set... a sight cheaper than the £125 Tech Arc wanted

Thanks will look into that with a guy I know

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Or a sowing machine pedal, lots of industrial ones available.

 

[Kent]

Or a sowing machine pedal, lots of industrial ones available.

True enough. They are all a simple knife switch a suppose. Might be better if I find one that's relatively well protected from moisture ingress

 

[Wedg1e]

Or a sowing machine pedal, lots of industrial ones available.

Hmmm, I seem to recall the one on my mother's (old Brother) machine has a loose pile of carbon/graphite discs; as you stand harder on the pedal more of the discs make contact which increases the current flow and the motor speeds up... it's not a 'switch' as such.

 

[Gareth0123]

Main job will be box, 40x10 flat and hopefully convex 51x 13.

Out of curiosity in which orientation will you be rolling this material?

I have a Stakesys STA149 manual dual drive roller which is excellent and the only issue I have with it is it takes me about 30 odd minutes to change a set of rollers over.

So instead of having boxes and boxes of roller sets I have had some of my sets of rollers machined with additional guide grooves. For example when I bought the roller it came with a set of 1 & 1/4" rollers as standard, but there was sufficient room to have 10mm and 8mm grooves added either side of the central 1 & 1/4", on the additional set of 5/8" grooved rollers I had bought there was enough room for 1/2" & 3/4" and I have just ordered a set of rollers with a pair 7/8" & 1" grooves. Not only is this set-up less expensive for me to initially buy, but it usual means I don't have keep changing rollers over...... although Murphy's/Sod's law has been in play lately and each rolling job that has come through the door recently has meant I've had to swap over roller sets.

So a quick attach/detach set up for different sets of rollers would in my book be essential.

 

[Kent]

I have a crossbow type roller it runs v dies for bar and side on box. It's also got a central Groove for flat bar the hard way
I once bent some 51x 13 convex this way with it.

The issue is the time to change dies but also working alone is hard as you can wind or you can support but doing both is like trying to juggle wet mud

Most dies I am told are hard to Rockwell 54 so re- machining is a PITA. want the right machine this time and think for my needs home made and home designed beats anything I might buy and good ones ain't cheap even manual ones

Plan is side rolls like Adrians but real solid with heavy plate. Pick up points for my figure bench and a selection on different roll dies with an easy swap
The foot switch needs to operate like a press brake one take your foot off and it's off. This way I can feed in with one hand and out the other standing square on.wstching it runs through good and square

Mostly I am doing arches so no long strings in the main on these I will still need another pair of hands