Sheet metal rollers

[ivanj]

I am thinking of making some rollers to form the curves on boiler cladding. Has anyone got a simple design which can be made without too much investment in time.

[Richmond]

Good Old GH Thomas did a set in "Workshop Techniques". I think the "kit" is available from hemingways

Rgds

Keith

[AndrewP]

I got a set to the GH Thomas design thrown in when I bought my lathe (gloat) and they are the dogs b******s when it comes to rolling, not sure they fit the simple and quick category though - certainly wouldn't if I had to make them.

[baggo]

I built a set of the Geo Thomas rolls from the Hemingway kit and they are excellent. The big advantage over the conventional type rolls is that they will roll the curve right to the very edge of the material. There's probably not that much more work involved than making a 'simple' set and I made mine in about a week of fairly intensive workshop time.

The original design only caters for work up to about 10 inches wide but could be adapted for wider work if the diameter of the rolls are increased to suit.



John

[GWRdriver]

Here's my set . . . under construction.

I lengthened mine to 12.5" and as Baggo mentions I also increased the roll diameter. I think GHT mentioned these could be built in a gearless, friction drive version but I've never seen any but the geared version built.

[teakfreak]

I built a set of the ungeared rollers, but now wish I had made the geared version - it can be difficult to get sufficient grip to push thicker sheet through. With a lot of patience, and tiny increments of adjustment, though, I did manage to roll a 4" diameter ring of 1/8" x 1/2" bms strip.

I would recommend making them a bit longer than GHT specified - mine will just take 12" sheet, and when I needed to do my "Sweet Pea" boiler cladding it turned out to be 12-1/2"! I ended up buying a 24" "Formit" that includes a roller for this job, but the GHT version still gets used for smaller jobs.

[circlip]

Have you seen the Martin Evans design Ivanj?? If you look on the acidic Doctors site, he's just made some. Regards Ian.

[circlip]

It has been pointed out, via a PM that I have tainted the reputation of an ex member by the wrongfull use o the word "Acidic" for which I truly apologize. In an attempt to correct the miss use of the Queen's English, please substitute the word acidic with the more correct and fitting term ACERBIC!!

Humble regards, Ian

[Tel]

..... and it's 'MISUSE' - Miss Use is a gal I used to know way back when.....

[freddo]

She called herself Miss Used when I met her - but then again, that was probably after she'd met you.

Freddo

[Tel]

Oh yes, that was when Anna Barbara became known as A.B.Used

[circlip]

Ain't going to try to be helpful ever again, and anyway, who sneaked a dictionary onto the prison ships without TEL ling us ?? ;D ;D

[Tel]

Sorry mate - I thought it was Pick On Sir Clip Day

[circlip]

Careful, cos we've got Kylie over here an we're not sending her back. We've also got Dame Edna and Sir Les and we will be sending them back!

Oh, sorry Lord Tel, only just noticed your a five star General, please ignore my previous comments and kick the cr*p out of me whenever you want. Ever so 'umble regards, the lowly 'clip

[ivanj]

Thanks for all the ideas. I thithat it is possibly best to go for the geared version in view of the grip problem.

Ivan

[tcase]

An alternative is to make both upper and lower rollers with the handle extension and fit wo handles, cheaper than gears.

[Tel]

Seriously, my quick and dirty 12" friction rolls work well and have saved me heaps of time and money over the years