Electric Bead Roller

[Brucker]

After a couple years using a manual bead roller, I decided it was time for an electric power upgrade. I had been saving my pennies for a Mittler Bros (http://www.mittlerbros.com/ ) model, but still can't justify another couple thousand dollar equipment purchase at the moment. And having a bunch of sheet metal working coming up on my schedule, I decided to fab one using components I had laying around the shop. Basically just adding an electric motor to the Woodward Fab (http://www.woodward-fab.com/ ) manual roller I currently use. Then, if it works out well, I will machine a couple new die sets to fit the Woodward fab assembly as I have only found one company out there that offers some for sale.

Believe it or not, rolling complex designs manually brings the suck, but it can be done. Here is an example of one of the more complex designs I have rolled:

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Here is my manual bead roller assembly that I am starting with. You may notice a couple custom parts I had already made for it. A mounting bracket for my fab table and a adjustable back stop. As you can see, this machine gets a lot of use.

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I had an extra used DC motor and controller on the shelf from a previous project. This Leeson setup should work wonderfully as you can adjust the motor output speeds from 0-1750 rpm. And it is reversible.

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I will then add a foot operated power switch to the motor assembly so I can use both hands to manipulate the material being formed.

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Will be using a couple sprockets and some roller chain to transfer the power. And yes, this is a little bit over kill, but it's what I had extras of sitting on the shelf from a previous go kart project.

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For the new stand, I decided again to use some materials I had instead of buying new. I started with an older roller stand that we had too many of sitting unused, just taking up precious space.

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I cut apart the stand and kept the parts I would be using.

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Will add a couple new casters into the mix. Again these were leftovers from another project.

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[Brucker]

First order of business was to make a simple, yet strong motor mount. I cut a few pieces of angle and flat and then modified them and welded them together to make the needed mount. The photos should be fairly self explanatory:

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[EKXJ87]

That awesome love the repurposed material, that why I never throw anything away some day I'll us it! lol
So will you set the speed on the control box and then work the foot pedal?

[Patrolman]

Cool setup! Is it really from 10 to 100RPM? Or is the speed something different?

[Brucker]

So will you set the speed on the control box and then work the foot pedal?

Correct. Will have to control speed and direction through the actual controller. Will be using the foot switch just to turn on and off. I do happen to have another foot switch that has a rheostat so I could just set the controller to 100% and then control the speed with the foot pedal, but I see bad things happening that way.

[Brucker]

Cool setup! Is it really from 10 to 100RPM? Or is the speed something different?

Guess I should have been more clear, sorry about that. This Minarik controller will work with most DC motors. It controllers the final motor output anywhere between 0-100% of the motor's RPM while still supplying 100% of the torque. Here is a link to the user's manual:

http://media.countrylivinggrainmills.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/DC-Drive-Card.pdf

[Brucker]

With the motor mount finished, I turned my attention to the stand. I had already scavenged some parts from an older adjustable roller stand:

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Then cut a few more pieces from some leftover drops:

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And then drilled and tapped a couple holes for the new stem casters:

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And with most of the pieces for the base of the stand cut, I quickly mocked them up to make sure the plan I had in my head was going to work:

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[Patrolman]

Guess I should have been more clear, sorry about that. This Minarik controller will work with most DC motors. It controllers the final motor output anywhere between 0-100% of the motor's RPM while still supplying 100% of the torque. Here is a link to the user's manual:

http://media.countrylivinggrainmills.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/DC-Drive-Card.pdf

That makes a lot more sense. The RPM idea didn't seem right, so I thought I would ask. My Shopsmith has markings for RPMs so you can adjust the motor, but 100 would be awfully low. That is a pretty slick setup.

[Hypoid]

I will then add a foot operated power switch to the motor assembly so I can use both hands to manipulate the material being formed.You had me thinking the foot pedal would control direction. I'll just STFU now... :D

[Brucker]

Didn't have much time to throw at this project today. Was hoping to be done with the entire project this weekend, but had another project take priority unexpectedly. But made a little progress and got the base of the stand welded together.

Started by attaching the motor mount to the main post:

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Once it was welded, I cut and attached a tube between the two to act as a big gusset to the top of the mount:

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Once both the mount and the gusset were welded as much as possible and had a chance to cool, I flipped the assembly over. Clamped it back down to the table and finished welding it all together.

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I started to assemble the rest of the base, clamping each piece to the table of to other parts of the assembly. Then welded it all together.

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Once cooled after welding solid:

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[Brucker]

Found a little more time tonight to throw at this project. I mounted the motor into it's mount to double check fitment. It looks like it belongs there so I think I am headed in the right direction.

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Next up was the mount found the roller itself. After a quick couple of measurements, I made up a chop list and started the saw cutting all the needed pieces. And then started to tack weld them together.

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Once everything was tacked together, I removed the roller from the mount for final weldment.

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[Brucker]

I turned my attention back to the base. This time to add the casters. Welded the two fixed rollers to the front (this should help the entire assembly stay in one position since the caster can not swivel under load), and the the two swivel caster to the outriggers.

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Started to assembly it all back together again:

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And that is as far as I got tonight. It is starting to really take shape now. Just need to make the chain assembly and a couple more mounts. One for the controller and then some for different die sets. I may end up ordering a different sprocket for the roller side as it would offer a little more adjust ability at the lower RPM's I will be running. But all in all, I am happy with the way it's turning out so far. Not bad for just throwing a bunch of leftovers at this project.

[Cr33p3r]

Sweet project Aaron!

[Brucker]

Sweet project Aaron!

Thanks for the kind words

[88Toy]

Can't wait to see the artwork that comes from this!

[Brucker]

Can't wait to see the artwork that comes from this!

Ha! Me either! Now if I could just find an artist to run it.... ;)

[Brucker]

The larger sprocket finally arrived! Got it mounted to the roller side and then made the chain assembly. Hooked the chain up and took the tension out of the chain by adjusting the height of the roller. And then tested the newly assembled electric roller out for the first time.

Works great! Real test will come when we start heavily using it.

Still need to finish a couple things up but this roller sure is turning out nicely!

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[Brucker]

Finally got around to making a controller mount. Started with a flat piece of 14 ga steel and then used the roller to run to beads vertically to make the piece more rigid.

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Bent up a section of 3/16" solid rod and welded it around the perimeter of the new panel for reinforcement.

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And welded it into place on the stand

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[Brucker]

I was now able to turn my attention to the wiring and mounting of the controller. I disassembled the controller and cleaned up both cords by shortening to the correct length and cutting out damaged areas to existing cords.

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Took off this much extra cable between the motor and the controller, about 20ft:

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All finished up for now. Probably should still make a chain guard, but I would like to put some time in with the machine to work out any bugs before I add anything else. But for now, the finished product:

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[Jim]

I've enjoyed following the project.

IMO, a full, beefy chain guard would be out of character for the tool (and the environment). How about something minimal - two side plates, with a single rod, plates welded to rod, for holding the plates to cover the single pinch point of each gear? The rod would terminate on the frame to hold the plates.

[Brucker]

I've enjoyed following the project.

IMO, a full, beefy chain guard would be out of character for the tool (and the environment). How about something minimal - two side plates, with a single rod, plates welded to rod, for holding the plates to cover the single pinch point of each gear? The rod would terminate on the frame to hold the plates.


Good to hear that you enjoyed the build thus far. Creating tooling and equipment are the types of builds I find I really enjoy. Fabricating machinery that allows me to then create even more varieties of metal work and/or produce better quality items really holds my interest.

And I agree with you about the guard. Probably the main reason I haven't started on one yet. I find the open chain and sprocket quite visually appealing. Yet, my inner "boss-man" keeps yelling at me that it is a work hazard and someone is likely to get injured unless it is covered up. Honestly not worried about the chain breaking. It is rated to well over 65 hp. More of a pinch hazard than anything.

But thank you for the idea, I will ponder it with the others floating around in my head.

[Brucker]

Oh, and iif you'd like to see more photos, be sure to check out our FB page (and be sure to like us while you're there!): https://www.facebook.com/BruckerBrothersLtd

Or check out our photo gallery on our website: www.bruckerbrothersltd.com (http://www.bruckerbrothersltd.com)

[Brucker]

Sometimes things work out perfectly, just as planned. This, unfortunately, was not one of those things. After just a short time using the new setup, it became apparent that this design had a fatal flaw. Although the Minarik driver could control the motor output speeds, it had a hard time maintaining enough power at the lowest settings, that the machine would bog down while starting and then quickly speed up when the controller sent more power because it sensed the bog. So long story short, starting in the middle of a panel, or simply stopping, then restarting became almost impossible without going off course. So I needed to find a solution or redesign the entire setup, quickly since I have work looming. I also wasn't completely happy with the foot pedal switch I had chosen, so I will be replacing that as well.

The biggest problem with the existing setup was gear reduction. Well, the lack there of actually. While it did have a 3.27:1 reduction through the chain and sprockets, I relied heavily on the reduction in RPM to be controlled by the electronic driver. And since the motor output is 1750 rpm, even with the chain reduction, 100% final output was still at about 535 rpm. This means that 1% is just over 5 rpm. Giving me more or less than 2 usable speeds.

The quick fix would be more reduction. Different sized sprockets would be the quickest and simplest route, but it doesn't offer a great enough reduction IMO. It just so happens that I have a right angled gear box that perfectly fits this motor and setup. In fact, they were originally purchased all together. The box offered a 36:1 reduction, which when used with the 3.27:1 sprocket set, would give me a final 100% output of about 15 rpm. Which would be about the absolutely fastest (just over, I have found long straight edges are nice to run about 12 rpm) one would ever run a panel.

Here is the right angled gear box:

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The other issue was the foot control. I ended up using a rheostat switch style foot pedal that I had on the shelf. Now you have to keep your foot on the pedal in order to power it, but it offers much more on the fly fine tuning.

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Now that I had my "easy" fixes, I still had to modify the stand to accept the new motor setup. I also had to machine the sprocket currently on the motor as the new output shaft was 1.125", whereas the sprocket was meant for a 5/8" shaft. And then once the motor was attached once again, I would probably have to modify the chain length. Good times, right? At least it would only take a couple hours to fix.

[Brucker]

First order of business was to assemble the motor to the gear box and machine the sprocket to fit the new, larger shaft. The gear box hadn't been used in a few years and I wanted to make sure everything would work before I went through the trouble of fabricating a whole new setup.

I decided to start with the sprocket since a new one would be a few days away if anything was to happen while modification to the existing one. Again the hole is currently 0.625" and needs to be 1.125". It will also need a new key way cut. The sprocket:

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I chucked it up in one of my lathes and bore out the center:

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Once the center bore was cut to the correct size, I needed to add the key way so off to the press:

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And then was able to assemble the motor to the gear box and the sprocket onto the output shaft:

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Once assembled, I tested it and it seemed to function nicely, so I was good to continue.

[Brucker]

With the new motor assembly ready to go, it would need a new mount in order to work. So off with the old:

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Then used a 9" angle grinder with a 7" flap disk to quickly clean up the affected area. You will notice the size difference between the normal 4.5" grinder and the 9":

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Made a mount from some brake pressed scrap pieces. Cut to size, drilled the bolt hole pattern and then tapped the holes.

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Attached the new mount to the stand, and then the salvaged controller mount in a new location. And then the motor to the new mount and the controller to it's new home:

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http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-26_22-57-07_550.jpg

And made up a shorter chain assembly and attached it and tensioned it:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-26_23-04-09_586.jpg

[Brucker]

The new and improved electric bead roller!

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-26_23-04-02_205.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-26_23-04-27_733.jpg

I was then able to test it out while my wonderful wife slaved cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I tried multiple different dies and patterns. Seemed to work wonderfully now. As with anything, time will tell, but I am much happier with the new and improved version.

Here is some examples of one of the beads that have been run thus far:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-25_12-29-16_518.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-25_12-29-12_792.jpg

[88Toy]

Doesn't seem to be anything you can't do in that shop of yours, Aaron! That angle reducer will make life a lot easier, a very trick looking set up. Nice!

[Brucker]

Doesn't seem to be anything you can't do in that shop of yours, Aaron! That angle reducer will make life a lot easier, a very trick looking set up. Nice!

Thank you for the very kind words.

[Brucker]

With the roller finally up and running, I thought it would be good to stay at work even later (Like the saying goes, 'there ain't no rest for the wicked') to machine a die set or two that isn't currently offered for these machines. The first set would be what some refer to as an art roller set. I made the top die from 316 stainless and the bottom out of delrin. These materials were chosen because the top should be harder than most materials that will ever be run through this machine, so should have a long life span. And the bottom because the delrin should be a non marking material that should still hold up for a decent life span. Though I am planning on the delrin bottom die to be a wear item.

I started with the delrin:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-33-51_245.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-51-25_174.jpg

And I ended up making two different dies. One of standard length and the other a bit shorter. I figured the normal length would work fine, but I am hoping to use the smaller bottom die for some top die reverse action. I mistakenly machined the set screw location on the normal length die right in the top dies path when it's reversed. Here are the two finished bottom dies:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-41-08_451.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-41-19_836.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-40-01_835.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-40-09_74.jpg

Then turned my attention to the top die. Think it turned out pretty good:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-41-26_995.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-41-37_140.jpg

Installed on the roller. Bottom is the normal length die:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_18-04-58_974.jpg

Short bottom with top top normal, then reversed:

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-48-48_324.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_16-53-38_555.jpg

[Brucker]

Here is the first trial panel I made. Did this free hand which I would not recommend and probably won't again. Way too easy to become lost. I ran the perimeter bead first than ran the flames in one continuous pass. I started from the bottom right of the perimeter bead and worked my way left. You will notice that I screwed up quite a bit at first and then started to get the hand of it by the end. My problems were mostly speed (too fast) at first and then I did get lost once or twice since I was free handing it and didn't have a guide to follow.

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-32-17_262.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-32-45_122.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-31-51_761.jpg

And then here is a panel that has some cross hatching. Really like the way te finish comes out after this process with the bottom delrin die. You may notice some black around the beads. That is delrin (hence why the bottom dies are considered wear items) and it easily wipes of leaving no scratches or scaring. There may be some scratches that show on the material, but any marks were already there as this material came out of the scrap pile.

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-04-32_751.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-11-29_17-04-50_489.jpg

[Shane]

Nice set up!

[JFjeld]

Awesome project. But I'll unabashedly display my ignorance: What's a bead roller, and for what purpose would you use it?

[Brucker]

Awesome project. But I'll unabashedly display my ignorance: What's a bead roller, and for what purpose would you use it?

A bead roller is just as it sounds. It roll forms different structures into sheet and thin walled tubing. This provides more strength and rigidity to the piece. Most commonly used in sheet metal applications like body panels. Hopefully the following example will help.

Here in the shop we have recently been working on re-doing a TJ that the previous owner tried to half-cab. Their lack of sheet metal and welding skills prompted us to completely tear out their work and start from scratch. Here is the TJ after tear down:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u5DLMi3YCX8/VH_w81H5tMI/AAAAAAAAFxY/2n-Kgxe99VE/w958-h539-no/2014-10-11_16-26-44_963.jpg


We started with a piece of thin gauge sheet metal (20 ga or .039" thick):

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-oepQCphgsvQ/VH_uElm7bzI/AAAAAAAAFwQ/PXEaHKT_1YM/w958-h539-no/2014-10-15_16-40-46_167.jpg

Added some vertical 3/8" wide rounded beads for extra strength and rigidity:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8GRrxdUrZwc/VH_uH4R_ObI/AAAAAAAAFwY/K8sUpWTnuP8/w958-h539-no/2014-10-15_16-54-06_657.jpg

Then welded the panel into place and then added a little cage work and gusseting to the area.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SGlBzq4KgW0/VH_t-Wx4_xI/AAAAAAAAFwI/Ut525vXB3rg/w958-h539-no/2014-11-03_15-02-34_599.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-dV0Lkg76SzU/VH_uP1xMPuI/AAAAAAAAFwg/DPMz0W6ApUY/w485-h862-no/2014-11-04_15-17-52_134.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ulXpok6hp78/VH_uXPbX1UI/AAAAAAAAFww/Ripm371kBWk/w958-h539-no/2014-11-04_15-31-09_363.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-utOJQEh8SRo/VH_uUZ2NaYI/AAAAAAAAFwo/dY8ZaSFz3Wo/w485-h862-no/2014-11-04_15-31-27_595.jpg

Hope that this helps solve some of the mysteries of bead rolling.

[Hypoid]

This provides more strength and rigidity to the piece.Which will also change the resonance of a given piece.

[glacierpaul]

Very nice Aaron!! Under your work in that last pic above shows some factory bead work (on the floor board) or possibly stamped work, but same premise, makes the metal stronger. I will have to come up to your shop someday and check it out!

[Brucker]

Which will also change the resonance of a given piece.

That would be correct. Thanks for the addition.

[Brucker]

Very nice Aaron!! Under your work in that last pic above shows some factory bead work (on the floor board) or possibly stamped work, but same premise, makes the metal stronger. I will have to come up to your shop someday and check it out!

Factory stamps everything as it is WAY cheaper and faster to reproduce 1000's of identical pieces in that way. But yes, you are correct. The premise is the exact same.

[Dutch]

Yeah, but dimple dies are way sexier and instantly turn any rig into a full comp buggy. :D

Nice work on that thing, I know I could definitely make use of something like that.

[JFjeld]

Awesome, thanks for the explanation. I really want to do a sport cage (at a minimum) or full cage in the near future on my TJ. I'd like to hire you for the project and would love to check out your work in-person. Its very obvious you're good at what you do and take pride in your work.

[Brucker]

I really want to do a sport cage (at a minimum) or full cage in the near future on my TJ. I'd like to hire you for the project and would love to check out your work in-person. Its very obvious you're good at what you do and take pride in your work.

Thanks for the very nice words. We love to build a cage for you when you are ready. Give us a call at the shop, or email us, when you are ready to get a quote an set up an appointment.

[Brucker]

Finally got around to finishing up the bead roller. It still needed a place to store the different die sets, so I cut, then bend some round rod and welded them into place.

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-07-45_128.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-18-43_364.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-19-03_286.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-19-28_868.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-25-16_244.jpg

The cords and pedal needed our attention next. And the simplest, cleanest, and quickest option was to cut some expanded metal to cover the bottom of the stand. This would help contain the cabling and pedal requiring minimal effort.

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-32-24_908.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-37-31_274.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-37-49_926.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-02_15-39-16_398.jpg

All done!

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-05_12-53-32_117.jpg

[Brucker]

And with the roller and stand complete, we turned our attention onto another custom die set. This time was for another art die. But this time with a little larger OD to help with tighter turning radius. And then of course another bottom die out of delrin. This one smaller in diameter to correspond with the larger upper die.

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-05_12-48-50_494.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-05_12-48-36_302.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-05_12-49-51_947.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-05_12-49-36_640.jpg

http://bruckerbrothersltd.com/data/uploads/gallery/equipment-machinery-and-tooling/bead-roller/2014-12-05_12-53-20_756.jpg