Power Tube Roller (2011)
                                   Something updated (12/13/2012)








I found a need to bend metal rings 12" in diameter for a material rack. Rack drawing below. I bought a simple ring roller. This was not easy. So there's got to be an easier way. One thing lead to another Material rack build.  Read on.


I know, really not bad, for my first ring. I'm not showing the hammer blows it took to get it looking pretty. Small ring roller mounted, just in front of ring, in picture.

This Harbor Fright ring roller lasted for one ring, above.

Picked up an Outfitters Ring Roller, to finish material rack, drawing above.

Let me tell you, people are really proud of there tube rollers. See price below.

First a ring roller wont make long arc's, second a tube roller wont make rings. This is my dilemma. The only way around this is to build something like this. http://youtu.be/Qof4-WECTDY This is a $5000 machine, believe it or not. On to the build.

So off to Harbor Fright for some donor tube roller parts, below.  What you see in the 2 pictures is just about all I'm keeping. Top plate, down force mechanism and all the rollers, and the bottom plate. This project is two tools in one.


How simple can you build a Tube Roller. This fits the bill, below.


No I'm not finished. Things I'm going to need to build a Power Tube Roller.

There's a problem with tube rollers, above. The roller frame wont allow the removal or rolling of small rings like below. So a simple ring roller turns into a monster project. And of course I'm going to want a tube roller that's powered.


First a tube roller needs to run low. I found a 50:1 Gear Reducer from Ebay  - 1 hp for $92.00.


1 horse power, 1750 rpm, reverable motor. Below.


Then somehow control the back and forth motion. I need a hoist handheld control, below. Found on ebay for $6.


You wont believe the wires needed, to control the motor. Diagram below, Compliments of Roy.


Now a box to put all the wires in, plus 3 relays. An emergency stop switch...


This looks like about it. Not finished, read on.

The foot bone connected to the leg bone... I know...

The motor runs at 1750 rpm or 29.2 revolutions a second. With a 50:1 reducer, that's 0.583" revolutions a second,  The rollers are 12" in circumference so that makes the tubing travel at 7" a second. The drawing below is how I'm getting 1 hp to the tube for bending (rolling). Yes I'm planing on driving the bottom two rollers. The bottom rollers to me seem the easiest to drive.

The green sprocket has 12 teeth per inch, the other 3 red sprockets have 24 teeth per inch. Now the tube is only rolling at 3.5" a second, or 100:1. The two drive rollers are shown below in orange. Down pressure, top roller, for bending force is omitted for  clarity. Sprockets and chain will be ANSI #50 (3/8" chain width). Front and back plates will be 1/2" steel. A plasma table build is coming for the plates. Plasma Table Build.

Stay tune more to come...