HF Ring Roller Modifications with Ulma Doctor

[Ulma Doctor]

Hello all,

i went and purchased a manual ring roller SKU# 36790 from harbor freight for right around 80 bucks



out of the box it seems like it is made solid enough.
one thing i found strange was the length of the crank arm, it is very long.
i'm assuming the length was chosen for women and children to have enough leverage to use the roller.
the crank arm also travels uncomfortably closely to the base unit
i found the length clumsy to use and unnecessary , so
i had to change that!

i took a hunk of 12L14,
1.5" x 3" and bored a 41/64" hole and cross drilled to .3125" for the stock roll pin and broke the edges and countersunk the holes.
i flipped over the work and cross drilled the billet to 1/2".
i rotated the work 90° and cross drilled again and tapped for 1/4-20tpi, this will retain the adjustable length crank arm.
i end drilled and tapped the 1/2" crank arm on one end to 1/4-20tpi for retention in the driven shaft with a bolt
i heated the new crank arm with the oxy/acetylene rig and bent the crank arm handle.
i created flats on the new adjustable crank arm to create a non slip lock
assembly was simple and took only a few minutes.
without further adieu, my ring roller mod!

top: OEM crank arm
bottom: adjustable crank arm









the roller works good in the present state, but there is one other mod i'm going to make!



stay tuned for more action and adventure!

 

[C-Bag]

Good one Doc.

I've looked at those for a while then my brother bought one and said something was made of plastic? Like a gear or roller? But the demo in the store wasn't that way so he took it back (because it broke)and made them give him the floor demo. Have they fixed that?

I ended up buying the big tube/ring roller and it's worked great for me. I'm in the process of using my HF handheld pipe threader to power it, my HF bead roller and my homemade rock sifter. It's two hp and 40rpm perfect for slow heavy duty work. Be too big for your ring roller but I like your crank mod.

Are you deep into wrought iron now?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Good one Doc.
I've looked at those for a while then my brother bought one and said something was made of plastic? Like a gear or roller? But the demo in the store wasn't that way so he took it back (because it broke)and made them give him the floor demo. Have they fixed that?
I ended up buying the big tube/ring roller and it's worked great for me. I'm in the process of using my HF handheld pipe threader to power it, my HF bead roller and my homemade rock sifter. It's two hp and 40rpm perfect for slow heavy duty work. Be too big for your ring roller but I like your crank mod.
Are you deep into wrought iron now?

Hi C-Bag,
thank you !
the adjustment handle is the part made out of plastic. (the replacement handle will in be the next act of the thread )
No sir, they still make the handles from plastic

i like the sound of your ring roller!!!

i'm working on a junk art project involving making some rings from 1/8" x 1/2" rusty steel.
thanks for reading and commenting!

 

[C-Bag]

Hi C-Bag,
thank you !
the adjustment handle is the part made out of plastic. (the replacement handle will in be the next act of the thread )
No sir, they still make the handles from plastic

i like the sound of your ring roller!!!

i'm working on a junk art project involving making some rings from 1/8" x 1/2" rusty steel.
thanks for reading and commenting!

I'm sorry I didn't mean to steal your thunder Doc! That vari ratio handle is really a good idea(and beautiful execution as usual).You gonna post that to HF's reviews?

Believe it or not somebody in HF checks that stuff out as there were several complaints about the tile saw I bought and it all came down to they just mounted the water nozzle on the top of the guard and the water spun off before it got down to the cut leaving the blade dry and causing blades to wear out quick and making a ton of dust. I just pulled the guard and drilled and tapped a flat (that was already there!) in the casting right over the front of the blade and routed water line there and good to go. If only I could find a good water pump The other day I checked and my post was gone and when I looked at the same model tile saw it had the nozzle on the front where it should have been all along!

Because of the plastic part and also I do so many different radii of curves I wasn't sure that roller would do what I wanted to do. Then I was cruising something like Weld Web and there was a guy who had modded one of the cheapo $15 drill press vises to almost a ring roller. His was more a bender because his drive roller was smooth. Mine uses the knurled handle from my old slide hammer as the drive roller with sliding door rollers for the idlers. Because it basically rolls sideways instead of vertically I can do a lot of different radii by just adjusting the "vise". Sorry if I'm hyjacking your thread(as usual).

 

[Ulma Doctor]

no worries C-Bag, i love the exchange of ideas and information

the ring roller mod for the vice is very cool, i'll need to steal that idea!

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks Doc. I stole it so why not everybody else! Just don't expect plans as homey don't roll that way I ended up making several bolt on jigs for it for bending small stuff in tight radii for like lettering and patterns. Another cool thing that I got early on and now has gotten outrageous was inside and outside gauges for doing radii to cut down on having to test fit. I'm sure the clever folks on here could make something like them from their scrap bin.

 

[hman]

U D, that's a fantastic mod!
C-B, that's a great repurposing of an otherwise inferior tool! How well are the sliding door rollers holding up? The amount of force you're applying is probably a lot greater than what they're normally used to.

Thanks to the both o' yuz.

 

[C-Bag]

Thanks hman!
You are right, that vise is pretty inferior but it is funky cast iron. I had to do some fly cutting to the bottom to get the upper and lower guides of the vise parallel so the sliding part of the vise moved without slop. But it made a great kit base for what I wanted it for. It won't roll as small rings and Doc's.

Those sliding door rollers are crazy tough. Can't cut them with a saw blade, only abrasive. And unlike on a sliding glass door they are easy to lube. They were cheap and already have a nice groove in them for the 1/8" welding rod I do a lot of my projects with. It also works fine for the 1/4" steel rod in the one pic but at the thickness it's a former, not a roller anymore.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

i got some time to finish my modifications on the ring roller.

i thought it would be a good idea to replace the plastic knob that sets the radius of the bend.
it's not 100% plastic, it has a steel insert that appears to be ultrasonically welded to the plastic knob.
quite possibly the plastic could have been thermo-formed around the insert, not exactly sure which method was used
regardless, i found it to be a weak point- that had to change!

i took a 3-1/8" hunk of 6061 and chucked it up in the Shenwai 1236, and started turning the OD for the knob
(with @mikey 's lathe bit , https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/how-to-grind-a-hss-turning-tool.52581/ , thanks again mikey! )





i turned the od and reduced the end to 1"
i drilled the center to 11mm to a depth of 12mm to accept the drive screw.
i used my axa crossdrilling fixture to drill the 1/8" spring pin bore
i broke the edges present and parted the knob from the billet
i faced the large end of the knob and broke the edges again
i used the clamp knurler in the axa holder to knurl the OD for a sure grip







i countersunk all the holes and gave a test fit.
unfortunately the OEM crossdrilling was not as good as mine, theirs was considerably off center
i had to drill through the knob and drive screw with a larger 5/32" bit
i used a 5/32 spring pin to complete the assembly





this mod was relatively easy, but it sure made a mess.
there was a whole lotta aluminum all over the place.

i don't think i'll be worrying about my handle breaking anytime soon!

thanks for reading!!!!

 

[C-Bag]

Nice Doc. Had to LOL @"unfortunately the OEM crossdrilling was not as good as mine". That's always the hangup with these HF kits. I always wonder if it was just sloppy setup or on purpose. I picture some poor guy in a funky little factory somewhere doing a pile of these things. Was he or she thinking get er done it doesn't matter or gotcha