Bead Rollers

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I have been thinking of, then looking at, bead rollers to make a couple of pieces I want. I have found that even though they look pretty close to being the same or from the same source (still could be but the contracts are written different) so all of the bead rollers are made from the same stock thickness.

For instance: the body of the HF unit used to be 1/2" thick but isn't anymore; it is 3/8" now as it used to be the full half-inch (this doesn't talk to the same material quality which may also be part of the problem). The material in the Eastwood, for instance, and a couple of other units are still 1/2" hence stiffer but then does that make a difference in the ease of adjusting the working the end of the unit to allow the flat stock to be inserted. The reduction in thickness apparently is allowing the end, where the rollers are, to actually flex/walk side to side (see the posted URLs) a bit so people are modifying them by putting stiffeners in parallel to the slot and a short piece across joining the two stiffeners at the end of the work slot (I did make comment to my HF store manager this week about this so we will see what, if anything, happens.)

The two URLs below show some modifications made to stop that and improve on the use of bead rollers in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a4CO2yeR6w

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?11 ... deflection

Lee

[Jadewombat]

I've been acquiring more and more metal working stuff the last few years and I'm at a point in my life I avoid Harbor junk (or anything made in China) like the plague. I don't have an endless budget, but American made stuff is anywhere from 25% to 100% more in cost, but well worth it. I've bought Pexto, Whitney, Baileigh, South Bend, new and used from eBay, CL, and otherwise and have 0 complaints after three years of usage. My lathe is 53 years old I bought 2 months ago and is more than accurate, quiet, and easy to use than I would have ever thought.

HF doesn't upgrade their stuff because they care, my guess is because a lot of that junk gets returned one too many times in the first 30 days from when someone buys it. Sorry I know I'm preaching here, but it just irks me how crappy the Chinese stuff is.

This is the rotary machine unit I'm holding out for and Ron Covell over dies:

http://www.roperwhitney.com/pexto-manual-beading.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gy_zTPD5hQ

I've heard nothing, but complaints for YEARS and YEARS about HF's tubing bender and how crappy it is, I doubt they will ever upgrade it one single bit, yet guys buy it thinking they can make it work somehow and are 100% disappointed every time. Sorry again for the rant.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

No problems from me.

I have looked a lot into other mfgrs tools including Baileigh but since I am as old as I am and not having any direct prodigy (tongue in cheek) to pass stuff on to i am not going to pay the price for a 100 year old tool either.

I also think it is the importers responsibility for either not writing good contracts and/or not holding the suppliers to the contract specs plus doing the required testing of their parts they bring in... and they want to pawn off to us... and it not just the off-shore suppliers that are the problem either! Most contracts require test to be done by the supplier to support the contract but the importer has the responsibility to also check to see things are on the up and up. Think of all the off-shore contractors who have had to learn their lessons and even here I the states there are a lot of suppliers that try to send not up to standards to their contractors.

Not meant as a rant but based what I have seen over the years in the jobs I have had.

Listening is one of the hardest jobs out there... listening close and staying quiet is even harder.

Lee